Police Squad! - Opening Sequence

Opening Sequence

The show's opening sequence was a satire on traditional opening sequences of crime dramas at that time, and of the 1950s, particularly Quinn Martin shows such as M Squad and The Fugitive. The opening credits have a portentous narrative over the opening titles which made a big feature of the show being "...in color" (a common real-life feature in opening credits and promos of TV shows in the 1960s, before color broadcasting became the norm). Nielsen and North are introduced as their characters, they are seen being shot at, and shooting back at their pursuers. Abraham Lincoln impersonator Rex Hamilton appeared in the opening credits of each episode, dramatically returning gunfire to John Wilkes Booth, though he did not appear in any episode. Hank Simms, who had worked as an announcer for some of Quinn Martin's programs, would announce the title of each episode, though the spoken title would never match the title caption.

Another recurring gag used in the opening sequence was the introduction of a "special guest star", a celebrity who would be introduced then immediately murdered during the credits. Lorne Greene, Georg Stanford Brown, Robert Goulet, William Shatner, Florence Henderson and William Conrad appeared as special guest stars during the show's run. A scene with John Belushi, tied to blocks of concrete under water, was filmed but replaced with footage of Henderson, due to Belushi's subsequent death before the episode was broadcast. Belushi's death came as a shock to Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker, as they had joked about Belushi's death after he almost choked during the filming of the scene. A list of possible celebrity death shots was included on the show's DVD release in 2006.