Police Squad! - The Complete Series (DVD, 2006)

Police Squad! is one of those shows that just didn't get the chance it deserved. The show skewered, among other targets, the Quinn Martin crime shows of the 1960's and 70's (The Fugitive, Cannon, The Streets of San Francisco, etc.). Leslie Nielsen, who had guest starred on many of the shows Police Squad spoofed, was hilariously perfect. With his deadpan delivery, it was a perfect follow-up to the career altering path Nielsen had forged with his performance in Airplane.

But as fitfully funny and clever as it was, Police Squad!, for some reason, couldn't pull in the audiences that had flocked to see Zucker/Zucker/Abrahams' Airplane just two years earlier. The series suffered from low ratings from the start and never found its audience. One of the running gags on the show was the introduction of a "special guest star" who was immediately killed off in the some horrible fashion right after the introduction. Lorne Green, William Shatner, Georg Stanford Brown and Florence Henderson were among the guest stars who were shot, stabbed, machine-gunned and poisoned. Unfotunately, the guest star for the sixth episode was John Belushi who died right before the episode was to air. ABC had to pull the show until a new introduction could be filmed. Right after that, the series was cancelled after just six episodes, cutting short the run of one of the funniest series of all time.

Fortunately, the team of Zucker/Zucker/Abrahams resurrected the Police Squad! series in the form of the Naked Gun series in the late 1980's. The premise, and Leslie Nielsen, finally got the exposure it deserved and the result was three hilarious films that did very well at the box office. However, when the three films were released on DVD, there was no corresponding release of the original series on DVD.

Now, finally, the original series is coming to DVD on November the 7th. Hopefully many will buy the DVD and realize what a crime it was for ABC to cancel this hilarious series so soon.

I remember the series and how funny it was. It is PG entertainment that younger and older viewers will not be offended by. I enjoy the slapstick entertainment and visual 'gags'. Some of them are corny, but that is what made the short lived series funny. I have shown it at a few parties where most people have not even heard of it. They have heard of the Naked Gun series that this series lead to but not the television show. It is a lot of fun to watch.

"Police Squad!" was created and written by the creative minds that made the "Naked Gun" movies. This short-lived TV series was hilarious and, to me, remains so until this day.

The nuances and satire are something to behold and will make the sternest person smile.

This dvd includes the complete series of Police Squad(all six episodes). Each individual episode contains a similar plot as the others with the resusing of same or similar jokes in each. These became redudant while watching the episodes from start to end. The episodes were very entertaining and still recommend watching at least one of these episodes, if not all of them or a span of time.

A very good spoof of television police shows. This series laid the ground work for the "Naked Gun" triolgy. The only sad thing about this series is that the show didn't last longer so more shows could have been produced. A+++