Remember Police Squad?

 Me neither. I was born in the 90's. I've had thoughts on this subject for a while now, and only just remembered that I have an (albeit small) platform to broadcast my thoughts. You may have heard of or even remember the short-lived spoof police procedural TV show, Police Squad!, but in case you haven't, I'll briefly describe it:

Police Squad is a comedy TV show about a police precinct solving crimes, focussing mainly on the activity of Detective Frank Drebin. The comedy is surreal and absurdist and despite good reviews and positive feedback, ran for only six episodes in 1982.

You're probably thinking, why cancel it if it had positive feedback? I'll let then ABC entertainment president Tony Thomopoulos take that one:

[Thomopoulos] claimed it was because "the viewer had to watch it in order to appreciate it." 

TV Guide magazine would later condemn that statement as "The most stupid reason a network ever gave for ending a series." 

(source: Bizarre Reasons These TV Shows Were Canceled)

What Thomopoulos meant was that Police Squad! couldn't be watched casually; the viewer had to pay attention as every shot was filled with jokes, both visual and verbal. This made it impossible to catch them all for an average viewer. In theory, viewers could have caught more with multiple rewatches, but this was in 1982, before the popularity of even VHS had taken off.

Simpsons creator Matt Groening (it's pronounced 'graining'!) said: "If Police Squad! had been made twenty years later, it would have been a smash. It was before its time." 

Groening was right, as had it been produced in 2002, people would have been able to pause and rewind on home media. Want to see someone explain it better than me in a more interesting and engaging way? Check out the video below:

Everyone always talks about the so called "cleverest quote" when they think of Police Squad!

However, I've always been a bigger fan of this quote:

Although after the TV show was made, three movies were released, fans of Police Squad! have always mourned the fact that it was never rebooted or renewed. However, all is not lost. Let's take a quick look at what seems to be the writing process for Police Squad!

Next time I'll pay for Visio

What if I told you:

• There's another show that uses the same formula
• It's also a police procedural
• It ran for at least 7 episodes
• It stars some of your favourite comedic actors
• It's created by Steve and Nancy Carrell
• There's a dog

I may have mis-sold you if you are interested because of the last point. Yes, there's a dog, but he plays a human, and they never address this.

Officer David Hoffman

The show is called Angie Tribeca (tagline: Finally! A show about cops!)

However, I unfortunately can't just recommend watching the show, because it's not on anything. None of the major streaming sites hold it (at least in the UK where I am), and even the DVD is only available of Season 1.

Dear Hollywood, PUT IT ON SOMETHING!