Полиция отряды!: Пародия және культтік сериал тарихы

1982 American television crime comedy series

Police Squad! was created by David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Jerry Zucker (ZAZ), who had previously worked on The Kentucky Fried Movie (1977) and Airplane! (1980). They wanted to make another spoof film similar to Airplane!, using the television series M Squad as a basis for the spoof. They had lacked an overarcing plot to the concept, so Paramount's Michael Eisner was able to secure them a six episode television series, despite ZAZ wanting to make it into a film. The show aired as a mid season replacement in March 1982, but was taken off the schedule after four episodes. The show gained a strong cult following through repeat broadcasts on cable channels. Alan North played Captain Ed Hocken, and Peter Lupus co starred as Officer Norberg. In the films, those roles were played by George Kennedy and O. J. Simpson respectively, with Norberg renamed Nordberg. The only actors who reprised their roles in the films are Leslie Nielsen, Ed Williams as scientist Ted Olson, and Ronald "Tiny Ron" Taylor as the very tall Al. Joyce Brothers played herself in the fourth episode and in The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!. Robert Goulet, one of the "special guest stars" killed during the title sequence, plays the villain Quentin Hapsburg in The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear.

Each episode's voiced title differs from that displayed on screen. In the following list, the voiced title is in parentheses.

Leslie Nielsen portrayed Sergeant Frank Drebin, detective lieutenant of Police Squad. Jerry Zucker explained that the name Drebin was picked blindly from the phone book. Zucker, Abrahams, and Zucker had met Nielsen when working on Airplane! (1980) and decided that their kind of humor matched. Ed Williams, who co starred as lab technician Ted Olson, had been a science teacher for many years and had some previous acting experience. Zucker, Abrahams, and Zucker were amazed by his performance. The sequence introduces Nielsen and North during a shootout, and Abraham Lincoln impersonator Rex Hamilton, who dramatically returns gunfire to John Wilkes Booth, as his only appearance. Another recurring gag in the opening credits sequence is the "special guest star", a celebrity who is introduced but immediately murdered. These special guest stars are Lorne Greene, Georg Stanford Brown, Robert Goulet, William Shatner, Florence Henderson, and William Conrad. A scene with John Belushi, tied to blocks of concrete under water, was filmed but replaced with footage of Henderson following Belushi's death before the episode was broadcast. A list of possible celebrity death shots was included in the DVD release.

The show was intended to mock police dramas in the same way in which Airplane! mocks disaster movies. in which most straight lines were directly copied from an M Squad episode. The pilot episode is a near scene for scene remake of "More Deadly", the opening episode of the second season of M Squad. Pat Proft, who had worked with Zucker, Abrahams, and Zucker on The Kentucky Fried Movie (1977) and Airplane! (1980), wrote the third episode. Robert Wuhl was invited to join the writing staff after he had auditioned for the lead role in Airplane!. He co wrote the show's second and sixth episodes with Tino Insana. Both episodes contain cultural references to old movies such as On the Waterfront and The French Connection. In Wuhl's audio commentary for the DVD, he mentioned that it was a nice opportunity, but that he did not really feel a connection with the show, especially because of its short run.</blockquote>

ABC announced the cancellation of Police Squad! after four of its six episodes had aired in March 1982. The final two episodes were aired that summer. In an interview for the DVD release of the series, Nielsen said ABC entertainment president Tony Thomopoulos asserted Police Squad! was canceled because viewers had to pay close attention to the show in order to get much of the humor: "the viewer had to watch it in order to appreciate it". Nielsen also thought the premise was more effective in the successful Naked Gun films because the much larger screen size in a cinema increases the efficacy of the visual gags. In its annual "Cheers and Jeers" issue, TV Guide magazine called the explanation for the cancellation "the most stupid reason a network ever gave for ending a series".

In 1985, Paramount Home Video first released all six episodes of the show on VHS, Betamax, and LaserDisc formats as two separate volumes: Police Squad! : Help Wanted! and More! Police Squad!, each with three episodes in their production order. Paramount and CBS DVD first released the series on DVD in 2006 in a keep case on one disc. The episodes are in airing order from ABC. The DVD extras include production notes from network executives, a "freeze frame" that was filmed but never used, bloopers, casting tests, and an interview with Nielsen. Zucker, Abrahams, and Zucker, producer Robert K. Weiss, and writer Robert Wuhl recorded audio commentary for the first, third, and sixth episodes. Critics universally praised how the show was still funny after more than 20 years. The series was released in Blu ray format in the US on April 14, 2020.

After the cancellation of Police Squad!, ZAZ returned to films, creating the comedies Top Secret! and Ruthless People. At this point, they were able to identify a narrative to apply to the Police Squad! formula for a theatrical film by adding a romantic plotline, and the film The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! was readily greenlit by Paramount. The film lead to the Naked Gun trilogy with two sequels, The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear (1991) and Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult (1994), were released. The Naked Gun 2 1/2: The Smell of Fear was considered the most successful of the three, grossing around $86,930,411, and Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult grossed $51,132,598. Roger Ebert rated the first movie 3 1/2 out of four stars and gave three stars to each of the two following films.

A series of British advertisements for Red Rock Cider were made in the same style, with the opening titles changed to other names such as "Fraud Squad" or "Fried Squid", and featuring Leslie Nielsen. The advertisements were shown in British cinemas as well as on television. They were directed by John Lloyd, with such apparent success that Zucker, Abrahams, and Zucker approached him to direct Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult, but he turned them down. During the WWE's SummerSlam 1994 pay per view event, the Police Squad! characters look for The Undertaker, who had previously vanished.

On Rotten Tomatoes, Police Squad! has an aggregate score of 90% based on 28 positive and three negative critic reviews. The website’s consensus reads: "Wacky, inventive, and endlessly quotable, Police Squad! is a hysterically funny leap forward for TV comedy that was tragically ahead of its time." Upon the home video release in 1985, Washington Post critic Tom Shales commented "People can rent them and laugh, and then cry that ABC was so cruel." In 2009, the DVD set was nominated for a Satellite Award for Best DVD Release of a TV Show, though it lost to the DVD set of the eighth season of Fox's The Simpsons. In 2013, TV Guide ranked it #7 on its list of 60 shows that were "Cancelled Too Soon". Matt Groening, creator of The Simpsons, has said, "If Police Squad! had been made twenty years later, it would have been a smash. It was before its time. In 1982 your average viewer was unable to cope with its pace, its quick fire jokes. But these days they'd have no problems keeping up, I think we've proved that."

Year Award Category Nominee(s) Result Ref. 1982 Primetime Emmy Awards Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series Leslie Nielsen Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, and Jerry Zucker 2006 Satellite Awards Best DVD Release of TV Shows The Complete Series 2014 Online Film & Television Association Awards Television Hall of Fame: Productions Season 1