Police Squad! (1982)

ABC pulled this cop-show spoof after six episodes in 1982, and the network's reported reason has become a legend of its own: viewers supposedly had to actually watch it to appreciate it. They did, eventually. Leslie Nielsen's deadpan Frank Drebin and the Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker gag density went on to power the Naked Gun films. Six self-contained episodes means nothing is left hanging, and there is barely a second without a sight gag in the background. Both Nielsen and the writing earned Emmy nominations, which tells you the industry noticed even if the ratings did not. The ideal first stop if you know the movies but never saw where Drebin started.