Okay. This has nothing whatsoever to do with franchising, but I feel compelled to say something in memory of Leslie Nielsen, a/k/a Frank Drebin, a/k/a Dr. Rumack, a/k/a Phil Donahue, a/k/a Enrico Palazzo. Mr. Nielsen, who died on Sunday, was a huge part of some of the funniest movies ever made. I can't imagine my favorite comedy of all time, Airplane!, without Mr. Nielsen's deadpan Dr. Rumack. And The Naked Gun franchise (or Police Squad!, the short-lived television series on which it was based) would not have existed without him. Here is a great tribute written by Jerry Zucker, a member of the Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker team responsible for bringing us those great movies.
One of my favorite (clean) exchanges from The Naked Gun:
Frank: It's the same old story. Boy finds girl, boy loses girl, girl finds boy, boy forgets girl, boy remembers girl, girls dies in a tragic blimp accident over the Orange Bowl on New Year's Day.
Jane: Goodyear?
Frank: No, the worst.
Thank you for the laughs, Mr. Nielsen. Surely, you made the world a funnier place.
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