Odds are pretty good that if you ever hear the phrase “Bad boys,” you’ll start humming the theme song to Cops. And with 30 seasons and very nearly a thousand episodes under its belt, Cops has undoubtedly entered the pop-culture lexicon as one of the most iconic reality series in television history.
For almost thirty years, Cops has been bringing viewers into the passenger seats of police cruisers nationwide, giving them a firsthand look into the exploits of the policemen and women not just in the United States, but Hong Kong, London, and the Soviet Union. Debuting in 1989 on Fox, Cops had a dedicated viewership and solid ratings, but was cancelled by the network in 2013. It was promptly picked up for another five seasons by Spike TV, where it continues to draw high ratings for the network.
John Langley, creator and executive producer of the series since the beginning, says “Spike has been a great partner for Cops. We are proud of the 1,000th episode and our 30th primetime season. Add to that our gratitude to the thousands of officers we have filmed. What else can we say?”
In celebration of the series’ 1,000th episode, on August 19th, Spike TV will air the special episode Cops Beyond the Bust. The episode will be hosted by Brooklyn Nine-Nine star Terry Crews and filmed before a live audience. It will feature highlights and historical clips from the show’s thirty-year history, and, bizarrely enough, reunions between officers and suspects they’ve arrested.
The announcement of the special comes on the heels of the verdict of one of the show’s most notorious suspects, Dalia Dippolito, who was shown in a dedicated episode soliciting a hitman (actually an undercover cop) to murder her husband in 2011. After several trials, mistrials, and appeals, during which Dippolito claimed she was tricked by the show’s producers, she was sentenced to sixteen years in prison on July 21.
New episodes of Cops air Saturdays at 8pm PST, with the Cops Beyond The Bust special airing on August 19.
