You have the right to rock out in the middle of your police procedural. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a television critic's review. You have a right to composer Randy Newman. If you cannot afford memorable songs, just stuff your episodes with boring tunes.

Cop Rock is the unholy union of a police procedural and a musical, from the twisted mind of Steven Bocho, the creator behind Hill Street Blues, L.A. Law, Doogie Howser, M.D., and NYPD Blue.

Basically, it's a cop show where the boys and girls in blue belt out tunes in the middle of investigations.

The ensemble series stars Anne Bobby, Barbara Bosson, Ronny Cox, Vondie Curtis-Hall, Peter Onorati, Ron McLarty, James McDaniel, Paul McCrane, Larry Joshua David Gianopoulos, and Mick Murry. The pilot episode aired on September 26, 1990, and features the squad squaring up against a bloodthirsty group of local criminals.

This inaugural storyline deals with police brutality, drug abuse, and cold-blooded homicide. Oh, and characters bursting into song. Listen to Áine and Kevin investigate why we own this on DVD, genre-bending choices, and why a lot of this has aged poorly.

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