Police Squad

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Has anyone seen this series? This was the series that spawned the Naked Gun movies.

The main difference between the TV series and the movies was that Alan North played Capt. Ed Hocken in the series. In the movies, Capt. Hocken was played by George Kennedy.

The series lasted only 6 episodes, but helped establish Leslie Nielsen's comedic persona (he was fresh from his role in Airplane! at the time the series aired, in 1982).

There are 4 recurring jokes in the series:

1) In the opening credits, the "special guest star" is killed in some form or fashion (much like Kenny on South Park)

2) Rex Hamilton as "Abraham Lincoln"

3) The epsiode title mentioned by the announcer is always different than the one shown on screen.

4) Dr. Olson gives a child a science lecture, just before Drebin and Hocken ask for forensics results. The forensics segment was also used in the Naked Gun movies, and Dr. Olson was played by Ed Williams in both the series and the movies.

I bought the complete series of Police Squad on DVD yesterday, and it was worth every penny.

Tim

Yes I remember seeing them when they originally aired. I remember later when "naked gun" movies came I felt to embarrassed to say the word "naked" so I still called them Police Squad.

Yes, the Zucker Bros. movies are always the funniest.

Although Animal House comes very close. Ironically, John Belushi was supposed to be a special guest star, but he died just before Police Squad aired.

Tim

Yeah, I remember Police Squad. A few years ago CBS ran all 6 episodes weekly. I don't remember the exact reason though why they did it at the time, it was only a one time thing. I did see most of the Naked Gun movies.

I thought the show and the movies were great! I remember in the one of the Naked Gun movies Leslie Nieslen was speaking in a public event and then ran to the bathroom. While in the bathroom he leaves his microphone on and the audience hears everything he does in the bathroom!! This was hiliarious!!

Is that the one where at the end they do a freeze frame, but things are still happening like the coffee is being poured into the cup until it starts overflowing and such, or am I thinking of a different show?

Ya, it's great.

I loved those. I am going to see if Netflix has them!

My dad got me into them. Plus the first Naked Gun was one of the funniest things I had ever seen. One character I liked on Police Squad was that tall guy who always had something on his face.

In the fifth episode of Police Squad, the special guest was Florence Henderson. As far as I know, this was the only time one of her guest appearances on any show spoofed the Wesson commercials that she was in, rather than the Brady Bunch.

Also, Leslie Nielsen and Ed Williams (who played Dr. Olson) were the only two people from Police Squad to also be in the Naked Gun movies.

The special guest in the third Police Squad episode, Robert Goulet, would play the villian Quentin Hapsburg in Naked Gun 2 1/2: The Smell of Fear.

Tim

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2Q7-skQr1I[/youtube]