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Bad boys, bad boys…whatcha gonna do? If the ratings can be taken as an indicator, TV viewers love to see drunken trailer park residents beat up on their relatives. This week our TVHolic looks at that weekly guilty pleasure, COPS.
1. It all started with a Documentary
COPS is the brainchild of writer/producer John Langley. In 1983 Langley was working with Malcolm Barbour on a documentary called Cocaine Blues, which was a graphic depiction of the effect of the so-called upscale drug on the average American. While researching Cocaine Blues Langley was on the scene during several drug raids, and it occurred to him that the logistics, preparation and execution of such police work from the cop’s point of view might make for an interesting television series.
2. Geraldo was an Influence (sort of)
Langley worked with Geraldo Rivera on a two-hour special entitled American Vice, which again focused on the War on Drugs and followed various law enforcement agencies on the job. Equipped with not only a concept but also a working knowledge of what would be involved (a physically fit camera crew that could keep up with police officers while carrying unwieldy equipment), he began pitching his new show idea to the networks. He was met with every reaction from disdain to outright incredulity. You can’t have a TV show without at the very least a narrator, he was informed. No one will agree to appear on-camera, we’ll get our (posteriors) sued from here ‘til doomsday, said several execs. It was all a matter of timing when Langley finally hit pay dirt in 1989. The Fox Network was in its infancy and was looking for unusual, “edgy” programming in order to set itself apart from the Big Three networks. Langley had done his homework and had figured out the necessary technology – the action could be filmed live using microwave technology and bouncing signals up to helicopters and back down to trucks. Fox was impressed by his pitch and ordered 45 episodes.
3. Will your city get picked?
The COPS crew doesn’t just show up at a random police precinct; they only film on location when they’re invited by either a city’s mayor, police chief or other official. Upon receiving such an invite, the producers of the show meet with the local law enforcement officials and then ride on patrol for several different shifts to see if the area meets the “production needs” of the show. (Translation: there must be some sort of criminal action worth filming. There have been several occasions when the crew spent three or four days riding with the local constables only to find that the biggest crimes in town were parking infractions.) Once an area is deemed suitable for filming, all the proper contracts are signed, and a two-man COPS crew rides in each police car. In one-person cars, the camera operator rides shotgun while the sound mixer sits in the back seat. In two-officer cars, both crew members sit in the back. They both wear ballistic resistant vests while on the job. Surprisingly, the only major injuries suffered by COPS crew members in 20 years of filming have been slipping and falling while running through back yards in the dark, and being hit by flying objects when filming an angry crowd.
4. Why There are Fewer Blurry Faces
In the early days of the series, many of the perp’s faces were blurred. Folks were unfamiliar with the show and were wary of appearing on camera. However, once COPS became a hit, over 90% of the arrestees signed release forms. Even though their initial reaction might have been “Get those cameras out of my face,” once they found out that the footage was for COPS, they willingly agreed to be on TV. Producer Langley shrugs and figures it must have something to do with that “15 minutes of fame” thing. Interestingly enough, “blurring” is time consuming and expensive in post-production, so in later seasons of the show, a lot of perps who refuse to sign the waiver never get on camera.
5. When the Crew Gets Involved
Once in a great while, members of the COPS crew break that fourth wall and get involved with the situation at hand. In one episode a victim was unconscious and not breathing, and paramedics hadn’t yet arrived. The COPS sound mixer happened to be a former EMT and he assisted the attending police officer in providing CPR. On another occasion, the police officer that had been in foot pursuit of a suspect was injured, and the camera operator (who was a Las Vegas Reserve Police Officer) handed off his equipment to the sound mixer and assisted the officer in tackling the suspect.
I’d love to hear about your favorite COPS memories or moments. I’ll wait a moment while you don your wife-beater undershirt and light up a Lucky Strike.
Shhh…super secret special for blog readers.
thanks a lot
posted by sohbet on 8-12-2008 at 3:52 pm
Best COPS episode ever: a huge beefy man who is completely nude and covered with sweat and some sort of oil is on a rampage in a barbershop. Oh did I fail to mention that he’s taken an 8 ball? Yeah.
He’s gotten some sort of super strength adrenaline rush and because of the lack of clothing, there’s no way the police officers can grab him to arrest him. Meanwhile he’s tearing the crap out of the barbershop AND himself, but he doesn’t even notice he’s bleeding so badly.
It ends up taking more than a half dozen police officers to get him hog-tied and placed in the back of a cruiser and some of them are injured in the process. The barbershop looks like a hurricane took it out and there’s blood just EVERYWHERE.
