Airplane!’s Creators Reveal the Origins of ‘Don’t Call Me Shirley’

New York Magazine ^ | 2/1 | Abraham Riesman

[Hot Tabasco]

Not all of us. ;-)

Were you here during the formative days when there was a problem with Italics?

[Tired of Taxes]

I don’t remember, but I got the joke, anyway.

[Nailbiter]

That scene is take off of Get Smart scene if not mistaken

[dfwgator]

[dfwgator]

The IV Tube getting dislodged.

[uglybiker]

SHIIIIIIIIIIIIT!!!
(Golly!)

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

Only 10 kinds of people in this world. Those who understand binary, and those who don’t.

[Lil Flower]

What in holy hell.......

[exDemMom]

I love that scene, but I have seen the movie on TV where that scene has been cut short to omit the line “Like my men.”

What? Why do the TV movie editors ruin the joke like that?

[MD Expat in PA]

Angie Tribeca is another current cop show spoof that's pretty good. I only heard of it a week or two ago.

I caught some episodes when TBS was running a 24-hour marathon the other week.

I think the show is very funny especially some of the recurring gags like the CSI type doctor who always shows up with some sort of disability but then stands up and goes on with none. That and the cop who vomits every episode.

[MD Expat in PA]

I can never hear the Bee Gee's song Staying Alive without picturing the scene from Airplane!

Airplane! "Staying Alive"

[Cowgirl of Justice]

How did I miss this entire thread??!!

Sheesh!!!

[TigerClaws]

ZAZ explained NAKED GUN didn’t work on TV because you had to pay close attention to the show. Kids running around, eating diner, whatever. You miss the jokes.

However, the real reason POLICE SQUAD had such a short TV run is the lack of character depth. GET SMART was an equally gag-filled show, but it had extremely strong characters (created by Mel Brooks and Buck Henry). You could do jokes from the characters.

POLICE SQUAD had very thinly drawn characters. The jokes were great, but they couldn’t sustain interest in a series without ‘real’ characters.