This program was a well-written and sensitively acted police drama. If you have a chance to see any or all of the four episodes that actually aired you will no doubt be as puzzled as viewers were in 1990 as to why this excellent show brought out such spiteful and cruel reactions in television critics. Steven Bochco had assembled some of the most talented people working in television at the time. He was simply offering viewers something "different"--a thing they'd been saying they wanted since television started. Musical theater has historically been a legitimate and compelling way to tell a story. Steven Bochco did this with flair. "Cop Rock" was a last, lonely, courageous attempt to break away from the formula of cookie cutter television programming.