I thought it was the best example of how badly drugs can screw you up. That is, until Amy Winehouse came along.
posted by Anastasia on 8-12-2008 at 4:16 pm
@ Anastasia
I immediately thought of that episode! I have rarely been bored enough to watch COPS, but on rare occasions, ya know, it happens to all of us. That disgustingly horrible greasy sweating rampaging swine of a man somehow got etched in my memory.
The only other thing I can remember from COPS isn’t really a person committing a crime, but rather an arial shot from a helicopter of one of the lushest, greenest, biggest fields of marijuana I’ve ever seen… & then it going up in flames. (& being crushed at the time… ah, those stoner days.)
posted by Kathryn on 8-12-2008 at 4:34 pm
Uh… EVERY Cops show is awesome!
Actually, the best are the high speed chases. When the cops get seriously ticked off and fireworks REALLY start, that’s the best!
posted by PointSpecial on 8-12-2008 at 4:47 pm
I stopped watching COPS when I realized that every other story was a drug bust or prostitution sting. That’s not entertainment in my book.
posted by Jeff on 8-12-2008 at 4:47 pm
I guess I can brag that I’ve lived in at least 4 of the cities that they have filmed in. In one instance, just a few blocks from where they filmed. yay me. lol!!!
posted by Sheldon Siegel on 8-12-2008 at 4:52 pm
My favorite episode is of the Cross Dressing Truck Driver. His wallet was stolen and he was dressed in a wig leopard skin leotard, fishnets, make-up and the works. His voice was that of a redneck truck driver and the cop could not have been cooler in spite of the nature of the situation.
I never miss an episode and always root for the guy with no shirt on…”Dude put your shirt on your going to get arrested!”
posted by Don on 8-12-2008 at 4:53 pm
My favorite moment was when the Cops found two suspects hiding in a yard under an inflatable wading/baby pool.
posted by Erik on 8-12-2008 at 5:00 pm
My favorite moment was from Cops in New Orleans (pre-Katrina). They were filming on Freret, near Louisiana Avenue where there were some notoriously bad housing projects. Lots of people who live uptown drive through that intersection to get to downtown and the Central Business District.
Anywho, there used to be a liquor store/bodega at that corner called “The Brown Derby”. They interviewed a woman who had been assaulted and she said “I was mindin’ my own bizness, goin to the sto’ to buy myself a beeee-ah”.
Needless to say, I still utter that quote every time I pass that corner. The Brown Derby is gone now, as are the projects. Hopefully it will become a better neighborhood…
Flatulently,
posted by commander flatus on 8-12-2008 at 5:02 pm
A guy is found with drugs in his pants pocket. He tells the officer the drugs aren’t his because these aren’t his pants. He doesn’t know who they belong to or how they came to be on his body.
posted by Lynne on 8-12-2008 at 5:15 pm
The car that is somehow going in circles by itself, and the police officer jumps in head first through the window of the car to stop it… CLASSIC!
posted by EnvEng on 8-12-2008 at 5:24 pm
semi-related: When I lived in Washington State up near the Canadian border, most of the tv channels were Canadian. Vancouver (maybe it was all of Canada?) had it’s own Cops show called “To Serve and Protect.” It was hilarious and showed how mellow the Canadians were. The only crimes seemed to be loitering and sleeping on park benches!
posted by jenny on 8-12-2008 at 5:57 pm
Lest we not forget about “Real Stories of the Highway Patrol”.
I think COPS is on somewhere around 8 times a day (at least) and I always end up watching it.
posted by Joshua on 8-12-2008 at 6:33 pm
I remember when a Denver cruiser was chasing a robbert suspect when it got broadsided by another Denver cruiser. I was working at the hospital when they brought in a bunch of beat up police men, and a bunch of beat up camera guys. Although my favorite is the couple having a food fight in their house. They both pushed 300 lbs, and were covered with flour. Priceless.
posted by Patrick on 8-12-2008 at 6:36 pm
My favorite moment was when they came to my next-door neighbor’s house.
And it was all just a bunch of drama, but the funniest thing ever on tv.
posted by Lisa on 8-12-2008 at 7:44 pm
When the suspect ran up the highway offramp and then jumped down onto the grass below, must have been about 15 feet. The cop runs after him and then he jumps into the same grass, darkness so you cant he him landing. All you then hear is the unconscious ‘uhhhh urrrghh’ after he knocked himself out, while the cameraman films the suspect running away.
posted by ivan on 8-12-2008 at 8:23 pm
I wish people would stop using the phrase “wife-beater” when referring to an undershirt. It’s just wrong.
posted by Dianne on 8-12-2008 at 8:39 pm
My absolute favorite is the woman who sells crack to another woman, and then runs after the police to complain after the woman ripped her off.
