Cop Rock

if ever there was a show that went whimsical on you, it was this one. one gets in the mood to watch another Steven b. "real" cop show and wham! a full blown Broadway musical production begins and the giggling starts and then on to the guffaw and the laughing won't stop! it is a joy that won't let you stop smiling. i have most of these episodes on vcr tape...i am missing 2 of the last ones. if anyone has them, i would like to get a copy, please? every time i have a friend over and i put this on...it starts "as what the heck is this?" and goes on to "i've never seen this before, when was it on?" and finally, "how come it went off the air? this is great!" i guess some of us just see the world with just a tilt of the funny bone and can enjoy life a little on the slanted side of humor! kasvstar

"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.

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Cop Rock is an Emmy Award winning American television series that aired on ABC from September 26, 1990 through December 26, 1990. The show, a police drama presented as a musical, was created by Steven Bochco, who also served as executive producer.

Inspired by Dennis Potter's 1986 BBC drama serial The Singing Detective, Cop Rock combined musical theater with police drama, the latter a genre in which Bochco had already been very successful with Hill Street Blues. The series featured an ensemble cast that mixed musical numbers and choreography throughout story lines. For example, one scene in a courtroom had the jury break into song, proclaiming "He's Guilty" in Gospel style. Another episode had a lineup of Hispanic suspects proclaim in song "We're the local color with the coppertone skin / And you treat us like we're guilty of some terrible sin." Its theme, "Under the Gun", was sung by Randy Newman, who opened each episode performing it in a music video-style credit sequence. The show also featured crossover appearances from other Bochco series. In one episode, James B. Sikking reprises the role of Lt. Howard Hunter from Hill Street Blues, while another episode featured cameos by LA Law stars Jimmy Smits and Michele Greene. Sheryl Crow appears as a back-up singer in the final episode.

The show on ABC ended after 11 episodes. The high-powered production talent became infamous as one of the biggest television risks of the 1990s. The final episode concludes with the cast breaking character and joining crew-members in performing a closing song.

Despite its short run, the series still has been rebroadcast three times, in the 1990s on VH1, on A&E Network, and in the 2000s on Trio.

Mike Post was the music supervisor on Cop Rock. Post appeared in the Cop Rock opening sequence as the musician in the dark glasses sitting next to Randy Newman and playing the keyboard.

Starring: Teri Austin, Anne Bobby, Barbara Bosson, Ronny Cox, Vondie Curtis-Hall, David Gianopoulos, Larry Joshua, Dennis Lipscomb, Paul McCrane, James McDaniel, Ron McLarty, Mick Murray, Peter Onorati, William Thomas, Jr., Kathleen Wilhoite

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this show was actually better than the promos would have made it seem. it was by all means innovative, unlike anything else in the time or since. why this show failed is beyond me. the music was catchy and the characters represented the same caricatures we love to watch in law and order and shows of the like. perhaps the selling point (or point of no return, depending upon how you look at it) was the combination of the two. if this show had been produced as a run of the mill cop show it probably would have been popular, and maybe still airing today. but this was a time when the American viewing audience was not willing to take a chance on something new. while the songs used provided a great insight into the minds of the characters, they were the obvious downfall of a promising drama. please join me in my continued mourning of a show that was never allowed to reach it's potential.

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.