Cops canceled after 31 years amid police brutality protests

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published 10 June 2020

Cops, the long-running show that follows police officers on patrol, was canceled by the Paramount Network on Tuesday.

The move comes as protests against police brutality continue across the United States. The network said in a statement it already pulled reruns of Cops from the air, and "we don't have any current or future plans for it to return." Old episodes are still running on WGN America, but the network is not expected to renew its contract at the end of this month, The Hollywood Reporter says.

The show's 33rd season had been scheduled to premiere on Monday. Cops, which launched on Fox in 1989, moved to Spike TV in 2013 and remained on the channel when it was rebranded as the Paramount Network in 2018. The show has been criticized for the way it depicts suspects, and the "Running From COPS" podcast has reported on officers coercing people into signing releases and the film crew carrying weapons and assisting officers.

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

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