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COPS (TV series)

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COPS is an American television series that follows police officers, constables, and sheriff's deputies during patrols and other police work. It is one of the longest-running television programs in the United States, and is often considered the original reality television program. Created by John Langley and Malcolm Barbour, it premiered on March 11, 1989, and has aired over 600 episodes. It won the American Television Award in 1993, and has earned four Emmy nominations. It celebrated its 650th episode on May 20, 2006.

COPS is broadcast by the Fox Network, and follows the activities of police officers by embedding camera crews with police units. The show's formula calls for no narration or scripted dialog, depending entirely on the commentary of the officers and on the actions of the people with whom they come into contact.

The show has followed officers in 140 different cities in the United States, and also has filmed in Hong Kong, London, and the former Soviet Union. Each episode is approximately 22 minutes in length, and typically consists of three segments, with each segment being one or two self-contained police incidents.

The show is well known for its theme song, "Bad Boys", sung by reggae group Inner Circle.

Contents

History and background

COPS was the brainchild of John Langley and Malcolm Barbour. In 1983, Langley was filming a show called Cocaine Blues, which focused on the South Florida drug scene. Langley and Barbour went on a drug raid with drug enforcement officers as part of their research into the film. Both were taken in by the adrenaline rush of the raid and the unpredictable nature of the events that unfolded before them. “Just the adrenaline rush of not knowing what would happen at any time,” Langley says. “It seemed a natural to do a TV show in the shoes of police officers.”

Langley and Barbour were unsuccessful at first selling their concept of a new form of show that would put the viewer in the car with real police officers. The unpredictable nature of an unscripted show, and the relative newcomer status of Langley and Barbour, proved to be fundamental roadblocks to the concept being picked up.

In the late 1980s, after producing a series of live syndicated specials called American Vice: The Doping of a Nation with Geraldo Rivera, Langley and Barbour pitched the COPS show concept to Stephen Chao, a then unknown FOX programming executive. Stephen Chao would one day become president of the FOX Television Stations Group and later USA Network. Chao liked the concept and pitched it to Barry Diller, then CEO of the FOX Network. As fate would have it, a Writer's Guild of America strike was occurring at the time, and the network was desperate for new material. An unscripted show that did not require writers seemed perfect. After the pitch, Langley recalled that an "accountant-looking guy", who turned out to be Rupert Murdoch, wanted to see four episodes.

The first episode aired in 1989, and featured the Broward County, Florida, Sheriff's Department. The original concept of the show was to follow officers home and tape their home lives along with their work. After a while this concept was deemed too "artificial" and was abandoned. Eventually, the format of three self-contained segments with no narrator, no music and no scripts would become the show's hit formula. The first segment is usually an action segment to hook the viewer. The second segment is typically humorous or more emotional.

This recipe has consistently proven successful, as COPS routinely wins its 8pm and 8:30pm repeat time slot on Saturday nights every year, and paired with the companion show America's Most Wanted following at 9pm, has created a strong and consistent night for Fox with steady ratings, allowing their Saturday night schedule to remain unchanged since November 1996. Its consistent performance has allowed COPS to maintain a relatively stable stream of advertising revenue. Each first-run episode of COPS costs advertisers about $60,000 (US) for a 30-second spot.

Production Information

COPS uses anywhere from five to ten two-person camera crews riding in different cities across the United States for each weekly 30-minute episode. The crews spend up to 400 total recording hours with officers, of which 22 minutes are used for each episode. The crews typically work as many as 36 weeks a year. Prior to taping, COPS field producers meet with the departments and interview individual officers for potential placement with camera crews. Since COPS relies primarily on the personality of the officer and the commentary provided by the officers, selection of the officers is crucial in creating an episode. By contract, each police department reserves the right to view and approve its footage prior to airing.

Editing is critical in creating a story arc for each segment, since COPS uses no narration and each segment is limited in length. Filmed incidents need to be shortened to fit into the allotted segment time, while at the same time allowing the viewer the sense of seeing a coherent story and providing enough background of the officer to allow the viewer to relate to him or her.

All videotaped persons are required to sign a photo release permission form, otherwise their faces are blurred, or in the majority of cases, the segment is simply not used.

Each two-person crew consists of a camera operator and a sound mixer. The camera operator typically sits in the front passenger seat of the police car while the sound mixer sits in the back. In the case of a car with two officers, both crew members will sit in the back. Crew members are encouraged to wear ballistic-resistant vests for protection. They typically do not interfere with any incident (see also fourth wall), however, there have been incidents where the crew has had to assist an officer in restraining an extremely combative subject. In one episode, the sound mixer, a former EMT, assisted a police officer in performing CPR.

One production staff member recalls a 1994 Los Angeles incident where they had rolled up to a vehicle on what appeared to be a routine traffic stop. “We were just getting out, and bullets started whizzing by my head,” says Hank Barr, a 17-year veteran of the show. “John and I were wrestling to pull each other into that little back seat.”

