''Future Cop'' is an American

crime drama Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine ...

television series that starred

Ernest Borgnine Ernest Borgnine (; born Ermes Effron Borgnino; January 24, 1917 – July 8, 2012) was an American actor whose career spanned over six decades. He was noted for his gruff but relaxed voice and gap-toothed Cheshire Cat grin. A popular perfor ...

and Michael J. Shannon. It was based on the TV movie of the same name and predated ''

RoboCop ''RoboCop'' is a 1987 American science fiction action film directed by Paul Verhoeven and written by Edward Neumeier and Michael Miner. The film stars Peter Weller, Nancy Allen, Daniel O'Herlihy, Ronny Cox, Kurtwood Smith, and Miguel Ferre ...

'' by ten years. The series was aired on

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

in 1977 and was re-piloted as ''Cops and Robin'' on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

in 1978. A veteran street cop gets an experimental android that has been programmed by the police lab for his new partner.

Cast

– Off. Joe Cleaver * Michael J. Shannon – Off. John Haven *

John Amos John Allen Amos Jr. (born December 27, 1939) is an American actor known for his role as James Evans Sr. on the CBS television series ''Good Times''. Amos's other television work includes ''The Mary Tyler Moore Show'', a recurring role as Admi ...

– Off. Bill Bundy

Episodes

TV Movie (1976)

Season 1

List of ''Cops and Robin'' episodes with airdates

# "Cops and Robin" (March 28, 1978)

Plagiarism lawsuit

Writers

Harlan Ellison Harlan Jay Ellison (May 27, 1934 – June 28, 2018) was an American writer, known for his prolific and influential work in New Wave speculative fiction and for his outspoken, combative personality. Robert Bloch, the author of '' Psycho'' ...

and

Ben Bova Benjamin William Bova (November 8, 1932November 29, 2020) was an American writer and editor. During a writing career of 60 years, he was the author of more than 120 works of science fact and fiction, an editor of '' Analog Science Fiction and F ...

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. The story's title was allegedly a pun, as a robot policeman could be referred to as "steel fuzz", like Brillo soap pads.

Home media

On March 1, 2016, Mill Creek Entertainment released the complete series on DVD in Region 1.'The Complete Series' of the Mid-'70s Show Pre-Dating 'RoboCop'

References

External links

*{{IMDb title, id=0074558, title=Future Cop American Broadcasting Company original programming 1970s American crime drama television series 1970s American science fiction television series 1977 American television series debuts 1977 American television series endings Television series about robots English-language television shows Television series by CBS Studios