‘Cops’ Turns 20 - Producer Morgan Langley Q&A

With 700+ episodes, ‘Cops’ officially turns 20 on March 11, after premiering in 1989. The reality-verite show has been a Fox mainstay of Saturday night, filmed from city streets and inside police patrol cars. ‘Cops’ spawned MyNetworkTV spin-offs ‘Jail’ (in 2007) and Street Patrol (in 2008), also reality shows about the arrest and booking process.

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The ‘Cops’ franchise has become a family affair. John Langley co-created ‘Cops’ originally with Malcolm Barbour. In 2007, Langley enlisted his son, Morgan, to produce. The Langley father and son both produce ‘Jail’ and ‘Street Patrol,’ as well.

‘Cops’ is a messy show behind the scenes, but looks well-produced. It keeps a few of its secrets well-hidden:

* Camera people wear bulletproof vests and have been shot at.
* At least one celebrity’s arrest has been shelved by ‘Cops’ producers because of a non “compelling” story line.
* A woman shown on ‘Jail’ called production offices for six months with harassing phone messages.
* Grim footage is usually avoided for taste reasons, such as murder scenes and anything involving children.
* O.J. Simpson signed a release to appear on ”Jail’.’
* “Ninety-five percent” of arrested people sign the release, Langley says “Maybe it’s an Andy Warhol thing.”
* No bail money or compensation are offered to convince the arrestees.
* There may be an updated “Bad Boys” remix song in a future season of ”Cops’.’

Q: What is the craziest thing you’ve seen on ‘Cops,’ ‘Jail,’ or ‘Street Patrol?’

ML: One of my favorites is, I think it’s the second season [of 'Cops']. There was a runaway car in Las Vegas. It had no driver and was driving backwards in circles at about 25 mph. Basically, a ghost-driven car. The police arrive on scene and they have no idea whose car it is, how it ended up driving backwards in circles, and they’ve got to control the situation. One cop actually makes a run at the car, jumps in the window, and is able to put it to a stop. That was pretty bizarre.

Q: Do you hang out on set?

ML: I do. For ‘Cops’ and ‘Jail,’ I’m out in the field. On ‘Jail’, things are a little bit different. We have segment producers with our crews in the ‘Jail’s at all times. On ‘Cops’, because it’s a patrol car and there isn’t much room, our camera people basically act as segment producers. We’ve got some really great people. I go out to all the venues in the beginning, make sure everything is running smoothly, hang out with the guys, and make sure the show is running well. It’s one of the more enjoyable parts of my job is to get out there in the field where the action is.

Q: Do you get close to the danger?

ML: It can be frightening. All of our crews on ‘Cops’ wear bulletproof vests. People have been shot at over the years. No one’s ever been seriously injured or killed, but we’ve had some close calls. Guys have been attacked. I’ve personally been there when a mini riot had started. In ‘Jail’, it can be nerve-wracking as well. You’re there in the booking area of a big city ‘Jail’. There are only five corrections officers and you. Then you’ve got 200 inmates. Anything can happen in the situation. The mini riot was in a ‘Jail’ on a street.

Q: How do you deal with it?

ML: The crews are very safety-conscious. The basic rule we have when we’re out is that the officer is in control of the situation at all times. We defer to the judgment of the officer we’re riding with. The only exception to that rule is if the officer loses control of the situation, let’s say two guys are beating the hell out of our officer on the ground, and he’s lost control. At that point, our guys have permission to intervene and try to help the officer.

Q: Do you talk with some of the arrested people? What do you talk about?

ML: We have to obtain releases from everybody who appears on all of our programs. Our guys have gotten all very good at obtaining releases. We make it a point of not talking to them, other than what we need to do to obtain that release.

Q: Do you develop a relationship with any of the arrested people?

ML: No, typically not.

Q: Where do you draw the line in deciding what not to show?

ML: Well, I kind of hate to go there, but some of the stuff we don’t use is just really grim stuff. A murder scene, stuff with kids. We really shy away from that. Especially when it gets really grim. Nobody wants to see mutilated corpses, extreme violence. Other than that, anything is fair game. There are a lot of bizarre moments on ‘Cops’, and anything could happen.

Q: What is the future of ‘Cops?’

ML: Honestly, I really think ‘Cops’ could go forever. People tune in like it’s the news almost. It’s the rawest show on TV I think. Because it’s so unpredictable, you never know what’s going to happen. Even I am surprised by what I see. I think its lifespan could be unlimited.

Q: Does your dad John want to keep doing ‘Cops?’

ML: He’s still there when we’re putting the shows together. So he plays an active part in making sure that he likes the finished product. Every episode you see of ‘Cops’, he still has his hand in it. He just doesn’t go out in the field so much and leaves me to do a lot of the work.

Q: Are you thinking three, four seasons left?

