Monday, September 17, 2018

“Happy Days”: Police Squad & Belushi




One of the recurring jokes featured during the Police Squad opening credit sequence was to feature a “special guest star” who would then get immediately murdered. Among the celebrities “murdered” in such a manner were Robert Goulet (who would later get a role in Naked Gun 2 1/2.) and Lorne Greene.



One celebrity who had been scheduled to get “murdered” by drowning was John Belushi. In the segment, Belushi was shown being fitted for “cement shoes” then thrown into the water. The scene was filmed but was removed from the episode after Belushi passed away due to a drug overdose. A segment featuring Florence Henderson getting shot was repeated in its place and the footage from the original segment was destroyed out of respect to Belushi’s family.