The cop just looks at her and goes “You want to file a complaint against the woman you sold drugs to because she ripped you off?” She was livid.
posted by Cassie on 8-12-2008 at 9:04 pm
In the 1997 season, my uncle was on the show (as a police officer, not a criminal).
posted by Kendall on 8-12-2008 at 9:12 pm
I wish my department would invite them on in…
posted by Chrissy on 8-12-2008 at 10:29 pm
Since I’m home from work today, I’m gonna have to find COPS on TV somewhere today. :-P
posted by Amy D on 8-13-2008 at 5:48 am
I love the one where a guy has threatened to shoot his wife (or girlfriend I forget) with his illegal 9mm, so she calls the cops. They’ve got him sitting in a chair and they’re asking if she knows where the gun is, and as she’s telling them he’s yelling “Nooo, Bernice, why you do this to me, pleease Bernice, nooooo!”
Priceless.
I also love when the cops show how they can shrug everything off. They’ll show pissed off people saying everything they can think of to get to a cop, and the cop’s just saying “yes, sir” or “yes, ma’am.”
posted by auslander on 8-13-2008 at 7:24 am
This post made me think of a funny quote from my husband. I am a project manager for a local non-profit organization, and recently got an appearance on a local talk show to plug one of our services. When I told my husband, “I’m going to be on TV tomorrow!” his reply was, “On what? Cops?”
posted by Jaclyn on 8-13-2008 at 8:00 am
I love when the perp gets in a fight with the cops and they have to hog tie him. Then 15 minutes later the same person is crying and apologizing to the cops.
Also…ALWAYS look under an upside-down kiddie pool. He is definetly under there.
posted by Kevin on 8-13-2008 at 10:03 am
Watching COPS with my dad taught me one of life’s greatest lessons: If a cop wants you to go somewhere or do something, just comply. Do not make the cops come and get you. You won’t like how they do it.
posted by Joanna on 8-13-2008 at 10:11 am
There was one where a cop was frantically trying to reach a woman inside what he thought was a burning house. He went as far as breaking a lot of windows but when then realized that it was different house that was on fire.
youtube link: watch?v=ExpFuwagvNo
posted by case on 8-13-2008 at 10:26 am
There was an episode where this kid had just kicked the living tar out of another individual and he had blood all over his clothes and his face. When the police picked him up and took him into questioning, he denied any wrong doing. When he was asked why he was completely covered in blood, he responded with, “I popped a zit” with a totally straight face.
posted by Paul S. on 8-13-2008 at 11:03 am
A cop pulls a vehicle over, and invites a young man out to join him for conversation on the street. They talk. He denies using pot or alcohol that evening. The cop informs him that he’s suspicious of a lie. The cop motions the camera around the suspect, and tucked behind his ear, next to his backward ball cap, is fresh rolled fatty. They talk some more - he denies repeatedly smoking pot or drinking alcohol that night, but admits that he occasionally likes to hit the sticky icky at his home. The cop is being cool. He then tells the perp that the reason he’s being cautious (as he reaches toward the spliff) “is because of this”. Eyes go wide open, then close tight. He smirks “that was for later”, and then laughes a little harder at his shoes.
They both start laughing. Both are being cool. The weed is confiscated. If I remember right, there is no arrest - he is cited for possesion and released, mostly due to the degree of honesty on the kids part and no real violations committed. The cop tells him to go home and stop smoking pot.
I admit it - I generally watch COPS to see what the dregs are up to now. I don’t generally “feel good” about most of it. My spirit was actually lifted with that little episode - nobody looking for trouble - nobody being a dick.
posted by Glen on 8-13-2008 at 12:37 pm
“put it in the paper”
posted by D.Christian on 8-13-2008 at 1:32 pm
Lynne - wasn’t that lindsey lohan?
posted by anon on 8-13-2008 at 1:42 pm
i saw an episode once where they busted a pedophile’s house and not only did they blur his face but the blured the faces of his 4 little chihuahuas
posted by kat on 8-13-2008 at 1:55 pm
I love the naked barbershop episode!
