What’s up, everybody? Reader here.
This morning, Eddie and I were talking about the impending reboot of one of my favourite comedy series of all-time, “The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!”
The original movie came out in 1988, followed by 1991’s “The Naked Gun 2-1/2: The Smell of Fear,” and 1994’s “The Naked Gun 33-1/2: The Final Insult.”
The sequels were great, but the original film is still the best to me.
It’s where many of us first met Lieutenant Frank Drebin, played by the one-and-only Leslie Nielsen (born in Regina, by the way), who perfected the art of playing it straight while lunacy surrounded him – a technique he began to utilize in another classic comedy by the Zucker-Abraham-Zucker writing team behind “The Naked Gun” – 1980’s “Airplane!”
Imagine my delight when I found the “Police Squad!” set on DVD! There were only six episodes made, that ran back in 1982.
I hadn’t seen the original TV series, and when I watched it, and say some of the jokes that crept their way into the movie, I laughed even harder in recognition!
Now, the “Naked Gun” reboot, is set to be released, as per Variety Magazine, on July 18, 2025.
It’s to be directed by Akiva Schaeffer of “The Lonely Island” crew, which includes “Brooklyn 99” star Andy Samberg, and “Family Guy” creator Seth Macfarlane is set to co-produce.
Who’s the star going to be? None other than Liam Neeson, who’s rumoured to be playing the son of Frank Drebin.
I’ll definitely give it a chance, but the original movie has a high bar to top.
Now… I told you all that, so I could tell you about this.
While Eddie and I were chatting about this reboot, it brought up a funny memory of when I made my first ever trip to Rocanville, a little over a year ago.
I was pressed into action for a live-on-location for our sister station, GX94, in December of 2022, and drove out there for the remote.
After wrapping things up, I stopped to grab a drink for the road.
And before I started driving, I saw this, and immediately had to snap a photo, and throw it on the Brother Chat (come on… don’t we all have a text group with our siblings?)
I’m not sure what exactly those structures were, or what they contained, but all it did was remind me of a scene from “The Naked Gun,” when Frank returns home after his wife took off on him, and his partner Ed was bringing him up to speed on that, and the condition of their good pal and colleague, Nordberg.
See if you can spot what I’m talking about!
I’m sure the reboot will be fine (and likely a little more crude, with Seth MacFarlane involved), but I think I’ll stick with the original.
Liam Neeson is fantastic, but it’ll be tough to top Canada’s own Leslie Nielsen, who admittedly wasn’t above a little bit of crude humour himself.
I’ll leave you with three minutes and 20 seconds of hilarity to see what I mean!
