Time ago I did a review of a re-edit of a beloved television series I never watched. Now I'm going to review a TV adaptation of a beloved film series I never watched. Hear me out, how does it play out for an outsider?
Background
Police Academy The Series was created by Paul Masalansky, a producer on the original Police Academy movies. The quality of the show hits different when it's the conscious effort of someone associated with the initial property. Then again it was the work of the producer, so I guess he saw dollar signs or something, he or the distributor.
Along with Masalansky, the show was co-produced by George Goodman and Barry Rosen, who both had previously produced a television adaptation for Zorro, one of many, back in 1990, which was strangely co-produced by the animation studio behind Doug and The Adventures of TinTin (this was a live-action show by the way.)
Another producer behind this was Steven S. Levitan. Wait, you mean the guy behind Modern Family? No. I mean the guy behind Goosebumps, well, he produced the TV adaptation. Still just as interesting.
Police Academy The Series was produced for syndication, a different ballpark compared to network television. You can get away with a bit more in syndication and are guaranteed more episodes, but you're held back by budget restraints. Many shows like these were outsourced to international units to make use of tax credit programs or cheaper filming. Warner Bros. took advantage of this the most in the 90s, via partnerships with French and German backers. However, this seems to be an exception.
Also interesting fact, Protocol also produced Code Name Eternity, another Warner Bros. syndie show.
Though not that obvious, the show was filmed in Ontario. Because of the cheaper filming and funding, they couldn't afford bigger actors, i.e., those from the movies. They were able to get Michael Winslow, but only for limited commitments. The show featured Matt Borlenghi, who's surprisingly still acting as recently as Cobra Kai, and had a lot of roles before then after this.
There was also Joe Flaherty, Kenneth Mars, Dom DeLuise, Colleen Camp, even some voice actors. One interesting thing about Canadian productions is that some of them actually recruit voice actors to appear in live action roles. It happened once with Tabitha St. Germain in an episode of The Outer Limits.
In the first episode alone, we got appearances from Andrew Kavadas, aka Bruce Banner in Fantastic Four: World's Greatest Heroes... also Simon Belmont from Captain N. There was also Dave Squatch Ward, but he has too distinct of a voice for me to not recognize. I know him from two other roles.
The Show
Whether or not this follows the structure of the original movie is not known to me. All I know is that it's a slap-sticky comedy film taking place in and around the police. I can tell new characters were brought in to mimic those in the films, once more, it would cost a hell of a lot more to get them to commit to 22 episodes.
Of these we have the dumb as dirt but kindhearted giant, the fierce latina, the blonde who seems to be a hazard to the luck of those she loves, two relatives who worship each other, I'm sure there's an allegory in there somewhere, the skeptic sergeant and the goofball commander. Also the smooth talking lead, named Richard Casey.
Casey is brought in as a cadet after separating the roof of a car from a bus driven by two assholes who wrecked his truck, as an ultimatum against prison time. Noble intents brought him in, so fair enough.
One problem people have that I can understand is that the show is trying too hard to be funny, and... true. They lay on a lot of sight gags and slapstick. Is this gonna be like Ninja Turtles The Next Mutation? No, because Next Mutation will always be more idiotic. At least Police Academy lays the gags on harder than crazy sound effects.
To its advantage, most of these gags catch me by surprise. They may be silly, okay stupid, but I never expected the big guy to shoot a lightbulb, nor did I expect Casey to stuff jinx girl's bras with foam rubber to ensure she can pass a swimming test. The show at large isn't that serious to begin with, and the plots lend themselves to that quite well, another advantage against Next Mutation which has ideas that should be taken seriously, but they just fuck it up.
For how corny it is, they wear it by the sleeve, so I guess expectations for non Police Academy viewers could be reasonably low. It's not edgy 90s schlock, it's not in your face with idiotic trends and I have yet to see one skateboard. It's basically a classic.
I'm aware that the original movie had a balance between comedy and more serious bits, yeah that's a letdown... moving on.
Compared to Turbocharged Thunderbirds, I actually managed to sit through one episode of this show in one sitting. Yeah, a marathon of dumb gags with the same commercials repeated managed to hold my interest for that long. I have shit taste.
Final Thoughts
There really isn't much I can really say about this show. It's dumb and a disservice to the movie it's based on, but it's not unwatchable. If you're in the right mood you could get some enjoyment out of some good ol' dumb humor, and be surprised at most of the visual gags. As someone who never saw the original Police Academy, this doesn't impact my opinion on it, I can expect it to be better than the show, but I dunno, this wasn't that bad, it's not good but I've seen worse. There is worse.
In principle, at least they didn't make it a cartoon that went with a trend of adapting adult or R rated franchises and turning them into kids cartoons. If Fred Wolf didn't make Freddy Krueger and the Straight Edge Gang he is no creator I wish to know.
It really is a love it or hate it deal, whether people like it or not.
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