In the early 1990s, a camera crew was riding in one Denver patrol car, when it was broadsided by another patrol car. Both police cars were demolished, however, all officers and the crew only sustained minor injuries. This event was shot by another COPS crew that arrived at the scene and shown in one segment of COPS from the points of view of both camera crews.

In another episode being taped in Lynn, Massachusetts, a suspect with a knife was shot on camera after trying to stab an officer. The footage was used to determine that the officer did not use excessive force.

The show is completely unrelated to C.O.P.S., an animated series that ran from 1988 to 1989.

DVDs, books and syndication

Recently, several themed DVDs have been released, some of which include profanity and sexually explicit footage cut from the network version. They are entitled COPS: Shots Fired, COPS: Bad Girls, and COPS: Caught in the Act.

In 1999, Hank Barr published The Jump-Out Boys, a book giving a behind the scenes look at the production and taping of COPS.

In 1994, COPS went into syndication. This resulted in a slight dropoff in ratings consistent with other shows that have gone into syndication while still in production. Nonetheless, COPS has grossed over an estimated US$200 million since it has gone into syndication. COPS can be seen in syndication in the United States on the CourtTV, FX and Fox Reality cable networks. The show has also been licensed internationally through FOX and is seen in 40 other countries, although the format has been copied often.

Criticism

The show has been criticized for its predominant focus on the criminal activities among the poor. Critics of this aspect of the show say it unfairly presents the poor as responsible for most crime in society while ignoring the white-collar crimes that are typical of the more wealthy. Documentary film maker Michael Moore raises this very issue in an interview with a former associate producer of COPS, who was on the program for one season only although he was erroneously presented as a spokesman for the program. Richard Herlan was included in Moore's film Bowling for Columbine. One response to this allegation - also supplied by Herlan in response to Moore - is that television is primarily a visual medium, requiring regular footage on a weekly basis to sustain a show, and police officers "busting in" on some office where identity theft papers are being created or other high-level crime rings are operating do not happen very often, thus it is not likely to be recorded and thus not shown. The low-level crime featured on the show happens every day, providing large quantities of material suitable for taping. "COPS" creator John Langley readily acknowledges that the program is about street crime, not white-collar crime, and urges that it should be judged accordingly. Michael Moore also implied that the show is racist due to its disproportionate coverage of African-American males as criminals.

Some police departments have refused requests to tape in their cities. Chicago Police Department Deputy Director of News Affairs Patrick Camden has stated in response to requests for COPS taping that "Police work is not entertainment. What they do trivializes policing. We've never seriously even considered taping." Other cities include Honolulu and San Francisco. (note: The San Francisco Police Department's refusal is interesting, because SFPD did allow Discovery Times to document the actions of its police officers on the Discovery Times' show CITY COPS. Also, the Honolulu refusal eventually led COPS to film on Maui.)

Parodies

COPS is a popular subject for parody, a testament to how deeply the show has become embedded in American pop culture.

A common theme among parodies is incompetence displayed by law enforcement at hand. For example, in a parody from the television series The Simpsons, the police use a helicopter to watch a drive-in movie and have multiple tanks and copters chasing an ice cream truck. Theme song Bad Boys was replaced by Bad Cops, featuring new lyrics. Another such parody involves the activities of Chief Wiggum. Other shows that have parodied COPS include the Comedy Central series Reno 911!, The Tick animated series, the Ronnie Dobbs sketches on Mr. Show with Bob and David, Mad TV and Saturday Night Live. The series was also the centerpiece of an episode of The X-Files, called X-Cops.

Mad TV has done several parodies of COPS. CLOPS used claymation, and used fictional characters to act as the weird people often seen in the program. Notable was Paddington Bear acting as a flasher and the Pillsbury Doughboy going nuts with a rifle in a bakery. Recently, they spoofed again by having CONSTABLES, where London Bobbies (aka London Metropolitan Police) responded to a Domestic Disturbance at Buckingham Palace.

COPS has also been frequently parodied in feature films such as There's Something About Mary, in which the main character is arrested "live" on the show as his friend watches to his dismay, and Shrek 2, which puts a spin on the parody with the medieval themed KNIGHTS.

In the sci-fi film Minority Report, fugitive protagonist John Anderton appears on an episode, hinting that the show will still be around in the mid 21st Century. Another notable sci-fi example was Troops, a parody that combines COPS and the popular Star Wars movie franchise.

Comedian Bill Hicks has also used the show as subject matter for his act, as well as comedians Paul Rodriguez, Larry the Cable Guy and others.

The Seattle based sketch comedy show "Almost Live!" had a recurring segment called "COPS IN (a major Seattle neighborhood)" where the actors would portray the criminals and victims as stereotypes of each area's culture.

One episode of Comedy Central's hit show "South Park" features Cartman acting as a cop on his tricycle, making stereotypical comments very reminiscent of COPS.

In an episode of Beavis and Butthead, one episode featured a similar program, COPPERS, which included the "Bad Boys" theme song.

An episode of Freakazoid featured a show known as Real Life Police, which included a parody of the "Bad Boys" theme song using comical and ridiculous lyrics.

Shows influenced by COPS

Memorable episodes

References

External links

 

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