I don’t understand all the women that call the cops on their husbands/boyfriends/whatevers only to break down crying and begging for the husband/boyfriend/whatever not to go to jail - “but I love him”. One such girl had been beaten up pretty good and her friend told the cops “she’s got knots all up in her head”. very funny
posted by Michelle on 8-13-2008 at 2:01 pm
One of my all time favorites is when a squad gets called to a domestic violence scene.They separate the couple and have the man sit on a curb.While being asked whats going on a guy walks down the sidewalk totally drunk with a can of beer in his hand.Must be 4or 5 cops with 2 squad cars and he just walks down the sidewalk and keeps saying ” I just want to go home” Doesn’t have a clue where he is,it’s a classic!!
posted by Jeff on 8-13-2008 at 2:04 pm
I am an unabashed COPS fan, and have hardly missed an episode since I started watching it in about season 3 or 4. One of my great joys is watching reruns on cable and finding one of those episodes from the first few seasons I never saw before.
My favorite scenes:
The cross-dressing trucker, of course (how they convinced that guy to sign a release is one of life’s great mysteries).
An old episode where a couple of young cops are having trouble cuffing a suspect. The grizzled veteran sergeant, with a look of disdain on his face and a cigarette dangling from the corner of his mouth, reaches down and — click, click — nonchalantly throws the cuffs on the guy. Never even lost the ash on his smoke.
The Des Moines, IA, officer that gets his cruiser stuck on the RR tracks and thinks it’s going to be struck by a train. He’s still gotta be living that one down.
And one from the first season, where they show a lieutenant at home with his wife. He’s sitting on the couch, trying to watch an episode of Sanford & Son or something, and his wife keeps asking him about his day. You can tell all he wants to do is veg out and watch TV, but his wife just keeps pestering him about what happened, did he arrest anyone, what for, etc. I liked the scene cuz I’ve lived it about a thousand times.
I’ve been a police officer for 7 years now, and I consider COPS a training tool. On more than one occasion, I’ve had to deal with something on the street that I was never trained for. But I saw something similar on COPS, so I just did what I remembered them doing. Seemed to work.
posted by bajakirch on 8-13-2008 at 2:42 pm
Cops is one of my guilty pleasures.
One of my favorite moments (and I’m sure it’s happened more than once on this show) is when they drag away a guy who’s just beaten up his wife/girlfriend. The words, “I love you baby!” always tends to come out of their mouths. The woman’s response is the same. It’s sad, yes. But, also pretty funny I’m ashamed to admit.
Definitely the naked barbershop rampage is up there. Also, around the same time, there was an episode where an officer answered a call at a bar. When he walked in, he found a man sitting at the bar without any pants. He had no clue why the police were called. I think the officer couldn’t keep a straight face, either.
I also love the episodes with John Bunnell before he went on to host The World’s Wildest Police Videos. This was when he was a sheriff in Oregon. They did some tense drug stings and it made for some great TV.
posted by hifidigitalboy on 8-13-2008 at 2:54 pm
It seems that COPS started about a year after America’s Most Wanted, which was a ground breaking show about actual criminals. Most of it was dramatized. COPS just took it to another level of reality.
posted by Stew on 8-13-2008 at 3:03 pm
without a doubt my favorite COPS moment was the sad-looking guy who, when asked what happened, said ‘I was tryin to get some stank on my hang-low, but she hit me upside the head with a smoothie.’
The ensuing conversation during which the cops try to figure out what a ’smoothie’ is (an iron) is priceless, as is the one cop trying valiantly not to crack up.
posted by ponch on 8-14-2008 at 9:32 am
@ Dianne
What’s so wrong about calling a shirt a “wife-beater”? It’s not condoning spousal abuse or implying that anyone who wears it abuses their partner. We all know it’s just a name for a shirt. What’s the big freakin deal? I’m sorry, but political correctness annoys the crap out of me.
posted by Jessica on 8-14-2008 at 12:51 pm
@ Dianne
What’s so wrong about calling a shirt a “wife-beater”? It’s not condoning spousal abuse or implying that anyone who wears it abuses their partner. We all know it’s just a name for a shirt. What’s the big freakin deal? I’m sorry, but political correctness annoys the crap out of me.
posted by Marie on 8-14-2008 at 12:54 pm
I wonder about the blurring being expensive and time-consuming. Nowadays, if you have a decent editing system (i.e. Final Cut Pro), it would take an experienced guy about a minute to set up the blurred face, and probably a couple hours to move the blur about.
