Police Squad! In Color!

[Pip Madeley]

Any fans of the Police Squad! TV series and the Naked Gun films? I've just been watching an episode and despite having seen it a number of times, I still laughed out loud. It's a fantastic spoof on those old 1970s police dramas, I love the fact that everyone plays it totally straight. The gags come thick and fast, both visual and spoken, and you really don't appreciate them all unless you've watched it a few times - I think that's why it never really took off at the time, you really had to watch it closely. Really was a fantastic series, one of the funniest comedy shows of all time in my opinion.

Favourite moments or quotes, anyone? One of mine is this classic:

"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."

and...

Dutch Gunderson: "Who are you and how did you get in here?"
Det. Frank Drebin: "I'm a locksmith. And, I'm a locksmith."

[Antony Cox]

It is a fantastic series, isn't it?

IIRC they didn't make that many episodes, but I too LOL'd all the way through the series when it was on BBC2 years ago.

The only bit I can specifically remember is where an ex-boxer wanted to marry his washing machine!

[SiHart]

I loved it, but I haven't seen it for years. The bits I liked were the "freeze frames" at the end of each episode. I remember finding the one where someone was pouring hot coffee onto someone else killingly funny at the time.

Si xx

[Pip Madeley]

It is a fantastic series, isn't it?

IIRC they didn't make that many episodes, but I too LOL'd all the way through the series when it was on BBC2 years ago.

Only six episodes, but they're available on DVD, definitely worth a purchase!

[Antony Cox]

Thanks, Pip! That'll be going on my Christmas list, for sure!

[Jason Thompson]

Bought the series on DVD a couple of months ago. I love it. The humour in some respects is quite similar to the sort of thing we expect from shows like The Simpsons, but Police Squad did it all first. The Naked Gun films are great too, lifting some of the best bits from the series ('Cigarette?' 'Yes, I know'; the gunfight between two bins two feet apart) but mostly coming up with some classic stuff of their own (Nordberg's conversion of a handgun to a heavy artilery piece; 'All right, who else is almost dead?'). The perfectly straight performances make the comedy what it is. I suspect Douglas Adams would have aproved, as he was always complaining about actors and directors who thought that obviously comedic dialogue should be played with silly voices and the like, which is totally avoided in the series and films.

Favourite bits:

"You've got something on the side of your mouth, Al. No, the other side."

"I can't see anything."
"Use your open eye, Frank"

"I could take him wearing a blindfold"
"What if he's not wearing a blindfold?"

[Ralph]

"Any fans of the Police Squad! TV series and the Naked Gun films?"

*Ralph raises his hand eagerly*

Yes I love it!! I've still to watch the Police Squad TV series - I have it on DVD.

[Pip Madeley]

Get on with it man, you're missing out!

[Ralph]

Righty ho my good fellow!

[Martin Penny]

I've still yet to see the TV series, I'll have to pick it up.

I do plan on doing a rewatch of the films soon, as I got the boxset for my birthday and have yet to watch it!

[Si Hunt]

I love the bit in the films where Nordburg is shot, then smashed over the head, then he accidentally dips his elbow in some wet paint and goes "Arrghhh!"

And I remember laughing really hard at the bit where he investigates the apartment and, for no reason at all, starts doing backflips all round it.

Si.

[Pip Madeley]

I love the bit where they search the cleanly polished car expecting to find drugs, ripping open the seats, smashing the windscreen, stripping the whole thing down to its frame, when they eventually think about checking the glove compartment And then having found the drugs, put it neatly back together, into a completely different model of car

[Jon Masters]

Too many classic bits in such a short space of time - the bad back projection when he's driving, the cop from Highlander, the creepy forensics guy doing experiments with kids, Norberg getting very keen on his key cutting job, the guest stars who die in the title sequence.

Like Fawlty Towers, perfectly executed and finished before it got spoilt.