Police Squad!
A Substantial Gift (The Broken Promise)
TV Flash files “A Substantial Gift (The Broken Promise)” as a desk essential hour — Police Squad! (1982) on ABC, season 1, episode 1, aired 1982-03-04, 30 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S01E01: listed hour 1 of 6 in the Police Squad! guide, first listed hour of season 1. It aired 1982-03-04 (30 min). No earlier hour is listed in this guide. Next is “Ring of Fear (A Dangerous Assignment)” (S01E02).
Essential hour: “A Substantial Gift (The Broken Promise)”. A Substantial Gift (The Broken Promise) is the six-hour contract: background jokes that punish anyone who only listens, Nielsen discovering deadpan.
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
Sally, a bank teller deeply in debt, robs her own bank and plants evidence that implicates a fairly commonplace man who was present during the crime. Police Squad, a special unit of the police force, is called to investigate a double shooting that happened during the robbery. However, the stories just don't add up. The evidence builds and points in Sally's direction, but it's up to Frank to find the clues that will put her away.
Viewer FAQ
Where does A Substantial Gift (The Broken Promise) sit in the Police Squad! guide?
S01E01 is listed hour 1 of 6 — first listed hour of season 1, season 1 episode 1.
When did Police Squad! S01E01 air?
A Substantial Gift (The Broken Promise) aired 1982-03-04 and is listed at 30 minutes.
Is that really the whole show — six episodes?
Yes. ABC, 1982, then cancellation for requiring too much attention. The Naked Gun movies are the revenge tour. A compact master class; there is no backlog to fear.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Six episodes. That's the entire series. Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker visual-gag density with Leslie Nielsen discovering deadpan as a religion, then ABC canceled it for requiring too much attention. The Naked Gun movies are the revenge tour. A compact master class in background jokes that punish anyone who only listens.
Six episodes. That is the entire silhouette. ABC, 1982: Detective Frank Drebin investigates with nonstop background gags and straight-faced absurdity — Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker visual-gag density, Leslie Nielsen discovering deadpan as a religion, Alan North as Capt. Ed Hocken, Peter Lupus as Norberg. Police Squad! is a look that requires eyes. *Background jokes as tailoring, deadpan as a costume, a frame packed until it photographs as a dare.* Style is the plot. If you only listen, you are watching half the show —…
Filed against
- Leslie Nielsen as Det. Frank Drebin
Leslie Nielsen discovered deadpan as a religion playing Det. Frank Drebin on Police Squad! — six episodes of Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker visual-gag density before ABC decided attention was too much to ask. Background jokes as a full-time job.…
- Alan North as Capt. Ed Hocken
Alan North’s Capt. Ed Hocken straight-faced Police Squad!’s entire six-episode life — Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker visual-gag density, Leslie Nielsen discovering deadpan as a religion, ABC canceling it for requiring too much attention. The…
- Peter Lupus as Norberg
Peter Lupus’s Willy Armitage was Mission: Impossible’s human set piece — IMF muscle as a specialist, strength as one instrument in a weekly machine of disguises and briefings. Competence was the glamour. TV Flash still files the strongman…