‘Cop Rock’: How a Legendary Failure Predicted TV’s Future

We liked this show when it came out, but we also felt...disoriented. It was so different and strange. And NO ONE was doing musicals. Now that we've had Glee and Mamma Mia and live musicals on TV, I think this would get a much better reception.

Every time I see a BMW, in my mind I hear the refrain "I want my Beeemer back."

Second favorite line: "I’m the baby merchant/Tots ‘R Us"

The reviews were great when the show came out but the audience didn't come out for it. Anyone who called it the worst show of all time didn't see it when it first came out if they were a critic from a major news organization. It was probably someone sitting at home. Musicals were really out back then. But didn't Galavant get good reviews and a poor viewership recently?

The summer of 1990 was an exciting time for me. My new gorgeous girlfriend (who was a singer and pianist) and I were so excited to see this heavily hyped revolution in television from Hill Street Blue's Steven Bochco. Finally, it's premiere night... We turn on ABC....
... and soon we see a young black man arrested who breaks out in song. We burst out laughing but in shock. Soon the judge starts singing. Not 3 minutes into the program, still laughing, we turn the TV off.

These memories are so vivid because this was a historic moment like those people ask you such as "Where were you on 9/11?"

If Stephen Bochco did not rescue his career 3 years later taking the cop show into a more realistic direction with "NYPD Blue", he'd be a question on Trivial Pursuit. "NYPD Blue" actually WAS ahead of its time and much of modern television owes a debt of gratitude to Stephen Bochco for it.

However, let me be clear:

"Cop Rock" was not ahead of its time, it will never be ahead of its time, and Western World's equivalent of Television Vietnam and Bochco's personal 9/11. It will never be preserved by the Library of Congress.

Gee! Another thrill in store for us, courtesy of the unskilled, wishing and hopeful........

I loved this show, and have wanted to be able to see it again for years. I have been hoping that it would turn up on Netflix or Amazon, but DVD is fine. Yes, it was uneven, but it was entertaining, and for me, often emotionally gripping.

Having enjoyed Anne (Marie) Bobby in Smile on Broadway, I watched the whole run of Cop Rock. I'm not a big admirer of "rock" but I loved the musical theatre-style numbers. Maybe I was just ahead of my time, but I thought it was a bizarre but compelling drama with a biting sense of irony tossed in. I have a bootleg set of the episodes from a cable TV rerun which will be replaced by the official release. P.S. I'm still a fan of Anne Bobby.

Don't be mislead - this is one of the great all time TV series; there are moments that rise above brilliant to be Art, maybe even ART.

watch it

I loved Cop Rock, was sad it ended. I've talked about it many times since, thought it was brilliant.

Cop Rock was like the great Hill Street Blues with music. Our favorite police drama of all time is N.Y.P.D. Blue, which my wife and I have unironically called "Cop Rock" for the last 30 years. But if you think a musical cop show is absurd try Blind Justice, a one season Bochco show that followed NYPD Blue, about a blinded New York City cop, making arrests out on the streets. But if they release it, I'm there!

I "didn't get it" then, but I do now! Either I've matured or my tastes have changed, or maybe it's just nostagia.

I remember "Cop Rock". I was committed to my viewership. I liked it even if I sometimes found the insertion of song in the drama to be jarring and off putting. The program was canceled of course and when I watched a straight cop drama thereafter I remember feeling the lose and having my enjoyment dashed when characters did not burst into song during the narrative. Go figure.

I remember the show received great reviews when it came out and I watched it based on those reviews. I only liked it somewhat but remember the vast disappointment of critics when it was cancelled and the public rejected it. I would love to see it again.

It will be nice to upgrade my well played and deteriorating VHS copies of the show. It's one of those shows that I occasionally exhibit to friends who recall it as a punchline and nothing more. Rarely do they agree with that assessment once they see it! I will miss the 'period' commercials from 26 years ago....maybe they can be released as some sort of bonus disc!!!

I LOVED Cop Rock. Was sad when it was cancelled.

Aside from the viewership numbers, it also took forever to shoot each episode, and the money spent on it kept climbing until the network had had enough. Low numbers+huge budget=certain death.

But just a brilliant breakout concept.

I loved Cop Rock and remember some critics at the time saying that it was ahead of its time. I agreed.

Hopefully the series will be streamed. I don't buy DVDs anymore. In fact, I'm trying to get rid of cable and just watch streaming TV.