3 August 2009

D is for Drebin (Police Squad!)


The popularity of the detective genre makes the subject prime for a parody or two. Probably one of the best TV detective spoofs only lasted six episodes. 'Police Squad!' was created by the comedy filmmaking trio Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker, who had previously worked together on The Kentucky Fried Movie and Airplane!. Packed with visual gags and non sequiturs and spoofing three decades-worth of TV detective shows, the show was quickly cancelled by ABC after just six episodes, doubtless because of its surreal quality. The show gained a strong cult following through repeats, leading to a film version in 1988 entitled 'The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!' and two further sequels. Leslie Nielsen starred as Detective Frank Drebin in the series and all three films.

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