On March 11, 1989, "Cops," a documentary-style television
series that follows police officers and sheriff’s deputies as
they go about their jobs, debuted on Fox. "Cops" went on
to become one of the longest-running shows in television
history. It went off the air in 2020.

The show, which was created by John Langley and Malcolm
Barbour, was a pioneer in reality television. Crews with
camcorders followed law enforcement officers on patrol,
tracking down suspects and making arrests.

With its widely recognized theme song, “Bad Boys” by the
reggae group Inner Circle, "Cops" had spawned numerous
imitators in addition to parody shows.

John Russell Langley (June 1, 1943 – June 26, 2021)