If you spot a police car over the next few days, flag it down and thank the men and women inside. For protecting and serving you, sure, but also for allowing a camera crew to document those entertaining educational apprehendings of bad boys. If you can believe it, COPS will hit the 800-episode milestone tonight. (SPOILER ALERT: Boa on the loose! Stop that guy running away with drugs!). It’s a feat that few shows ever achieve (and 789 more episodes than Cop Rock ever made). Though little fanfare will be made of this event, we here at EW.com will not let the big day pass unnoticed, so we shined a flashlight into the face of series creator John Langley and asked him to name his favorite incidents—the weirder, the better—from the arresting Fox docuseries.
• The Buff-and-in-the-Buff Burglar (Philadelphia, 1992) “The cops showed up at a barbershop, and there was a naked burglar whom the owner had shot. The burglar was sweaty and mad. He [appeared to be] on some kind of drugs, and he started fighting with the police officers. They had to wrestle with this nude guy that was as big as a football player. Very difficult to subdue a nude person. There’s nothing to grab a hold of, so to speak.”
• Armed and Stabulous (Pierce County, Wash., 1996) “A police officer pulled up to a suspect—a big, hefty lady in a car having a domestic dispute—and she gunned her car right into the officer’s. After she hit his car, he jumped out and ran around to her door. Then she jumped out with a butcher knife and tried to stab the cop. He ducked and tackled her, and she fell and impaled herself on the knife. It was a huge butcher knife, right out of Psycho. They subdued her and she went to the hospital and lived through it. Amazingly. Fortunately she didn’t get the guy with the knife. He would’ve been history.”
• The Eternal Circle (Las Vegas, 1990) “A woman had gotten out of her car and somehow it started going backward in circles in a parking lot at a good clip. It was like the machines were taking over. I’ve never seen anything like that. She went to put it in [park] while it was still running—she was going to leave it for a second—and she didn’t have it all the way in. She put it in reverse, got out of the car, and it took off…. It was going to keep going until it ran out of gas or broke loose and crashed into something. So the cops got out their batons and beat it into submission. They broke the window, jumped inside, and subdued the car.”
• The Double-Down Thief (Las Vegas, 2004 and 2010) “We had a guy who was on one show for a stolen car and he showed up just recently on another show for a stolen car. The same guy, the same crime, and he used the same excuse! Everything was the same except for the police officers arresting him! And he crashed the car, right on camera…. The ultimate recidivist—he’s been on COPS twice.”
So, PopWatchers—and dare I say COPS Watchers—what did you think of Langley’s list? Any memorable episodes that you’d add to the mix? Better yet, have any of you—or a friend/family member—ever wound up on COPS? Feel free to start confessing. Shirt and shoes optional.
My neighbor was the dude that was threatening to jump off the 6th Street Bridge in Pittsburgh. It was a serious situation for sure but the way his sister said “Chaaaroows” (for Charles) always cracked me up. He eventually came down btw. I wonder where he is now.
Police officers are a bunch of morons and thugs and dorks who were bullied in school. I always hope to see a pig eat led on the show but sadly it hasn’t happened yet.
Not all are thugs but many are. I disagree that they were dorks that were bullied, quite the opposite actually. I come from a family of cops and my cousins and brothers were all arrogant and popular in high school.
arrogant, kind of think there stuff no stink, yeah that sounds like a cop family. also sounds like the cyberdorks is right because look at you typing in stuff trying to get attention. i think a lot of arrogant dorks and quite dorks become cops to get revenge on all ther cool people who had fun in high school instead of hiding in the bathroom like ick
Yes, and people who post on EW.com are a bunch of needy, attention-seeking cyberdorks who are not terribly bright and thus feel it’s okay to make crazy generalizations about entire groups of people. I always hope to see a cop put LEAD (not led, moron) into an EW.com poster on the show but sadly it hasn’t happened yet.
Happy 9/11 to you and to the police officers who gave their lives for others on this day nine years ago.
Are we ever going to quit whining about 9/11? Lets all cry about the Hindenburg while we’re at it. And I’m sure a lot of good soldiers died when Greece invaded Troy, so lets get out our hankys for that.
Today is 9/11 so it’s kind of relevant dumb ass. Well said ‘ick’
Ceballos that’s a sh!tty thing to say, I mean it really is.
