Series Description

The Cop Rock TV show was a 60 minute police musical drama series on ABC that featured crimes as vicious as any seen on TV but this series stood out from the others in one major way! The killers, drug dealers, corrupt politicians, and other evil-doers would regularly break out in song! In a world where it sometimes seems like everything on TV is a copy of something else, Cop Rock certainly didn't fall into that trap! Unfortunately, it also didn't appeal to enough viewers to stay on the air!

Cop Rock Cast

Barbara Bosson .... Mayor Louise Plank
Ronny Cox .... Chief Roger Kendrick
Larry Joshua .... CaptainJohn Hollander
Peter Onorati .... Detective Vincent LaRusso
David Gianopoulos .... Officer Andy Campo
Anne Bobby .... Officer Vicki Quinn
Ron McLarty .... Detective Lt. Ralph Ruskin
James McDaniel .... Officer Franklin Rose
Mick Murray .... Detective Joseph Gaines
Paul McCrane .... Detective Bob McIntire
Vondie Curtis-Hall .... Cmdr. Warren Osborne
William Thomas Jr. .... Detective William Donald Potts
Teri Austin .... Trish Vaughn
Dennis Lipscomb .... Sidney Weitz
Jeffrey Alan Chandler .... Ray Rodbart

Cop Rock Theme Song

Title: "Under the Gun"

Written and Performed By: "Randy Newman"

Days of sunshine, tears of rain
Precious memories of years gone by
Eyes of darkness, feelin' pain
All the time that we had

When all that's left is a photograph
Someone's golden moment in the sun
Doin' what had to be done
Livin' under the gun

Under the gun
Under the gun
Under the gun

When the streets are dark and bare
Not a sign of comfort anywhere
In the alley, on the stair
You call and I will be there

When no one else seemed to care
Livin' under the gun

Under the gun
Under the gun
Under the gun

Cop Rock Trivia

It's easy to understand where the Cop Rock TV show got its brutal crime story themes. The series' creator was Steven Bochco who also created "Hill Street Blues". Cop Rock was also set in Los Angeles just like Hill Street Blues and mostly in neighborhoods that were just as sleazy.

Even though the combination of musical numbers and hideous crimes wasn't successful, critics and fans agreed that it was a rare (and welcome) attempt to come up with something original!

The very popular TV series, "Hunter" was in competition with WIOU in its 10:00 to 11:00PM time slot on Wednesday evenings. That may have contributed to Cop Rock's demise! The WIOU TV show which was in the same time slot on CBS didn't last very long either!

The Cop Rock theme song opened each episode with Randy Newman singing the lyrics in a music video style opening while the show's credits appeared.