I must be getting old because when I found out that Cops had turned 20, I realized I could remember when it first came on the air as a novelty. You'd think after that long, criminals would figure out a few things, but producer John Langley still catches them in the act.
John Langley Talks Cops
"I don't think people watch Cops to learn what not to do," he said. "I think they watch it for what is happening and what's gone on. I don't think criminals watch TV to learn anything."
Even with cameras following the cops around, Langley would not take credit for preventing any crimes. "I don't think so. Cameras are everywhere in our society. I don't think people care. Liquor stores are still robbed even though they have surveillance cameras. I don't think it prevents crime."
20 years is a long time. You'd think Cops would have covered everything by now, but its nature keeps certain criminals out of the spotlight. "We don't see a lot of white collar crime because Cops is essentially about street crime and what takes place on the streets of America. But we've seen just about every variety of street crime you could possibly witness."
Cops has even become a laughing matter with appearances on comedies like My Name is Earl. "We've been on My Name is Earl, we were on X-Files back in the day. They called it X-Cops. We've been parodied all over the place. Jay Leno makes jokes about it. But all that suggests is that maybe we're going to be around a while or that we have been around a while."
All laughing aside, there's a reason Cops endures 20 years later. "I think because it's real, it's in the moment, it's unrehearsed, it's unprovoked. That's what keeps Cops fresh. It's not scripted, it's not narrated, it's not hosted. What you see is what you get. It's all real."
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