After three decades, 32 seasons and 1,100 episodes of police officers chasing and arresting alleged baddies, Cops, the American crime reality/documentary series, has officially been cancelled.
The much-beloved program was temporarily pulled from its host, the Paramount Network, last week as a result of the anti-racism and anti-police brutality protests triggered by the killing of George Floyd, as reported by Variety.
However, on Monday, the network further confirmed that it had no plans to bring the show back.
“Cops is not on the Paramount Network and we don’t have any current or future plans for it to return,” a representative of the broadcasting company told the Hollywood Reporter in a statement on Tuesday, confirming the series’ cancellation.
Floyd, a Black man, died on May 25, after a white police officer kneeled on his neck for nine minutes during an arrest in Minneapolis. He was 46.
Cops initially debuted in 1989 on Fox and ended after 25 seasons in 2013.
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It was quickly picked up and revived by Spike TV and remained on the network until 2018, then Paramount Network took over hosting duties.
The ratings for Cops on its most recent network, however, were “subpar,” according to the New York Times.
The outlet reported that it pulled in an average of only 470,000 views per episode.
On top of its supposedly low ratings, Cops became the focus of an exposé podcast produced by New York City-based investigative journalist Dan Taberski between April and May 2019.
In the six-episode series, Running From Cops, Taberski took a closer look at hundreds of episodes from America’s longest-running reality series by showcasing interviews with former police officers and series executives involved in the show.
Taberski reportedly even spoke with some of the alleged criminals who appeared on Cops — many of whom claimed that the filmed officers were often glorified onscreen and that chase-scenes were typically overdramatized, according to Slate.
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The most recent episode of Cops aired on June 1. In addition, the show’s 33rd season was set to kick off on June 15 at 10 p.m. ET, however, it no longer appears on the network’s programming schedule, as of this writing.
Global News has reached out to the Paramount Network seeking comment.
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