Funny that it seems to have practically disappeared, considering how it’s become a pop-culture cliche anyway.
posted by Sillstaw on 8-14-2008 at 4:58 pm
Ah, the naked crazy man in the barbershop episode. Not only did that take place in North Philadelphia, the first time I saw that episode, I was in a bar in North Philadelphia (the North Star). It was hysterical listening to the bartenders and patrons clapping and cheering and shouting about how they knew the location and some of the cops/emergency personnel.
It is entirely possible that I have seen every COPS episode, as I am addicted to it. My favorite ep is one featuring an unlucky family who all decide to get mouthy and pushy with a cop. First one guy gets in the cop’s face, gets tazed, and is out on the sidewalk. His brother comes off the porch, gets in the cop’s face, gets tazed, goes down. Then the sister comes out of the house - in face, gets tazed, goes down. Eventually the whole honkin’ family is laid out on the sidewalk.
posted by Kimberly on 8-15-2008 at 4:01 pm
YES! I love COPS! I’ve long thought of it as the original reality show and reading all of these moments just reinforced how awesome it really is.
Guy hiding under the upside down pool is a total classic. And nobody could ever forget cross dressing trucker or I forgot I-have-a-doobie-behind-my-ear guy.
Thanks Kimberly for reminding me about the whole family who got tazed, they were hilarious too! Each one was more pissed of then the last, and the cop was like “You’d better stay back sir, or I’m gonna taze you (*TAZED)You’d better stay back ma’am, or I’m gonna have to taze you too…(*TAZED)…You’d better get back inside sir, or I’m going to taze you!” (*TAZED AGAIN)
Did you guys see the one where the 400lb woman tied up her skinny no good boyfriend because he broke into her house after she kicked him out? She used telephone wire and had him hogtied so well the cops decided to skip the handcuffs and leave the phone wire on.
Heh.
I have a favorite old episode that I always look for when I’m checking out the reruns. It’s from the early 90’s and it’s a terrible scene where a young woman dies from a gunshot wound (I think). When the police arrive on scene the officer gives the woman MOUTH TO MOUTH, picks her up in his arms and RUNS to the ambulance all the while comforting the family and never flinching as the young woman basically foams at the mouth, turns blue, siezes and dies in his arms.
That’s REALITY goddam it!! AMW has lame re-inactments. COPS is REAL LIFE!!
posted by Candy on 8-20-2008 at 12:39 pm
The one with the joint behind his ear, he was wearing a D.A.R.E. shirt as well.
posted by CarlosinTexas on 8-20-2008 at 5:22 pm
Fat guy with scissors stuck in his back by his female companion. The cops and fat guy didn’t know they were still stuck in his back, but visible on screen. The fat guy had punched his female companion claiming self-defense. The cops didn’t believe him until they went to cuff him and saw the scissors dangling from his back.
posted by Steve on 8-22-2008 at 12:17 pm
i’ve been watching cops since i was a wee me and it came out in the 90s. my whole family would get into it (of course when it came out i was, like 6. lol).
now i just watch it to laugh my ass off while my boyfriend eyes it distainfully but still ends up watching it.
he’s just lucky we don’t have cable or i would be watching wildest police chases and all those lame video shows. i just can’t resist. perhaps it’s too many quality hours spent with GTA or maybe i love the stupid excuses people give for the dumb things they’re doing.
my favorite moment- guy goes on a completely insane car chase around a city in a stolen car, then LAUNCHES the car at least 10 feet in the air on a curb (if this gives you any indication how fast he was driving), sticks the landing but bottoms out. so he gets out of the car, he’s not hurt and he didn’t hurt anyone either.
reason: i want to go back to jail. he’d been in and out of the jail system since being a teenager and he couldn’t deal with living in society. lol
although the how’d then drugs get there moments are pretty good too. that look of shock when they’re just too fucked up to remember they had them is the same every time, but still pretty funny.
posted by Sue on 8-29-2008 at 8:44 am
My favorite is when a woman called the cops when her crack dealer stole her money. Love it!
posted by Stephanie on 8-29-2008 at 12:17 pm
I saw the 20th anniversary special on Saturday. The dwarf climbing the pole was priceless!!
posted by Sally on 9-2-2008 at 11:15 am
You guy forgot the episode with the naked guy on meth , he was punching holes in fences and fighting lady cops . Priceless.
posted by marc2068 on 11-14-2008 at 9:09 pm
argh! Now I have the theme song stuck in my head!
posted by Dawn on 11-15-2008 at 9:46 pm