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.

The original, dead-pan brilliance of Leslie N. at his best. The satire and parody of 60's and 70's police TV shows are broad efforts, ranging from corny, obvious backdrops to subtle satire aimed at the unbelievable dialogue found in old shows. In short, this thing is fantastic!