12/2/1988 The Naked Gun is revealed

December 2, 1988.  David Zucker, Jerry Zucker, and Jim Abrahams. the creators of the classic comedy Airplane, made a TV series called Police Squad which was hilarious, but it had a problem.  You actually had to watch it.  If you turned the set on while you read a magazine or knitted, and  just listened, you missed most of the jokes, because they were visual.  For example, two cops get in an elevator at headquarters, discussing the case.  But if you weren't watching you would miss the fact that on one floor the elevator apparently opened onto the diving board of a swimming pool.

So the show died after six episodes.  But the movie The Naked Gun brought back the concept and Leslie Nielsen as detective Frank Drebin.  And now the formula worked.

Tell us about it, Frank:  "Well, you take a chance getting up in the morning, crossing the street, or sticking your face in a fan."