Cops
1989–FoxDocumentary
The show that made a reggae record into the most recognisable theme in American unscripted television.
One opening sequence is catalogued for Cops, covering season 1.
It arrived on Fox in 1989, when America's Most Wanted, Married... with Children and 21 Jump Street were also on the network.
The opening titles
Season 1
No usable clip kept. The available upload runs the opening and closing credits together; of the two intro-only copies, one is an affiliate recording with a CW4 promotion bar across the picture and the other carries a Bandicam watermark.
More documentary opening titles from the 1980s
1 sequenceUnsolved Mysteries
Robert Stack in a trench coat, a synthesiser and a fog machine — the most frightening thing on American television that was not fiction.
- Season 1
1 sequenceReading Rainbow
LeVar Burton reading to children for twenty-three years, and "but you don't have to take my word for it".
- Season 1
1 sequenceAmerica's Most Wanted
The programme Fox launched itself on, and the one that turned a network into a switchboard.
- Season 1
1 sequenceMTV Unplugged
Sixteen seconds and an acoustic guitar — a format whose whole argument is in the title card.
- Season 1
1 sequenceCatchphrase
Say what you see, and a golden robot called Mr Chips who was the reason anyone watched.
- Season 1
1 sequenceSolid Gold
The weekly chart countdown as a dance routine, with its own troupe named after it.
- Season 1