Did Airplane come before the Police Squad tv show? I think so but just would like some recall on the history.
And I’d say that the Police Squad series owes a debt to the old EC Mad comic books with parodies of things like Dragnet. Again every available space was crammed with “chicken fat” throwaway gags by Harvey Kurtzman and Will Elder.
Airplane! - 1980
Police Squad - 1982
Leslie Neilsen regarded Airplane! as a life saver. It was his first comedy role, and he felt he was getting stale in serious roles.