Cop Rock

Cop Rock
Genre	Police drama Musical
Created by	Steven Bochco William M. Finkelstein
Theme music composer	Randy Newman
Opening theme	"Under the Gun" performed by Randy Newman
Composer(s)	Greg Edmonson Alan Elliott Randy Newman Mike Post
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	11 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Steven Bochco
Producer(s)	Charles Haid Michael M. Robin John Romano Craig Zisk
Running time	45– 48 minutes
Production company(s)	20th Century Fox Television Steven Bochco Productions
Release
Original network	ABC
Original release	000000002016-09-26-0000September 26 – December 26, 1990 (1990-12-26)

Cop Rock is an American musical police drama series that aired on ABC in 1990. The show, a police drama presented as a musical, was co-created by Steven Bochco, who also served as executive producer. TV Guide ranked it #8 on TV Guide's List of the 50 Worst TV Shows of All Time list in 2002.^[1] The periodical dubbed it "the single most bizarre TV musical of all time".^[2]

Synopsis

Cop Rock combined the police procedural with musical theatre, the former a genre in which Bochco had already been very successful with Hill Street Blues. The series centered on the LAPD and featured an ensemble cast that mixed musical numbers and choreography throughout storylines. For example, one courtroom scene in the pilot episode had the jury break into song, proclaiming their verdict on the defendant ("He's Guilty") 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." The show also featured crossover appearances from other Bochco series; one episode featured James B. Sikking reprising his Hill Street Blues role of Lt. Howard Hunter (Sikking was working on another Bochco series at the time, Doogie Howser, M.D.), while another episode featured cameos by L.A. Law stars Jimmy Smits and Michele Greene.

The series' theme song, "Under the Gun", was written by Randy Newman, who also performed it in the series' title sequence music video-style in a recording studio, complete with a full backing band and the show's cast (appearing out of character) serving as an audience. Mike Post, who served as Cop Rock's music supervisor, was also part of Newman's band in that opening sequence; Post is the keyboardist in dark glasses sitting next to Newman.

Reception

The show was a critical and commercial failure and was canceled by ABC after 11 episodes.^[3] Owing to the combination of its bizarre nature (a fusion of musical performances with serious police drama) and its high-powered production talent, it became infamous as one of the biggest television failures of the 1990s.^[4][5] The series' final episode, which aired on December 26, 1990, concluded with the cast breaking character and joining crew members in performing a closing song. (That final episode featured Sheryl Crow appearing as a back-up singer.)

Despite its overwhelmingly negative reception and short run, the series still has been rebroadcast in later years, with VH1 and A&E Network airing it on separate occasions later in the 1990s, and Trio airing it in the 2000s.

Cast

Main cast

• Anne Bobby - Off. Vicki Quinn
• Barbara Bosson - Mayor Louise Plank
• Ronny Cox - Chief Roger Kendrick
• Vondie Curtis-Hall - Cmdr. Warren Osborne
• David Gianopoulos - Off. Andy Campo
• Larry Joshua - Capt. John Hollander
• Paul McCrane - Det. Bob McIntire
• James McDaniel - Off. Franklin Rose
• Ron McLarty - Ralph Ruskin
• Mick Murray - Det. Joseph Gaines
• Peter Onorati - Det. Vincent LaRusso

Recurring cast

• Teri Austin - Trish Vaughn
• Dennis Lipscomb - Sidney Weitz
• William Thomas, Jr. - Det. William Donald Potts
• Kathleen Wilhoite - Patricia Spence

DVD release

On May 17, 2016, Shout! Factory released the complete series on DVD in Region 1.^[6]

Episodes

Awards and nominations

International broadcasts

In the United Kingdom, Cop Rock was televised on BBC1 in 1991.

See also

• Hull High - Another television series with musical segments that debuted (and was canceled) in 1990.
• Viva Laughlin - A 2007 television drama with musical segments. The show was canceled after just two airings due to poor ratings.

References

External links

• Cop Rock at Television Heaven
• Cop Rock, Hill Street Blues and L.A. Law
• Cop Rock at Bad TV Shows
• Cop Rock at the Internet Movie Database
• Cop Rock at TV.com