Cop Rock

The 1990s started off with one of the boldest experiments ever attempted in American television - the creation of an hour-long weekly television police drama, done as a musical. Lots of people still make fun of it (most of them having never actually seen it) but it was often brilliant. Longtime television innovator Steven Bochco, creator of major hits like Hill Street Blues and L.A. Law, took the biggest risk of his career. He brought the musical back to television but this time as a gritty, street-wise cop show. The songs were written by a stable of songwriters ably led by the Oscar-winning Randy Newman. Half the critics thought it was the worst idea of the century; half thought it was pure genius. The television drama had been moribund for some time and Bochco created something entirely new, powerful, interesting, fresh. Nothing like it had ever been attempted before, and most importantly, it was done well and done seriously. Its detractors claimed it was unrealistic for cops and robbers to break into song, but none of them had complained quite this loudly about the various aliens that had appeared on the airwaves, about shipwrecked movie stars and millionaires, about bionic men and women, or about the rest of the lackluster crap filling the TV schedule.

As an example of its audacity, its first episode alone included a rap song delivered by junkies as they're being arrested in a drug raid, a gospel number by a judge and jury convicting a drug dealer, a tender pop ballad by a husband about his much younger wife, and an R&B number by a corrupt lady mayor to the man who's just offered her a bribe. But the most powerful number came at the end of the episode. A young junkie sits on a bus stop bench singing a lullaby to her infant daughter, a haunting Randy Newman song called `Sandman' (later re-used in Newman's Faust). As she finishes the song, a station wagon pulls up, a man gets out and pays her $200 for the baby. As he drives away with the baby, the junkie finishes the lullaby and breaks down in tears as the music quietly ends and the camera pulls away. It was devastating. And it was brilliant drama. Unfortunately, it cost $1.8 million an episode - a record at the time - and its ratings were consistently dismal. ABC tried to get Bochco to drop the musical numbers but he refused, so they canceled the show after four months. Bochco later told Entertainment Weekly that of all his shows, Cop Rock was by far the most fun he had ever had making television. Years later, Cop Rock was partly redeemed as cable channel VH-1 rebroadcast the series and a new generation discovered its quirky brilliance.

"Cop Rock" was a typical police drama, except for the fact that it was also a MUSICAL. Everybody sang: the cops, the criminals, even the judge and jury in the courtroom during trials. With its many lavish song-and-dance routines and catchy tunes, "Cop Rock" was almost like a Broadway musical adaptation of "Hill Street Blues".

"Cop Rock" was heavily promoted by ABC in the weeks before its premiere in the fall of 1990. Apparently, ABC thought that they had a huge hit on their hands, even though it was the first-ever cop show/musical on TV. Not surprisingly, the show was savaged by critics and ignored by audiences. Despite the large amounts of publicity and money invested in the series (which was one of the most-expensive TV shows ever made up to that point, at a cost of nearly $2 million an episode), it was canceled after only three months.

In my opinion, "Cop Rock" was a very unique show. Although the singing wasn't always that great, the songs were usually decent. Randy Newman wrote a number of good songs for this series (including the opening theme, "Under The Gun", which he also performed). The problem with "Cop Rock" was that it combined two genres that do not go well with each other. I can understand why "Cop Rock" was not able to catch on with TV audiences: not only was it a musical series with fictional characters and weekly storylines (something never seen before on American network television), but it was also a police show. Also, with the exception of the Broadway-style musical numbers, the show was average at best.

VH1 reran an all-day marathon "Cop Rock" a few years ago, but the series is not currently on cable (as far as I know). I think this original (but strange) series would be perfectly suited for a network like Court TV.

"Cop Rock" was a show that was far from perfect, but it was definitely very memorable.

I liked this show and never did understand why people thought it was stupid for people to be breaking into songs, you never hear that used against other musicals! The songs were good, fit in with the story and expressed a lot of feeling/ideas that couldn't have been told as well by dialogue! The cast was great, both acting and singing, especially since most of the songs were song during the shot instead of dubbing them in later. The final show was great, be nice if more shows let the actors say good-bye when a series was ended. Other people have commented on this show being a head of it's time, and it was. cause there were several subject that "Cop Rock" did that most shows at that time wouldn't have touched! If you get a chance you watch "Cop Rock", do so but with an open mind. If people had given this show it probably would have run a couple season at least, just depending on how long they could keep the songs and stories tied together.

This program was a well-written and sensitively acted police drama. If you have a chance to see any or all of the four episodes that actually aired you will no doubt be as puzzled as viewers were in 1990 as to why this excellent show brought out such spiteful and cruel reactions in television critics. Steven Bochco had assembled some of the most talented people working in television at the time. He was simply offering viewers something "different"--a thing they'd been saying they wanted since television started. Musical theater has historically been a legitimate and compelling way to tell a story. Steven Bochco did this with flair. "Cop Rock" was a last, lonely, courageous attempt to break away from the formula of cookie cutter television programming.

I thought this was a series, finally that had depth and was made to entertain and move one emotionally, without so many talking heads but through music. Every song was approbate and expressed so much of the true human emotion.

I will never forget the scene with the girl on the bus bench when she sells her baby for dope. Alone she sings an amazing song. I had seen so many depictions of dopers and horrible mothers but never had I felt the depth of emotion that this scene brought me.

I think our general public was just not mature enough to realize what was really going on with this show! I only saw each episode once but they were so compelling that to this day I well remember much of them.

I would really like to get my hands on the VHS and/or (if made) DVDof any or all of this series.