Police Squad! "TV Guide" ranked it #7 on their list of 60 shows that were "Cancelled Too Soon". "Police Squad!" was created by Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker, who had all previously worked together on "The Kentucky Fried Movie" and "Airplane!". Despite critical acclaim, the show was cancelled by ABC after just six episodes. The show gained a strong cult following through repeat broadcasts, which led to "The Naked Gun" film series. Alan North played the role of Captain Ed Hocken on the show; in the films, the role was played by George Kennedy. Peter Lupus co-starred as Officer Norberg, but in the
Police Squad! Squid", and featuring Leslie Nielsen. In one of these ads, Nielsen shouts, "Hey! You, over there, in the shadows!" The man steps forward and reveals himself to be Hank Marvin, guitarist with sixties pop group, the Shadows. The catchphrase was "Red Rock Cider—it's not red, and there's no rocks in it." The opening titles were re-used for the commercials (see "above"); they included: Some of the jokes that were used in the commercials were originally taken from "Police Squad!" such as when Ed says "Cover me!" and gets covered with a blanket, which was a gag taken from "The Butler