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As originally written, the sheriff's department material would have served as link material between traditional comedy sketches ; the canceled project was being considered for the Fox Saturday lineup, and the team thought at the time that the COPS format was a natural framework for sketch comedy.

However, during the shooting — and especially the editing — they realized the police element was more interesting than the sketches, and the finished pilot was, according to Robert Ben Garant, " remarkably similar " to the series that eventually aired.

Nevertheless, Fox turned down the completed pilot.

According to Lennon, their decision not to pick the show up was influenced by a scene, preserved in the eventual Comedy Central pilot, involving Lt. Dangle passionately kissing a man.

It was another two years before Comedy Central greenlit the project.