Fake Ceballos sucks
Ceballos you are a a jackazz!
what a disillusioned idiot
what a disillusioned idiot sitting here posting stuff talking about only dorks post stuff kill your self and do the world a favor.
I know Ceballos, that’s an episode I’d like to see as well.
Ceballos: and yet if someone broke into your house and threatened to kill your family, who you gonna call? Cops run towards danger because they are brave. You would run away like a sissy pants.
Cops walk toward danger because they are paid to, because they have guns, and because they outnumber the perpetrators at least 5 to 1. Real heroes.
Fake Ceballos is a douche
Ok Jackazz next time someone breaks into your house, and I hope it is soon, please forget you know 911. NOONE is coming to your rescue you douchebag!
Troll!
Fake Ceballos, go away. You’re horrible.
In a civilization without law enforcement, I don’t think “Ceballos” would last ten minutes.
Yes, we’ll stop whining when you stop whining about getting bullied by future-cops in high school.
I remember there was one where the guy wasn’t wearing a shirt.
I remember that one! I think it was the same one where that guy was drunk. Or maybe it was the one where the guy was smoking pot. Or maybe it was the one where the guy had a gun…… they all kinda blend into one another after you’ve seen nearly all of them! Love you COPS!!!!
Had no idea this show was still on, just assumed it’s been in reruns for the past 10 years.
I like the one with the Cop chasing the little Person, The Guy tried to climb a Pole. The Cop tried not to laugh.
I liked the one where connie used Incorrect Capitalization on everything just to show how Stupid she Is. A Pole is a Polish person, so are you saying he climbed up a person from Poland? Happy 9/11 idiot. No wonder they friggin hate us.
The previous posting was made by an Imposter Ick.
Fake ick, you should probably try to be more subtle if you’re going to impersonate someone.
He’s just as bad at impersonating the real, non-horrible Ceballos.
Connie, that was my favorite as well. It was hysterical!
I love Cops. Congrats for 800 shows!!!
“Double-Down Theif”…I thought the guy stole one of those KFC sandwhiches. He just got to be on cops twice…even better!! Hehehehee!
One of my favorites was when the cops thought a woman’s house was on fire so they broke the front door and windows in order to rescue her, only to find out it was the house behind her that was on fire. I never laughed so hard in my life when watching that show.
I love that one too! And the poor lady was scared to death! I can’t imagine how bad he got teased at roll-call the next day!
The cross-dressing truck driver.
The trucker in the crooked blond wig, leotard and ripped hose was very unexpected and hilarious.
The one with the big black guy that was covered in food when he answered the door. His wife had dumped just about every food item they had in the house on him, he was covered head to toe with flour, peanut butter, syrup, you name it. Somehow the police ended up arresting him. I remember thinking that seemed really unfair, Mrs. Butterworth should have been the one hauled off to jail.
That one is my husbands favorite one too.
I have probably watched all 800 episodes. Let’s see….
1)Going to the lady’s house with the birds and the parrot kept nipping at the cop
2)The old couple fighting and one of them was swearing their teeth were thrown out the window and they wanted them back
3)Mardi Gras episodes. Just cause it’s that time in N.O. don’t mean you can pee on the street.
4)Guy was supposed to be making some king of drop, but instead had him a prostitute, got busted, and had to call his wife to ask her to make his last drop b/c he was getting arrested.
5)When the COPS show crew had to help (one with assisting in CPR)
6)Any prostitution/drug sting that showed how stupid Johns and druggies are.
The one I’ve never forgotten is when the cops went to investigate a domestic dispute and found a huge white sheet draped across the entrance to the couple’s kitchen. The cops went behind the sheet and discovered tons of fly-infested trash and dirty dishes. Meanwhile, the couple’s two little kids roamed the house. The wife said that she had let the trash accumulate for so long, it became easier just to throw a sheet over it. Then she went into tears when the cops told her that her kids could be taken away if she didn’t clean up the mess. She had to be *told* this!
So glad someone brought up that one where they broke into the wrong house! That poor cop. I know he was just trying to save that lady, but he got teased so much for it being the wrong house.
I loved the X-Files episode that riffed on Cops too. That was classic.
Only 100 more to go & they will be closing in on Monday Night Raw.