Police Squad! was the brain-child of Jim Abrahams, David Zucker and Jerry Zucker, creators of Kentucky Fried Movie, Airplane!, Top Secret! and Ruthless People.
Spoofing police dramas of the 1960s and 1970s, the show's main staple of entertainment came from nonstop sight gags (such as a tow truck being a truck in the shape of a big toe) and misunderstandings in dialogue, mostly from people taking things extremely literally.
Several great routines came from these misunderstandings that left characters in the scene very confused, but left the audience with boatloads of humor provided they pay close attention! Ironically, this very quality - you had to actually watch the show instead of casually listening for punchlines - is what ultimately sealed the series' fate.
While the 1982 TV show was short-lived, it spawned the successful "Naked Gun" movie franchise also starring Lesile Nielsen as the competency-challenged flatfoot, Detective Frank Drebin.
Episode 1 - A Substantial Gift (The Broken Promise)
Special Guest Star: Lorne Greene
Episode 2 - Ring Of Fear (A Dangerous Assignment)
Special guest star: Georg Stanford Brown
Episode 3 - The Butler Did It (A Bird In The Hand)
Special Guest Star: Robert Goulet
Episode 4 - Revenge And Remorse (The Guilty Alibi)
Special Guest Star: William Shatner
Episode 5 - Rendezvous At Big Gulch (Terror In The Neighborhood)
Special Guest Star: Florence Henderson
Episode 6 - Testimony Of Evil (Dead Men Don't Laugh)
Special Guest Star: William Conrad
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