On Sat, 24 Apr 1993 18:40:54 -0400 jon nealon said:
>Has COPS crossed anyone's mind regarding "must-see TV" ?
>
It's definitely crossed mine.  I'm fascinated with the show.
 
>I realiize this show is widely despised for many reasons, Of which most are
>valid.  But is also one of the most interesting television shows on Tv for
>quite possibly the same reasons.  I believe it is the only "straight" docu-
>mentary television show on.  ANd the consequences of the lack of apparent
>mediation are sometimes overwhelming and confusing.
 
What I like most about it is the lack of an host-narrator  (like Gil
Gerard on CODE 3) setting contexts and "heightening" drama.  Instead, the
cops themselves are prompted to provide the narration and we never hear
the producers' or a host's voice.  What's intriguing about this is how
the cops translate events into their own discourse.
 
For instance, they universally (from Ft. Worth to Pittsburgh to Seattle)
refer to perpetrators as "bad guys"--not "perpetrators" or "perps" or
whatever slang movie/TV cops are currently using.  Obviously, "bad guys"
has many, different associations than a dry term like perpetrator.
 
Also, the lack of a host-narrator permits the show its own unique
rhythm.  Of course, it's not "reality's" rhythm, but it also isn't
MIAMI VICE's or car commercials'.  In one program a COPS camera/sound
crew was actually in a patrol car when it was hit by another patrol
car.  Within the program this event (which had quite a potential for
exploitation by the producers:  heroic camera crew; really really dangerous
reality; blah blah blah) is presented almost casually, with >no<
build-up.  The crew is in the car, shooting a typical chase.  Suddenly
they're broadsided by another car.
 
And then it >immediately< cuts away to another camera crew shooting a
simultaneous scene.  We return to the site of the crash only after
the second camera crew arrives.
 
It is amazing in how it is underplayed--something all too rare on
television.
 
Of course the danger of the show is that some viewers may think of it as
reality, ignoring how the program structures events and what it leaves
out.  For example, while shooting in the Pacific Northwest they
videotaped a raid in which the police broke down the door of the wrong
house and harrassed the people inside.  The producers decided not to
include it in COPS.
 
There's a reason why police officers (reportedly) enjoy the show
themselves.
 
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