Longreads:
The show that premiered in 1989, with its signature theme song “Bad Boys” by the reggae band Inner Circle, was only slightly different than its current iteration.
“Cops” quickly expanded to other counties, cities, and towns — Los Angeles and Multnomah, Las Vegas and Houston—and by 1992, it had been syndicated and nominated for two Emmys.
“Cops” married the growing pop culture obsession with police to the often unpredictable nature of the job. As Wurms puts it: “It’s not staged. It’s real life stuff, and you [never knew] what you were walking into when they were filming with you.”
It’s a show I’ve never watched much of but its longevity certainly raises some interesting questions.
I can’t believe this is still on. I saw it years ago. A friend of mine would watch episode after episode.
There were only so many toothless, shirtless guys with beer bellies, I could tolerate. That., AFAIK, is all it ever was…
The entire militarization of police forces is disgusting. This year, at our local county fair, the police and sheriff dept. Had more tactical weapons than the local national guard. You can thank Republicans who dished all this “surplus” stuff out after they ripped guys off with the whole “Homeland Security” debacle. Under Bush, our county paved paths at the local golf courses as part of securing our borders.
Now, it’s cops with assault weapons.
One of the worst propaganda pieces floating around a out there.
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I used to love this show when it first came out, but both the show and I changed. As it began to glorify the police as more of a paramilitary organization, and as it began to show again and again how the poor are targeted with alarming frequency, it really turned me off. It’s no longer about decent police rolling up to help calm a domestic dispute, or dealing with wild drunks with amazing patience. Now they all want to be S.W.A.T.
That’s a fair description of what it was, and it had some entertainment value then. It is no longer that, and is far more menacing now.
I prefer Reno 911.
Those heavy weapons will come in handy when they need to start suppressing increased protests by impoverished workers’ families who’ve lost their jobs, homes, retirement funds, promised Medicare, and eventually, lives.
“Cops” is violence porn for short-sighted viewers who hate poor people.