Police Squad!

1982-03-04 | TV-PG | en

Leslie Nielsen Alan North Ed Williams

Comedy Crime

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Seasons & Episodes

EP1 A Substantial Gift (The Broken Promise)

Mar. 04,1982

Sally, a bank teller deeply in debt, robs her own bank and plants evidence that implicates a fairly commonplace man who was present during the crime. Police Squad, a special unit of the police force, is called to investigate a double shooting that happened during the robbery. However, the stories just don't add up. The evidence builds and points in Sally's direction, but it's up to Frank to find the clues that will put her away.

EP2 Ring of Fear (A Dangerous Assignment)

Mar. 11,1982

Frank investigates a veteran boxer who lately has been throwing his fights. He takes the boxer under his wing in order to expose the boxer's corrupt manager. Unfortunately, the manger has kidnapped the boxer's girlfriend and put the boxer's title fight in jeopardy. Frank now tries to save the boxer's girlfriend in the hopes that the boxer won't have to throw the match so he can have a shot at rejuvenating his career in the ring.

EP3 The Butler Did It (A Bird in the Hand)

Mar. 18,1982

The daughter of a wealthy business man is kidnapped on her 18th birthday and Police Squad swings into action. The main suspect of their investigation is the girl's boyfriend. When Frank and Ed listen to a recording of the kidnapper's demands, they hear the distinct sound of a tuba in the background, though it could also be a ship's horn. They search for a tuba store. When they do track down and find the kidnapper, the criminal fights back.

EP4 Revenge and Remorse (The Guilty Alibi)

Mar. 25,1982

Frank investigates a district judge's courtroom after it is booby-trapped with a powerful explosive. The main suspect is a recently paroled ex-convict with a history of similar bombings. Upon questioning the bomber's ex-wife, Frank and Ed find she's more interested in getting charity than the fact that her ex-husband may be up to his old tricks. Frank and Ed discover the bomber has a showgirl girlfriend on the side. She has the perfect alibi for her boyfriend, but Frank and Ed wonder if she's really just covering for him.

EP5 Rendezvous at Big Gulch (Terror in the Neighborhood)

Jul. 01,1982

The mob sets up an "insurance" scam that threatens several businesses and residents. Frank and Nordberg go to investigate. After a dance instructor is beaten up, they set up their own shop - a key-making and locksmith store - and go undercover. When the mob stops by to offer them "insurance", Frank dismisses their threats and the mob strikes their store. Frank ends up having the key to stopping the crime wave, largely because of the key-making and locksmith shop he and Nordberg set up.

EP6 Testimony of Evil (Dead Men Don't Laugh)

Jul. 08,1982

A struggling comedian owes money to the owner of a nightclub. When his body is discovered at the bottom of a cliff in a car crash, all the clues point to suicide. It is later discovered that the comedian was also a police informant on a drug ring he infiltrated at his nightclub. Frank steps in and takes the place of the deceased at the nightclub in order to gather more clues.

Police Squad! Trailers

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In this cult parody of cop dramas, replete with farce and sight gags, Lieutenant Frank Drebin and his fellow officers from Police Squad bungle their way though crime investigations.

Police Squad! Audience Reviews

Micah Lloyd Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

Ricardo Daly The story-telling is good with flashbacks.The film is both funny and heartbreaking. You smile in a scene and get a soulcrushing revelation in the next.

Quiet Muffin This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

Phillida Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Lee Eisenberg The inspiration for the "Naked Gun" movies casts Leslie Nielsen - who had only recently started doing comedy* - as the incompetent but heroic Frank Drebin, always having to solve an absurd case. Like "Airplane!" and the movies based on the series, the humor relies on Mel Brooks-style spot gags and silly comments (namely the "yes it is" remarks), along with the fact that Nielsen remains very serious despite the nonsense around him. And of course, the final frame, in which something keeps moving.It's too bad that the show only had six episodes. At least it spawned the movies. You can't go wrong with Leslie Nielsen in these sorts of roles. I suspect that they all had fun filming it. Really funny.*Before "Airplane!", Leslie Nielsen had starred in movies like "Forbidden Planet", "Harlow" and "The Poseidon Adventure". As late as 1987 he co-starred in "Nuts" alongside Barbra Streisand and Richard Dreyfuss. But since the first "Naked Gun" movie it's been all comedy all the time.

robertpforrest After reading over all these reviews I'm very surprised to see that no one has even once noted that this show was based on the 1957 to 1960 NBC cop show "M Squad" starring Lee Marvin, i read reviews comparing it to "Dragnet" and some of the Quinn Martin police shows, but if you watch M Squad you'll see it was based on it. In the late 1958 episodes of M Squad onwards, you'll see Lee Marvin who plays Lieutenant Detective Frank Ballinger get out of his car and then hes shot at,and he shoots back, the beginning of Police Squad is basically the same ( including the Jazz music) and then Lee Marvin narrates what goes on, (Im Lieutenant Detective Frank Ballinger,M Squad,a special department of the Chicago police) and in Police Squad Leslie Neilsen does the same (Im Detective Lieutenant Frank Drebin, Police Squad, a special division of the Police Department) and so on, in one of the M Squad episodes there's even the Johnny the shoeshine guy character and in a M Squad episode entitled " More Deadly" there's a Police Squad episode entitled "A Substantial Gift (The Broken Promise)" which is the same story!

vagabondjonson This predecessor to the Naked Gun movies is some of the most intelligent stupid humor ever. There are no lengths that the Zuckers wouldn't go for a gag. I call the humor "stupid humor" not because it's actually stupid but it's not high brow enough to be sophisticated comedy but it's way too good for the masses who this sort of show will miss. So in lieu of a better name, I call it stupid or "spoof" comedy. Some of the routines in this short series were so good, you'd have to watch them two or three times to take in all the comedy. This series is considerably better than more recent "spoof" movies because the clichés that this series is lampooning come from years of TV shows and movies from numerous genres rather than lampooning one other movie which if you haven't seen the one being parodied, those sorts of spoofs miss their mark. This show is dynamite and Leslie Nielson is a riot every episode.

MCL1150 I still count "Police Squad!" as the absolute funniest TV show of the 1980s. Somewhere, on BetaMax no less, I have all six episodes. I knew that a show this good wouldn't last and that I had to preserve it for myself. How stupid was ABC? They were quoted as saying that viewers didn't know that "Police Squad!" was a comedy because it had no laugh track! Right! When Drebin has a line like "You take chances just getting up in the morning, driving to work, or sticking your face in a fan.", how can THAT be comedy!?!? I've seen every episode at least ten times and still see something new I missed before. Even the deep backgrounds always have gags ongoing. Don't miss it if you have chance to see an episode, but if you're reading this then you probably already have copies squirreled away someplace as I do.