14 Mar 2026
Let’s Watch Cop Rock – Episode 0011
Welcome to Episode 11 of “Let’s Watch Cop Rock,” an 11-episode podcast discussing that classic police procedural rock musical soap opera crime drama Cop Rock, 11 episodes of which aired on ABC during the fall of 1990.
Over the course of this podcast as a whole, we discuss the events of the show, our reactions to the music, and the ways this program worked, or didn’t work, and why some of it still seems very relevant today. Sometimes we get political. Sometimes we crack up uncontrollably. Sometimes we tell unbelievable but entirely true stories of our own lives’ intersections with crime or law enforcement or both. Every episode we play Good Cop, Bad Cop, or Innocent Bystander?
I confess I’ve dragged out posting this 11th episode because I haven’t quite been ready for Let’s Watch Cop Rock to be over. Creating and recording this podcast has been a tremendous pleasure for us, and we hope listening to it has been for you, too. Cop Rock had a lot of problems, but it was also a big, messy, ambitious effort at doing something that felt completely new. Without it, would we have had Glee? Or the musical episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer? It’s one of those things it’s hard for me to describe to others because I am so glad it exists even though I spend a lot of time groaning while I watch it.
Recording this has been so much fun, in fact, that when Officer Orifice returns to town a few months from now we’re planning to reassemble this cast and do a 12th bonus episode of “Let’s Watch Cop Rock.” So, stay subscribed in your podcast app, and look for something in, say, six months.
I also want to point out watching this show has made me do a lot of thinking about how I feel towards police, the policies that drive police efforts and tactics, and the politics behind those policies. I say in an earlier episode that it’s hard for me to watch cop shows and enjoy them because of some inherent anti-authoritarianism on my part. Like has been said about war movies, it’s impossible to make an anti-war movie that doesn’t glorify war. Even this show, which in many ways is a harmless, song-and-dance look at a few people who happen to be police, repeatedly depicts abuses of power and authority by the characters who wear a badge. The one storyline that carries from start to finish is the premeditated murder of a suspect by a policeman who worries that suspect is going to “get away with it.” Over and over again we see police and other authorities abuse their power, take bribes, brag about how they plan to beat someone up, break the law, overstep their bounds, and otherwise depict all the things that drive my anti-authoritarian streak. In response to that experience, I recently read Andrea Ritchie’s book, Invisible No More: Police Violence Against Black Women and Women of Color. I’ll put a link to it in the show notes. It gave me a lot to think about, and if the behavior of some of these characters gave you pause at any point then I recommend you read it, too. These are not easy topics to consider. I like feeling safe. I like resting easy, and I like to think I can rest easy because the police in my town are here to protect me. The interactions I’ve had with them have all been professional and compassionate. I’ve had relationships with people who worked in law enforcement. My own experience has been nothing like the experiences described in the book, or like the experiences depicted in Cop Rock – and in its own way that makes me feel it’s even more important I educate myself about the experiences of people who do not have the same privileges as I do.
Watch the eleventh episode of Cop Rock before listening. Trust me, it’ll make a lot more sense that way. You can get Cop Rock on Amazon or direct from Shout Factory. There are links for each in the show notes. I want to remind you, we’re not affiliated with Shout Factory, we’re not affiliated with Cop Rock, and we gain nothing from t
