Your Minutes of Zen

[BrandonDaCollector]

I have no idea either, it could have lasted for so long! I hate it when the best shows are cancelled so early Oh they were clever doing that That was a nice clip there

[packerbacker180]

I was curious on Police Squad, so I looked at the 1981-82 prime time TV schedule. Police Squad debuted on March 4th of 1982 on Thursdays at 8 PM. Unfortunately, Magnum PI was airing at the same time on CBS and would finish 17th in prime-time ratings that season, its second season. And that season having begun in the Fall of 1981, had an already established audience for 20 episodes. Police Squad would go up against the last 3 episodes of season 2. VCRs were around, but only a fraction of people actually owned one by 1982, the reported number in the UK was 10%--I couldn't find an accurate number for the US. By the next season Magnum would finish 3rd overall in the ratings, so the show was clearly gaining momentum as 1982 went on, and a new comedy airing at the exact same start time probably didn't have much of a chance. It also didn't help that NBC debuted the series Fame! in January and that ran through May of that year and would go on to air for 6 seasons. Fame! of course was based on the popular film of 1980, so that probably had a built-in and established audience by March. So sadly, Police Squad was in a pretty lousy timeslot for a fledgling show and was cancelled after only 4 episodes (the last 2 would air in the middle of July).

According to Wikipedia: (Leslie) Nielsen said ABC entertainment president Tony Thomopoulos asserted Police Squad! was canceled because viewers had to pay close attention to the show in order to get much of the humor: "the viewer had to watch it in order to appreciate it". Nielsen also thought the premise was more effective in the successful Naked Gun films because the much larger screen size in a cinema increases the visual gags. In its annual "Cheers and Jeers" issue, TV Guide magazine called the explanation for the cancellation "the most stupid reason a network ever gave for ending a series".



In 2013, TV Guide ranked it #7 on its list of 60 shows that were "Cancelled Too Soon". Matt Groening, creator of The Simpsons, has said, "If Police Squad! had been made twenty years later, it would have been a smash. It was before its time. In 1982 your average viewer was unable to cope with its pace, its quick-fire jokes. But these days they'd have no problems keeping up, I think we've proved that."

Some of that was already covered in the Sitcoms thread, a threa dthat like Policie Squad, probably ended too soon, but if a tree falls in the woods...

general-discussions/a-live-studio-audience-sitcom-themes-t1207-10.html

Anyway, and now back to our show...

[BrandonDaCollector]

That was good trivia PB. Yeah, people weren't in the current conditioning then as they are now I mean comedy is in everything now. The series was lucky with the Naked Gun films because it basically resurrected Police Squad

That was a good Mama and Golden Girls, amazing how shows & TV have real identities & shows like Alex Trebeck & Jeopardy...for example the WWE movie I showed a while back...it stars Dolph Ziggler & Kane yet their wrestling personas don't exit in that movie's WWE universe...same thing with No Holds Barred...kinda weird really when you think about

[packerbacker180]

TV is funny that way.

[BrandonDaCollector]

I never watched MXC, I just recall the commercials on Spike. That was quite nuts to say the least but of that was funny.

[packerbacker180]

I recently downloaded Tubi to my new bedroom TV when I couldn't find anything to watch in bed one night. I started watching old Unsolved Mysteries episodes because they had the old version with Robert Stack still (a decade or so ago they started re-airing them but with Dennis Farina doing the voiceover for some reason). I also found MXC on there. It's till funny, but I always remembered it being funnier. Of course, we often watched on Saturday nights with friends while drinking, so...

[BrandonDaCollector]

Well that's good, I told you many times before about Tubi, they have a ton of films & series' on there. New & Vintage and especially love their horror selection. They have a lot of wrestling shows on there too, some totally fun stuff that you missed long ago so if you got nothing to do all day long you can really catch up with Tubi

Oh yeah, I used to watch Unsolved Mysteries all the time on Lifetime back it's original heyday with Robert Stack but really I don't recall Dennis Farina much later on. My Grandma got Me into it. At the time it was one of the only shows like it. I still recall the one with the Aliens, it was pretty spooky then before I learned the UFOlogy stuff

[packerbacker180]

Oh yeah, I used to watch it on Lifetime a lot but also when it used to originally air on NBC before Night Court when they moved Night Court to Wednesday nights at 9.

[BrandonDaCollector]

Yeah, I didn't get into it until it was on Lifetime but that is cool PB

That was some good Everybody Loves Raymond there. Amy Aquino is always good but gosh, Raymond's wife can be something else, downright hot really Good choice there PB

[packerbacker180]

Patricia Heaton was always nice looking but she got really MILF-y hot in the last couple seasons of Everybody Loves Raymond. Maybe it was the hairstyle, or she started dressing less like a frumpy mom, not sure.

Early seasons



Later seasons





Anyway...



Hey, it's Terry Kiser again!

No need to, but if you're curious, you can watch the whole episode...