Every episode of the 1982 Jerry Zucker/Jim Abrahams/David Zucker comedy series "Police Squad!" featured a special guest star. The first episode, "A Substantial Gift (The Broken Promise)," featured a special appearance by Lorne Greene. The second episode, "Ring of Fear (A Dangerous Assignment)," featured Georg Stanford Brown. The third episode, "The Butler Did It (A Bird in the Hand)," starred Robert Goulet. Most fun for Trekkies was episode four, "Revenge and Remorse (The Guilty Alibi)," which featured a post
"Star Trek: The Motion Picture" William Shatner. The final two episodes featured Florence Henderson in "Rendezvous at Big Gulch (Terror in the Neighborhood)" and William Conrad in "Testimony of Evil (Dead Men Don't Laugh)." And that was it; the series only lasted six episodes.
The gag with all the celebrity cameos on "Police Squad!" was that the stars never lived past the opening credits. Lorne Green was merely pushed out of a speeding car with a knife in his chest; Brown was crushed by a falling safe; Florence Henderson was seen extracting a pie from the oven while singing "Put On a Happy Face" when she was suddenly mowed down by machine gun fire; Robert Goulet was executed by firing squad; and William Conrad was... also pushed out of a speeding car with a knife in his chest. Once they were dead, they were dead. Shatner, at the very least, got to have the most dramatic death of the celebrity stars. In his mere seconds of time on "Police Squad!," Shatner got to live out a whole miniature drama.
If one were to compile the collected screen time of all six celebrity cameos, it would last about 70 seconds. The celebrities never appeared in the show proper; the action always shifted to LAPD lieutenant Frank Drebin (Leslie Nielsen) and his stone-faced, slapstick investigations. The show was one of the funniest of all time; too funny to live, really. Hence, why it only lasted six episodes.
Read more: 15 Best TV Shows That Were Canceled After Only One Season
William Shatner Was Poisoned On Police Squad!
In Shatner's segment, he sits in a restaurant across from a charming young woman. Out of the blue, an off-screen assailant tries to murder him with a machine gun. Shatner, still seated, is quick enough to duck aside as a hail of bullets passes over his head (his date ducks, too). Shatner then sits bolt upright, extracts a handgun from his coat, fires a few shots, and, judging by the expression on his face, kills whoever was trying to harm him. Shatner smiles to himself and picks up a glass of wine, happy at a job well done, and toasts his date. When he takes a sip of his wine, however, he immediately begins to choke. Poison! While Shatner is choking, the life draining from his body, he points accusatorially at his date. It was her! The entire appearance is about 14 seconds.
The general consensus on "Police Squad!" was that it was way, way too joke-dense to be a hit. The series was hilarious, dropping in a new gag every few seconds, an approach that Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker practiced in their feature film "Airplane!" and, later, "Top Secret!" A viewer had to pay super-close attention to the show to see every small sight gag and listen closely to hear every pun. "Police Squad!" was literally too funny for a mainstream audience, and was canned after only four episodes. The final two episodes aired later in the summer.
"Police Squad!" found its success a few years later in the form of "The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!," a 1988 feature film based on the show. The film forced viewers to pay attention, and the humor was finally appreciated. Nielsen returned as Frank Drebin and the film spawned three sequels, including 2025's "The Naked Gun" starring Liam Neeson as Frank's adult son.
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