The directors cast Nielsen for his ability to play like "a fish in water", saying "You could have cast funny people and done it with everybody winking, goofing off, and silly ... we wanted people to be oblivious to the comedy." For Nielsen, "Airplane!" marked a shift from dramatic roles to deadpan comedy. When it was suggested his role in "Airplane!" was against type, Nielsen protested that he had "always been cast against type before", and that comedy was what he always wanted to do. The same directors cast Nielsen in a similar style, in their TV series "Police Squad!". The series introduced Nielsen as Frank Drebin, the stereotypical police officer modelled after serious characters in earlier police series.