Future Cop (TV series)
Future Cop is an American crime drama television series which starred Ernest Borgnine and Michael J. Shannon. It was based on the TV movie of the same name and predated RoboCop by ten years. The series was aired on ABC in 1977 and was re-piloted as Cops and Robin on NBC in 1978.[1] A veteran street cop gets an experimental android that has been programmed by the police lab for his new partner.
| Future Cop | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Science fiction |
| Created by | Anthony Wilson Allen S. Epstein |
| Starring | |
| Composer(s) | J. J. Johnson |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 8 (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Anthony Wilson Gary Damsker |
| Running time | 60 minutes |
| Production company(s) |
|
| Distributor | CBS Television Distribution |
| Release | |
| Original network | ABC |
| Original release | May 1, 1976 – March 28, 1978 |
Cast
- Ernest Borgnine – Off. Joe Cleaver
- Michael J. Shannon – Off. John Haven
- John Amos – Off. Bill Bundy
Episodes
TV Movie (1976)
| Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|
| "Future Cop" | Jud Taylor | Anthony Wilson | May 1, 1976 |
Season 1
| No. | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Fighting O'Haven" | Robert Douglas | Mann Rubin | March 5, 1977 |
| 2 | "The Mad Mad Bomber" | Ted Post | Teleplay by: Ken Kolb & Harold Livingston Story by: Ken Kolb | March 25, 1977 |
| 3 | "The Girl on the Ledge" | Earl Bellamy | Mann Rubin | April 7, 1977 |
| 4 | "The Carlisle Girl" | Vincent McEveety | Harold Livingston | April 22, 1977 |
| 5 | "The Kansas City Kid" | Robert Douglas | Harold Livingston | April 30, 1977 |
List of Cops and Robin episodes with airdates
- "Cops and Robin" (March 28, 1978)
Plagiarism lawsuit
Writers Harlan Ellison and Ben Bova filed a lawsuit against Paramount Television, ex-Paramount exec Terry Keegan, and ABC-TV, alleging that Future Cop was plagiarized from their own pitch for a TV series, which was based on their 1970 short story "Brillo." The lawsuit was settled in 1980, awarding Ellison and Bova $182,500 in compensatory damages and $154,500 in punitive damages.[2]
Home media
On March 1, 2016, Mill Creek Entertainment released the complete series on DVD in Region 1.[3]
See also
To date, there have been four other short-lived American TV series with identical premises:
- Holmes & Yoyo (1976)
- Mann & Machine (1992)
- Total Recall 2070 (1999)
- Almost Human (2013)
References
- "A Review of the Nearly Forgotten TV Show, "Future Cop" on DVD". Retroist. Retrieved 2017-09-24.
- Plagiarism--the Sincerest Form of Flattery
- 'The Complete Series' of the Mid-'70s Show Pre-Dating 'RoboCop' Archived 2015-12-18 at the Wayback Machine
External links
- Future Cop on IMDb
- Future Cop at TV.com