After the success of The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (1988) and The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear (1991), Comedy Central and CBS re-aired all six episodes of this series in the summer of 1991. Producers wanted to include John Belushi's "guest star" appearance in Testimony of Evil (Dead Men Don't Laugh) (1982), which had been cut due to Belushi's death. The footage could not be located, and is now presumed lost or destroyed.
ABC wanted the show to have a laugh track, but David Zucker, Jim Abrahams and Jerry Zucker wouldn't give in.
According to an interview with David Zucker, Jim Abrahams and Jerry Zucker on the Nerdist podcast, the original choice for Frank Drebin was Robert Stack, but he turned it down. Leslie Nielsen was their second choice.
John Belushi filmed a cameo "guest star" appearance for episode six, "Testimony of Evil (Dead Men Don't Laugh)", showing him underwater wearing a pair of cement shoes. He died before the episode aired, so a new sequence was filmed with William Conrad.
Drebin's rank was often intentionally misused (he might announce himself as "Lieutenant Drebin", only to have that person immediately introduce him as "Captain Drebin". Even Drebin varied his title, making it one of those distinctively amusing subtleties, for which the Abrahms and Zucker Brothers team are known.
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