However, many people do watch it as it is now in it's 25th season and has almost 1,000 episodes in constant re-runs on about a dozen cable channels.
Almost every show has a segment where you are taken to a ratty apartment where people live like slobs and the men hang out in wife-beater T-shirts (or no shirt at all), chain-smoking, drinking cheap liquor and saying dumb things like "Those ain't mah pants" and "I didn't do nuttin" and "She done hit me first an' I wuz defending mahself."
I have a relative who was a cop in Boston for a number of years and he tells me it's just like on the show except the cops aren't as polite as they are on camera. After a few years of dealing with these fools, you develop a cynicism and a hard edge.
“Up in these parts, people get all haughty when you bring the COPS show up and claim to have never watched it because of the way it patronizes the poor people.”
“Why are you doing this to me?”
“BECAUSE YOU’RE AN @SSHOLE!!”
Also, if you’re from Mass, you might have seen that one episode that was shot in a town called Lynn [which I understand is the City of Sin].
A guy with a knife was walking down a highway with a knife and at least a dozen cops were following him, but staying out of range while he begged them to shoot him. “We don’t want to do that, buddy. Drop the knife!” Finally they tried jumping him and in the ensuing struggle, a gunshot is heard.
One of the cops says:
“Ya shot ‘im, Larry”
“Oh, well.”