Cops Revival Coming to Fox Nation

Fox is bringing Cops, the longest-running reality show in TV history, back to life less than two years after the long-running series was cancelled at the Paramount Network. A revival of Cops will head to Fox Naiton, the company’s streaming network, where it will face significantly less scrutiny than it did when it was on Fox proper or the Paramount Network. Production on the syndicated series never really seemed to stop, with its producers pledging to find a new home immediately after cancellation and heading into production last October, about four months after the last episodes aired.

Fox Nation will reportedly bring four new episodes to screens on October 1. While not a traditional broadcast or cable network, Fox Nation is available on iOS and Android devices as well as digital platforms like Apple TV and Roku.

“Cops is one of the most iconic brands on television with an incredibly passionate fan base,” said Jason Klarman, president of Fox Nation, in a statement to Variety.

Cops ran on Fox for 25 years, before being moved from the Fox schedule in 2013 and heading to Spike TV, which later became Paramount Network in 2018. The series was cancelled following George Floyd’s murder at the hands of police in May of 2020, but in contrast to Live PD, a similar show that was also cancelled during that time, Cops‘s best ratings days were behind it. Live PD remained one of the most-watched shows on TV at the time of its cancellation, but with Cops, it was mostly used as filler for late-night time slots due to its relatively low syndication cost and the sheer volume of episodes (there were over 1,000 when it ended its run). Live PD spinoff Live Rescue, which centers on firefighters and EMTs, still airs on A&E.

Cops‘s time at Spike and Paramount has been controversial; its cancellation in the wake of George Floyd’s murder was not the first time the series has drawn the ire of culture critics following a high profile police brutality case. In 2014, police in Omaha, Nebraska opened fire on a suspect in the robbery of a Wendy’s restaurant. They hit the suspect several times but also shot and killed an audio technician who worked on Cops. A wrongful death suit filed by the technician’s brother in 2016 was still ongoing when the series ended. 

In 2019, Dan Tabersky — a former Daily Show producer and documentary filmmaker — released a six-part investigative podcast called Running From Cops, which explored various criticisms (moral and legal) leveled at the show, its creators and distributors.