Police Squad!
The Butler Did It (A Bird in the Hand)
TV Flash files “The Butler Did It (A Bird in the Hand)” as a desk essential hour — Police Squad! (1982) on ABC, season 1, episode 3, aired 1982-03-18, 30 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S01E03: listed hour 3 of 6 in the Police Squad! guide, hour 3 of 6 in season 1. It aired 1982-03-18 (30 min). The listed hour before it is “Ring of Fear (A Dangerous Assignment)” (S01E02). Next is “Revenge and Remorse (The Guilty Alibi)” (S01E04).
Essential hour: “The Butler Did It (A Bird in the Hand)”. The Butler Did It (A Bird in the Hand) stacks a cliché and a parenthetical: ZAZ packing gags in the frame, cancellation already warming up.
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
The daughter of a textile tycoon is kidnapped and Frank must find her before it's too late to pay the ransom.
Viewer FAQ
Where does The Butler Did It (A Bird in the Hand) sit in the Police Squad! guide?
S01E03 is listed hour 3 of 6 — hour 3 of 6 in season 1, season 1 episode 3.
When did Police Squad! S01E03 air?
The Butler Did It (A Bird in the Hand) aired 1982-03-18 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…