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The 2025 reboot of “The Naked Gun” has origins that go back further than the three prior films: the 1988 original, “The\u00a0Naked Gun 2 1\/2: The Smell of Fear”\u00a0in 1991 and “The\u00a0Naked Gun 33 1\/3:\u00a0The Final Insult”\u00a0in 1994. We first met Detective-Sergeant-Captain-Lieutenant Frank\u00a0Drebin (Leslie Nielsen) in March 1982 on the ABC series “Police Squad!,” which deserved far better than cancellation<\/a> after four episodes (ABC broadcast two more episodes in July). The show’s creators \u2014 Jim Abrahams and brothers David and Jerry Zucker \u2014 applied the comedy template from their 1980 hit movie “Airplane!” to a classic police procedural to make a silly show that was canceled for the silliest reason ever.<\/p>\n Tony Thomopoulos was president of ABC at the time, but apparently didn’t have much confidence in his audience. In 1989, the\u00a0Los Angeles Times<\/a>\u00a0quoted Thomopolous as saying that\u00a0viewers had to\u00a0\u201dpay too much attention” to appreciate the humor of “Police Squad!” Whether or not you were watching when it aired, this notion seems utterly ridiculous in hindsight. Although there were often\u00a0subtle visual gags playing out in the background of a scene, the jokes weren’t hard to catch or understand despite a rapid-fire pace.<\/p>\n “Police Squad!” might be the only comedy show to be canceled for essentially being too funny, and it’s\u00a0become a cult hit thanks to the film franchise. That success makes ABC’s decision look even more shortsighted now, although we knew it was a mistake 40-plus years ago.\u00a0A 2017 article in Vulture<\/a> quoted TV Guide’s contention from 1982 that this was “the most stupid reason a network ever gave for ending a series.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n You can buy Police Squad! on DVD or Blu-Ray<\/p>\n Despite the show’s very brief run on network TV, the “Police Squad!” legacy has lived on for decades. The original “The Naked Gun” film placed 11th in TVLine’s rankings of the best movies that came from TV shows<\/a>. David Zucker directed\u00a0 the first two “Naked Gun”\u00a0sequels,\u00a0and Seth MacFarlane produced a 2025 reboot starring Liam Neeson as Frank\u00a0Drebin Jr.<\/p>\n The creator of “Ted,” “The\u00a0Orville,” and the upcoming Peacock series “Dungeon Crawler Carl<\/a>” said the Drebin family might not yet be done with its hapless crime-fighting efforts. “I know everyone would love to [make another ‘Naked Gun’ film], including Liam,” MacFarlane told The\u00a0Hollywood Reporter<\/a>. “We have not heard anything yet. I think it’s all up to Paramount.”<\/p>\n As for the original “Police Squad!” series, complex distribution rights (Paramount Television produced the series for ABC) have contributed to keeping it off of major streaming outlets. There are plenty of “Police Squad!”\u00a0highlight videos and blooper reels on YouTube, though, and you can buy the complete “Police Squad!” series<\/a>\u00a0from Amazon\u00a0on DVD ($8.08) or Blu-Ray ($13.96).<\/p>\n
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