Police Squad!: The Complete Series

Summary

“From now on the boxers in this town will lose honestly.”

When Comedy Central first became available in my service area in the mid-Nineties, I remember that the programming for the network was fairly limited but pretty wonderful. The movies aired that I remember were: Zorro the Gay Blade, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Gung Ho!, and Beer. The show that was playing in marathons and regularly in between those films was all six episodes of Police Squad! I know that I saw all the episodes of Police Squad! at some point, but I think until the other night it had been about twenty five years since I had viewed them. When I saw that Police Squad!: The Complete Series was coming to Blu-ray, I was excited to revisit it. The other night I sat down to watch the series and I ended up plowing through all six episodes over the course of two nights. 

Sergeant Frank Drebin – Detective Liutenant (Leslie Nielsen)- works for Police Squad – a special force inside of the Police. Captain Ed Hocken (Alan North) works with Frank to solve the numerous crimes that plague their city. Over the course of the six episode series, Frank solves crimes ranging from corruption in boxing, to gang land “protection,” to cold blooded murder. Each episode follows a specific formula of two acts and an epilogue.

Police Squad! made me laugh more frequently than anything I have watched in awhile. Jim Abrahams, Jerry Zucker, and David Zucker brought their deliriously silly humor to the series and the resulting show remains one of the most original comedies of all time. Like Airplane! was a send-up of a specific disaster film called Zero Hour!, each episode of Police Squad! is a sendup of an episode from M Squad, the television series starring Lee Marvin that ran from 1957 to 1960. Police Squad! thinks of every idiotic/brilliant gag possible to jam into the show’s running time. The way that Drebin hits trash cans every time he parks his car, the mismatched name displayed for the episode versus what the narrator says, the ways that sayings are engineered into gags – it is all very funny and clever. The humor of the show is a balancing act that is very hard to pull off, which explains why so few attempt to replicate it. 

Unfortunately, despite great reviews and a devoted fanbase, the series was unable find an audience in 1982. The reason the show failed to connect was simply that the show forces the viewer to actually watch the show to catch the gags. There was no laugh track to let the audience know when to laugh or pay attention. The jokes come so frequently that it is easy to miss some. In fact, I would argue that it is nearly impossible to catch every joke in each episode on one viewing. This gives the show a great replay value for the viewers, allowing them to find more jokes on repeat viewings.

The two principal actors in the show do an incredible job. Leslie Nielsen brings so much to the role. His ability to deliver incredibly silly dialogue with a straight face is unsurpassed, and this series is in my opinion his best work. He is wonderful in Airplane!, but I think this series is really his finest moment. Alan North is a great supporting actor and his freeze frames with Nielsen stand as some of the best moments in the series. Throughout the course of the series there are numerous great guest starring roles. One of the recurring gags revolves around guest stars being murdered in the opening moments of the show. My personal favorite was William Shatner’s brief appearance. Aside from the strong writing and acting, the show also features some well appointed direction. The great Joe Dante directed the second episode and the final episode of the show. As he mentioned in our recent interview, one of the reasons the show works so well is the shorter format. 

Overall – Police Squad! is very very funny. Fans of the Naked Gun trilogy and Airplane! will probably enjoy this show even more than those films, which comes as a high compliment. The show is considered a classic for a reason and I am glad that Paramount has released the entire series on Blu-ray.

Video

Police Squad!: The Complete Series has been given a strong effort by Paramount Pictures. Presented in its original full frame presentation of 1.33:1 aspect ratio, the series looks pretty good on Blu-ray. I was reminded of a similar experience from when I purchased the Batman!: The Complete Series. All six episodes have been transferred over well. The first episode is the least impressive of the bunch and the series continues to improve in overall visual quality as it goes along. Fine detail improves as the series progresses. I can’t imagine a single fan being disappointed by the visual presentation.

Audio

Paramount Television has provided a well done English DTS-HD MA 5.1 track and the original Dolby Digital 2.0 mono track. While the mono track capably replicates the original sound design, the new DTS-HD MA 5.1 track shows off significant improvements. The 5.1 track is boisterous and as zany as the show itself. Given all of the canned sound effects, the track has more going on than one might expect. I was very pleased with the overall sound of this release.

Supplements:

• Audio Commentaries: 
  • For “A Substantial Gift:” David Zucker, Jerry Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Robert K. Weiss. 
  • For “The Butler Did It:” David Zucker, Jerry Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Robert K. Weiss. 
  • For “Testimony of Evil:” Robert Wuhl.
• Gag Reel 
• Leslie Nielsen Interview: in this feature, actor Leslie Nielsen discusses his enjoyment of filming both the series and the films that followed.
• Behind the Freeze Frames
• Casting Test – Ed Williams
• Casting Test – Alan North 
• Producers’ Photo Gallery
• List of Celebrity Death Shots 
• Production Memo Highlights

Overall Scores:

Video – 4/5

Audio – 4.5/5

Supplements – 3/5

Overall – 4.5/5

Police Squad!: The Complete Series is a wonderful (and well priced) release from Paramount Television. While Leslie Nielsen is very funny in the Naked Gun films and in Airplane!, I don’t believe he was ever better than when he performed in this show. I was consistently pleased to see that the humor of the show feels as strikingly original as it did upon the show’s release. I highly recommend picking up this set if you have any interest in this show whatsoever. The Blu-ray features a solid visual and audio presentation and some well appointed features from the prior DVD release. Highly recommended.