Bad boys are now sad boys. Thirty-two seasons comes to an end as Paramount Network has officially delayed the Season 33 launch of Cops, with no plans of returning. The long-running reality series was scheduled to return on Monday.
The decision comes as protests over police brutality and cries to “defund police departments” continue across the nation following the killing of George Floyd at the hands of four Minneapolis police officers who have since been arrested.
First launched in 1989, Cops aired for 25 seasons on Fox when the network was still getting its footing. The network aired that series together with America’s Most Wanted on Saturday nights for 14 years. Most Wanted moved to Lifetime in 2011 and was eventually cancelled.
Cops, which was the grandfather of modern day reality shows, got a new lease on life in 2013 when Spike TV ordered new episodes. (Spike was rebranded as Paramount Network in 2018.)
Paramount Network hasn’t yet commented on the fate of Monday’s episode, but its program schedule no longer shows it airing as planned at 10 p.m. ET; Ghostbusters is now scheduled there instead.
According to Variety, who first reported the story, Paramount made the shift over a week ago, as Cops also didn’t air this past Monday in its normal spot. The show is no longer mentioned anywhere on the channel’s website.
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Paramount Network owner ViacomCBS made headlines earlier this week when on Monday the company’s cable networks went dark for eight minutes and 46 seconds — the amount of time that the Minneapolis police officer kept his knee on Floyd’s neck, killing him in the process.
SOURCE: TheWrap
