Police Squad! (1982)IMDB LinkThey don’t know how spoof films anymore. Yes, there is a few good ones recently, (“Shaun of the Dead” for zombie films, “Hot Fuzz” for buddy cop films, and “Tropical Thunder” for war films), but the golden age has passed, replaced with moronic films, the “Scary Movie”, “Epic Movie”, and whatever movie garbage that the public enjoyed showering the studios with their money. Classic spoofs mocked the conventions of the genre and filmed in such a way, as to seem like the characters were playing it straight.
Frank: “We're sorry to bother you at such a time like this, Mrs. Twice. We would have come earlier, but your husband wasn't dead then.”One of the popular spoof films back then were the “Naked Gun” franchise. But before there was “Naked Gun”, there was a series called “Police Squad!”. It got cancelled after only six episodes, the studio’s reason being, "Police Squad! was canceled because the viewer had to watch it in order to appreciate it.", which does appear to be an insult to the viewers.
Frank Drebin: "Mr. Burton, we have men combing the entire lakefront area. If your daughter is close, we'll find her."
Warner: "The lakefront? My God, do you know how big that area is? My daughter's a needle in a haystack!"
Frank Drebin: "That's not true. I've seen a picture of her, she's very attractive." But I think it is fine it got cancelled, because the show’s format is better suited for the occasional movie rather than a series, since a lot of jokes were being repeated. Recurring gags are fine, when the scriptwriters would add a new twist to them every time. But some jokes were repeated verbatim, and it lost its charm. Such as Frank (Leslie Nielsen) offering a cigarette to someone by saying, “Cigarette?”, and the person answering, “Yes it is”. The first time it was a clever play on words, but having the same exact joke repeated twice more in two other episodes seems to show that the writers were running out of ideas.
Dutch Gunderson: "Who are you and how did you get in here?"
Frank Drebin: "I'm a locksmith. And, I'm a locksmith."As I mentioned, recurring gags is fine if done in different ways. I loved the way the episodes would end, with everyone laughing and a freeze frame, and credits coming on, like a lot of shows back then. Except in this show the freeze frame was fake and the actors only stood motionless. Each episode trying a different angle on this, in one the only thing moves is a monkey, throwing around the police paperworks while the cops are motionless. Or one where the villain that has been caught is surprised that no one is moving and tries to escape. Another gag I loved was the episode starting with a voice over introducing the show and actors and then mentioning the episode’s episode, except the title of that episode would be completely different.
"Mr. V": That was nice work. You took a big chance doing that.
Frank Drebin: Well, you take a big chance getting up in the morning, crossing the street, or sticking your face in a fan."The show is a play on the conventions of police shows, but also, the dialogue is filled with word plays. Imagine if everything that was said was taken literally. You’d be surprised at the results. At a party, a character invites another to the Japanese garden to talk more privately. They move out to the garden, and the Japanese garden is Japanese people standing motionless in flower pots. Hah!
Frank: "Is there a ransom note?"
Ed: "Yes, the butler found it; it was tied to this window and thrown into the rock garden. I sent the note to the lab; they're demanding one million dollars."
Frank: "Why would the lab demand a million dollars?"4/5
