Referenced By / COPS (1989)

Films — Animation

• Shrek 2 has a spoof called KNIGHTS, which showcased Shrek, Donkey and Puss in Boots being arrested on trumped-up charges en route to the Far Far Away castle.

Films — Live-Action

• Bad Boys 2 has a scene where the lead characters sing the theme song, and subsequently screw up the words.
• In Bowling for Columbine, Michael Moore uses COPS as an example of how the media use fear-mongering to portray crime. He then does a parody of the show by imagining it going after white-collar criminals int eh same way.
• In the climax of The Cable Guy when Chip learns that Steven called "the fuzz" on him, he sings the opening line of the show.
• In Delta Farce, gung ho squad doofus and ex-cop, Everett, shoots a random donkey, and then charges in thinking he nailed a terrorist, shouting orders for the other "terrorists" next to the donkey to "get down! Hands behind your head!" Bill and Larry exhaustedly try to keep up, telling him to "Calm down! This ain't COPS."
  Larry: I was on COPS once.
  Bill: Who could forget! "High speed pursuit, followed by indecent exposure."
  Larry: That was the best Thanksgiving ever!
• In Drop Dead Gorgeous, after Becky is killed in an explosion and Gladys has a freak-out over it and confesses to murdering one of her beauty pageant rivals, the documentary crew meets some of the town's officers, who recognize them for their past work on the show.
• Magnolia: Jim Kurring, a beat cop, talks to himself during his beat in the style of this show.
• In Step Brothers, when Dale notices Brennan on the couch and asks why he was sweaty, he claims it was because he just watched the show. In reality, he worked a sweat playing with Dale's drumset, the one rule that wasn't meant to be broken.
• TROOPS is a fan film parody of COPS set in the Star Wars universe with Stormtroopers on patrol in Tatooine taking the place of cops. Received a sequel called I.M.P.S: The Relentless.

Live-Action TV

• All That had a parody called Fat Cop.
• The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air episode "Ol' Ball and Chain" has the family watching the show to view Jazz's fiancée, Jewel, who was a featured criminal on the show.
• In Living Color! had a spoof called Thugs, which was from the point of view of the criminals.
• Loiter Squad, the adult swim show featuring the members of OFWGKTA, had a spoof called POPO where Tyler and Lionel play Rabid Cops beating up (and sometimes killing!) hapless suspects, sometimes for the flimsiest excuse. Sometimes they even beat up inanimate objects! Lampshaded by the parody theme song "Black Cops".
• Mad TV:
  • One episode has a claymation version called Clops.
  • Another episode had a parody of Chris Rock's "No Sex in the Champagne Room" discuss how there are no Blacks on television, except on COPS itself.
• Married... with Children had a later episode where Al was a "cop" on the show. Hijinks include him taking off in Officer Dan's cruiser (which doesn't bother him too much) and both Marcy and Jefferson winding up tasered.
• Roseanne: The Stinger for the episode "The Driver's Seat" had Roseanne, Dan and D.J. playing stereotypical trailer trash versions of themselves on the show and culminates in the latter stealing the officer's cruiser (due to them leaving the keys in the ignition.)
• The X-Files. In "X-Cops", a camera crew from COPS covers Mulder and Scully investigating a Monster of the Week, with the entire episode presented In the Style of a COPS episode, using some of the actual film crew from COPS and real L.A. County Sheriff's deputies to add to the authenticity.

Video Games

• In Completing the Mission, when Henry Stickmin tires himself out trying to break electric anti-gravity cuffs, the resulting FAIL Screen says, "You can't break those cuffs." PuffballsUnited has also said that he attempted to replicate the scream from that scene when Henry tries breaking free.
• Sacred Odyssey: Rise of Ayden has an achievement after you killed enough orcs. "Bad Orcs, Bad Orcs, What'chu Gonna Do?"

Western Animation

• American Dad!: In "Francine's Flashback", it's revealed that the last time Stan forgot his and Francine's anniversary, the No-Holds-Barred Beatdown he received became an episode of COPS (which Roger and Klaus recorded for their amusement).
• Cartoon Planet had a song called "Bad Bug" which was In the Style of the show's theme song.
• Daria had one of Brittany's house parties (that was "chaperoned" by a security guard) be busted up by the real cops, which delights her since she thinks that they're the show and that they'll be on TV.
• Family Guy:
  • In "One if By Clam, Two if By Sea", Peter watches COPS at the same time they come to arrest him for allegedly burning down the Clam's Head Pub. As he's being nabbed, he comments how hot "Fatty's" wife is and yells for the cops to hit him with their clubs.
  • In "Ratings Guy", thanks to Peter's newfound influence over the TV landscape, the officers on COPS now use bananas instead of guns.
• Futurama: In the episode "The Lesser of Two Evils", Fry, Leela and Bender watch Cop Department. Smitty and URL arrest a drunken alien, whose face is blurred like many of the show's suspects. He denies firing any lasers despite there being a large hole on the ceiling. When confronted, he claims it's the "crazy upstairs lady", but URL points out that they're on the top floor of the apartment building. As the alien is being detained, Smitty orders him to unblur his face.
• Logorama: The COPS logo can be seen on a TV in the Pizza Hut diner.
• The Simpsons:
  • In the beginning of "Homer's Triple Bypass", he watches a send-up of the show titled COPS: In Springfield which displays (and even lampshades in the theme song) their gross incompetence.
  • "Lisa on Ice" has Bart explaining to Homer that he missed the first two episodes of the show, but if they hurry, they can catch the last three.
  • In "The Springfield Connection", Marge, Principal Skinner and his mother Agnes briefly appear on the show in regards to a "donestic disturbance" between the latter two over whose turn is it to use a bath pillow. Skinner then angrily demands to have his face blurred and the show hastily complies, doing so at the end of the segment. A Deleted Scene that followed had Chief Wiggum and other cops watching the show and quipping how "this is T.J. Hooker's worst rug (toupee) yet!"
• In the South Park episode "Chickenlover", both Officer Barbrady and Cartman appear on the show. The latter soon begins to act like a cop (even donning a uniform and mirrored sunglasses), repeatedly screams "RESPECT MAH AUTHORITAH!" while clubbing people with a baton, gives testimonials a la the officers on COPS, and at one point his name appears onscreen in a similar fashion to the "COPS" logo.

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