Police Squad: The Complete Series might have only lasted six episodes, but it probably was ahead of its time and, for my money, was actually far funnier than the first season of Seinfeld which thankfully NBC stuck with, if only ABC had done the same…
Police Squad: The Complete Series
(1982)
Genre(s): Comedy
Paramount | NR – 156 min. – $24.99 | April 14, 2020
Date Published: 04/13/2020 | Author: The Movieman
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Paramount provided me with a free copy of the Blu-ray I reviewed in this Blog Post.
The opinions I share are my own.
THE MOVIE — 4.5/5 |
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“We’re sorry to bother you at a time like this, Mrs. Twice. We would have come earlier, but your husband wasn’t dead then.” Plot Synopsis: Join Detective Frank Drebin (LESLIE NIELSEN) and Capt. Ed Hocken (ALAN NORTH) as they solve the toughest cases – full of all the sight-gags, puns, and non-sequiturs that made the series famous. Created by David Zucker, Jerry Zucker and Jim Abrahams, who gave us other classics such as Airplane! and The Naked Gun series. Quick Hit Review: Police Squad was, and still is, an incredibly hilarious spoof of the detective-crime genre and has the feel of Airplane with jokes recycled in the Naked Gun movies (which still worked there as well). Over the years, I probably popped in the DVD a few times and given it, unfortunately, only lasted 6 episodes, it does make for a quick binge-watch clocking in at around 2.5 hours. Nielsen is as incredibly funny as always, his straight-faced delivery was pitch-perfect. And although the movie is now going on 38 years old, airing back in 1982, the jokes still make me truly laugh-out-loud. If for, whatever reason, you still haven’t watched this series, give it a shot. |
SPECIAL FEATURES – 3.75/5 |
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All of the bonus material was ported over from the DVD release. Audio Commentaries:
Gag Reel (4:52) with plenty of gaffs and line flubs with Nielsen, and one where a bulb from a pole almost hit his head. Interview (8:41) with Leslie Nielsen. Behind the Freeze Frames (4:31) commentary with Weiss Abrahams and the two Zuckers. Casting Tests for Ed Williams (2:50) and Alan North (6:03) Also included: Producers’ Photo Gallery (0:58) of sets, props, etc; List of Celebrity Death Shots and Production Memo Highlights. |
VIDEO – 4.25/5 |
| Paramount releases Police Squad onto Blu-ray for the first time and is shown with a 1080p high-definition picture and in its original 1.33 full frame aspect ratio. Doubt any major work was done, but even so, a rather good looking HD picture, detail is pretty good and colors do have a slight better vibrancy in comparison with the DVD. Not quite sure it’s a significant improvement yet still notable. |
AUDIO – 4.5/5 |
| Also getting an upgrade is the audio, the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track is probably a decent upgrade over the DVD’s Dolby Digital 5.1. This was a show that aired in 1982 when presumably most televisions had one speaker, so you’re not going to get amazing depth, however the dialogue levels did sound quite good and I did detect the front and rears did get some usage, particularly with the score. |
OVERALL – 4.5/5 |
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Police Squad: The Complete Series might have only lasted six episodes, but it probably was ahead of its time and, for my money, was actually far funnier than the first season of Seinfeld which thankfully NBC stuck with, if only ABC had done the same… |
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