ML: We’re really not. As long as continue to get compelling content, and these agencies are starting to open their doors to us, why not continue the show? It’s not like a sitcom format or one of these other shows. We’re dealing with reality. The permutations of human behavior are endless, bizarre and unpredictable. I really think it could go on forever.

Q: How did ‘Jail’ and ‘Street Patrol’ come out of ‘Cops?’

ML: It was just a natural … after ‘Cops’, these guys go to ‘Jail’. There are some people that have done programs on prison. For some reason, people have avoided ‘Jail’. The difference is ‘Jail’ is where you go after you’ve been arrested and are waiting for your trial. The first ‘Jail’ we went to test this out in was Clark County Detention Center in Las Vegas. It’s such an amazing ‘Jail’ that once we started filming, we knew we had the making of a television show. My father tried to do a show on ‘Jail’ years ago, but the ‘Jails’ have changed. They’re kind of more made-for-TV than in the past. They have different booking rooms. People are coming through the door every minute. We just found the way ‘Jail’s are being run now made for great TV.

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Q: How do you convince people to show their faces on camera?

ML: Believe it or not, 95% of the people you see on ‘Jail’, ‘Cops’ or ‘Street Patrol,’ sign right up. They want to be on television for whatever reason. There is not much convincing to do. A lot of times we get, “Get that goddamn news camera out of my face.” We say, “We’re not news, we’re with the ‘Cops’ television show.” They say, “Cool, when am I going to be on?”

Q: Is that surprising to you?

ML: It’s strange. It’s very bizarre. I have thought a lot about it. On the one hand, I guess everyone wants to be on TV. Maybe it’s an Andy Warhol thing. The other thing is that today it’s no longer a big deal to be on TV. The average man has become a star in some sense. Everybody wants to appear. That’s fine with us.

Q: What lengths do you have to get people to show their faces? Pay their bail?

ML: No, we could never give them money or material incentives to sign a release. But what we can do is talk with them, ask them why they’re not interested. Tell them about the show, ask them what their fears are, [and] see if they might change their mind basically.

Q: Have some of the people on the show come back to you later or tried to find you?

ML: It’s happened over the years. We had two on ‘Jail’, as well. But somebody that’s appeared on ‘Cops’ or ‘Jail’ will send us a letter saying, “I’m not happy with this. I want you to take it off the air.” We’ve actually got some really nasty phone calls from people. There were one or two cases where we did pull an old segment just out of sympathy, because someone wrote us a nice letter, presented their case, a human being, and we had sympathy. Usually, it’s pretty rare. People sign, they appear and life goes on.

Q: Were there stalker types or nuisances?

ML: There was a girl who appeared on ‘Jail’ who liked to call the office and scream at people for six months.

Q: Have you thought about doing a celebrity crime show?

ML: Did you see Armed and Famous? We don’t want to do that. The law enforcement shows we do, we like to be real and raw. It really is documentary filmmaking. A lot of these other so-called reality shows are usually game shows, managed reality shows. ‘Jail’, ‘Cops,’ ‘Street Patrol,’ we’re really trying to show what happens in there. OJ’s a pretty big celebrity, he appeared on ‘Jail.’ He just happened to walk right into the booking area. We were in the Las Vegas Clark County Jail, and he got busted again for violating his parole. We got word about two hours beforehand that OJ was coming in. We’re not going to do anything intentionally celebrity-related. On the other hand, with the amount of celebrities going to jail these days, you never know who you’re going to see on ‘Jail’ or ‘Cops.’

Q: Have you ever filmed a celebrity pulled over or in custody and not used the footage?

ML: Yes, but I can’t really talk about it. It was with ‘Cops’. We obtain releases from everybody, but technically if somebody’s really famous, a public figure, we wouldn’t have to do that. Yeah, we got a celebrity that appeared on ‘Cops’. For one, it wasn’t that compelling a story. It just would have been pure shock value seeing the celebrity. The person refused to sign a release. And we didn’t want to risk it. We didn’t want to put that person on the air, and turn around and sue us.

Q: So you didn’t need OJ to sign the consent?

ML: We obtained consent from OJ anyway, just to be safe.

Q: Would you ever change the ‘Cops’ song from Bad Boys?

ML: No, but if the show goes on long enough maybe we’ll do a new Bad Boys version. If we do 25 seasons, we’ll do the new Bad Boys. Something like Bad Boys Remix, 2.0.

Q: What was it like growing up seeing your dad do this show – did it ever scare you?

ML: I was always interested in crime and punishment, so I was always close to the show and what was going on. I was always interested in production. For me, it was a great way to grow up. Maybe not for certain other people. My dad and I share the same interests, we get along. We’re both interested in creative things.

Q: You’re working with Tony Rock on a new project?

ML: We wanted to do something different. Law enforcement shows have always been the core of our business, but we always want to try new stuff. Tony is a talented guy. He was great to work with and we got a show going.