The Corner Penthouse

Police Squad!: The Complete Series is the short-lived television series that was the precursor to The Naked Gun movie series. Read on to find out more...


Police Squad! (1982) is the story of Detective Frank Drebin (Leslie Nielsen) and Captain Ed Hocken (Alan North) as they solve the toughest cases in the naked city - full of all the sight-gags, puns, and non-sequiturs that made the series famous!


The television series, which is comprised of the following six episodes, aired on ABC from March to July 1982. When the series was canceled, ABC president Tony Thomopoulos claimed it was because "the viewer had to watch it in order to appreciate it". While this statement seems stupid on the surface, it's not entirely inaccurate. Police Squad! is not a show you can just have on as "background noise". You actually have to watch it - give it your full attention - in order to appreciate it.

1. A Substantial Gift (The Broken Promise) (March 4, 1982) (25:08) - Frank investigates a murder case at a bank where a robber shot the clerk and then another staff member, Sally, shot the robber. The autopsy, however, tells a different story.
2. Ring of Fear (A Dangerous Assignment) (March 11, 1982) (25:10) - In order to infiltrate a criminal gang that bribes boxers, Frank buys the contract of an up-and-comer named Buddy. This leads to a kidnapping of Buddy's girlfriend, and Frank has to find her before Buddy forfeits the match.
3. The Butler Did It (A Bird in the Hand) (March 18, 1982) (25:08) - The daughter of a textile tycoon is kidnapped and Frank must find her before it's too late to pay the ransom.
4. Revenge and Remorse (The Guilty Alibi) (March 25, 1982) (25:08) - A judge is blown up as a session starts. Frank's investigation soon leads to a man who was convicted by him in the past.
5. Rendezvous at Big Gulch (Terror in the Neighborhood) (July 1, 1982) (25:09) - After multiple reports come in of shop owners being blackmailed by some thugs, Frank and Norberg open up a locksmith shop in order to nab the criminals.
6. Testimony of Evil (Dead Men Don't Laugh) (July 8, 1982) (25:09) - When a drug courier is found dead after a car accident, Frank and the team traces his work to the nightclub "Mr V's".

As stated on the cover, these are the colorized versions of the episodes, all of which end with the original "Paramount Television, A Gulf + Western Company" screen. The episodes are shown in the original airdate order, which makes them "out of order" for a running gag in which Drebin would reel off a list of the criminals apprehended in all of the previous episodes. This joke was ruined when the fifth episode aired before the fourth, and the fourth aired before the third, thus criminals were referred to before they were arrested. (This joke was not done in the first or third episodes.) Although Paramount used this same order on the DVD, I really wish they would have reorganized them into the filmmaker's intended order so this joke could work properly.


The series was created by David Zucker, Jerry Zucker, and Jim Abrahams, who revived it from cancellation as the The Naked Gun film series six years later. The television series features a lot of gags and dialog that were reused in the movies, including one of my favorite exchanges: "Is this some kind of bust? Yes, very impressive." Other notables behind the camera include Georg Stanford Brown, who directed episode #3 after appearing as episode #2's "special guest star"; and Joe Dante (Piranha, Gremlins), who directed episodes #2 and #6. The latter includes one of his regulars, the venerable Dick Miller.


Although Police Squad! seems like a spoof of Dragnet, it's actually a direct parody of a long-forgotten series called M Squad (1957), which starred Lee Marvin as Lieutenant Frank Ballinger. The first episode of Police Squad!, "A Substantial Gift (The Broken Promise)", is an almost scene-for-scene remake of "More Deadly", the first episode of the second season of M Squad.


I originally owned Police Squad! on VHS, then Laserdisc, then DVD, and now Blu-ray. It's always been one of my favorites. It's a show that was way before its time, back before VCRs were in everyone's homes. It's the kind of show you need to see on repeated viewing. It flopped, initially, but would have done really well if streaming services like Netflix were available at the time so you could rewind and watch scenes over again.


Police Squad! is presented in the original 1.33:1 aspect ratio. Audio languages include English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and English Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono. All episodes and bonus features contain English subtitles only. Picture quality is good, but it should be noted that episode #1 flickers at 6:28 and 17:30 (and a few other spots), and there are yellow spots on the left side of screen from 11:53-12:40. Both issues were present on the DVD, so these are in the source material. Obviously, this show isn't of high enough "value" to warrant a restoration. There are also instances where the contrast is turned up a bit high. I think it was in the first episode, where there was a dissolve transition to a scene with Johnny the shoe-shine guy, during which you could read "Apartment Building" on a building in the background, but as soon as the dissolve was over, the sign was unreadable due to being a blown-out white mess.


Here's a list of all of the bonus features, all of which were ported over from the previous DVD release. The two still screen extras were redone in HD widescreen, and are not "as is" copies from the DVD (where they are in 4:3). Sadly, while paging through these two extras, the Blu-ray selector defaults to "Special Features" and not "Next", so you have to keep moving it over.

• Audio Commentary on "A Substantial Gift (The Broken Promise)" with David Zucker, Jerry Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Robert K. Weiss
• Audio Commentary on "The Butler Did It (A Bird in the Hand)" with David Zucker, Jerry Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Robert K. Weiss
• Audio Commentary on "Testimony of Evil (Dead Men Don't Laugh)" with writer Robert Wuhl
• Gag Reel (4:57) - Outtakes and flubs.
• Leslie Nielsen Interview (8:40) - The actor discusses the show's cancellation.
• Behind the Freeze Frames (4:31) - The Zuckers and Abrahams discuss the "freeze frame" endings over footage of an unused "freeze frame" gag that would have appeared in a "movie" edited together from the episodes.
• Casting Test - Ed Williams (2:50) - Acting test for the actor who plays scientist Ted Olson.
• Casting Test - Alan North (6:03) - Acting test for the actor who plays Captain Ed Hocken.
• Producers' Photo Gallery (0:58) - A lot of set photos that are strung along a digital bulletin board, where they are shown small and slanted.
• List of Celebrity Death Shots - Two typed pages outlining 17 death scenes.
• Production Memo Highlights - Five pages of inter-office memos listing alterations made to appease the censors.

No digital copy codes or DVD copies are included in the standard Blu-ray case.


Despite the standard notice on the back of the case ("Some episodes may be edited for this home entertainment version."), all episodes contain the original music, just like on DVD. In fact, this is a re-release of the DVD, with all of the same content, only with the episodes in high definition. If you don't already own the DVD, you should definitely pick this up. DVD owners will have to consider whether the upgrade in resolution is worth a re-buy. Whatever you choose, you can head to Amazon to pick-up Police Squad!: The Complete Series on Blu-ray and DVD. While you're there, also get The Naked Gun Trilogy on Blu-ray and DVD, though be aware that the Blu-rays are missing bonus features from the DVDs.

Now I wish Paramount/CBS would put out the complete series of Working Stiffs (1979) with Michael Keaton, James Belushi, and Paul Reubens. That's another one of my short-lived favorites that I had on VHS (Vol. 1 & Vol. 2) and Laserdisc, both of which only contained the first six of nine episodes. Paramount never released the series on DVD, so a Blu-ray release isn't likely.


All images were taken from the IMDB gallery of the show. The item was provided by CBS TV/Paramount for review on this site.