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! corresponds to the number of garbage cans that Frank's car crashes into when it arrives at the crime scene. Secondly, during each episode's epilogue sequence, either Drebin or Hocken states that the guilty party brought to justice is being sent to Stateville Prison – and lists all the characters sent there from previous episodes, in reverse order, where applicable. Leslie Nielsen portrayed Sergeant Frank Drebin, Detective Lieutenant Police Squad. Jerry Zucker explained that the name Drebin was picked blindly from the phone book. Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker had met Nielsen when working on "Airplane!" (1980) and felt their kind of