John Langley, the creator of the documentary reality seriesCops, has passed away. Per Variety, Langley’s reps say he died on Saturday of an apparent heart attack in Baja, Mexico, where he was competing in the Coast to Coast Ensenada-San Felipe 250 off-road race. TMZ also reports that Langley was on the track at the time with his son Zak. He was 78 years old.
A director, writer, and producer,John Langleyis best known as the creator and executive producer of the long-running TV seriesCops. Premiering on Fox in 1989, the show followed actual police officers working the beat in their local jurisdictions in pursuit of criminals of all varieties. By last year, it had moved to Paramount Network after 32 seasons on the air. It was canceled in June 2020 in response to nationwide protests over the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Sometimes credited as the “Godfather of Reality Television,” Langley also produced two-hour event specials that set the mold for modern reality television during the 1980s. This includes the showAmerican Vice: The Doping of a Nation, which documented three live drug arrests on primetime television for the first time. The success of the special along with the producer’s other work on crime-based television would later lead to the creation ofCops.
“That’s what astonishes me to this day,” Langley said of theenduring popularity of the showin a 2014 interview with Parade. “I only knew that it was a good idea for a show. I really believe in the show, obviously, and I kept turning down anybody’s modifications of it. They wanted me to put in music. I’d said no. They wanted me to add a narrator. I said no. They wanted me to do recreations. I’d said no. I just stuck to my guns. I thought it was a pretty simple idea that was straightforward and doable, but no one quite saw it. Now everybody sees it, of course.”
Other work from Langley over the years includesWho Murdered JFK, which questioned the details of the John F. Kennedy assassination, as well as the specialTerrorism: Target U.S.A., chronicling the potential threat of terrorism in the country. He also produced the seriesAmerican Jailfor TruTV and along with son Morgan producedLas Vegas Jailhouse. His other screen credits includeStreet Patrol,Vegas Strip, andUndercover Stings. Because of his television accomplishments, Langley was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2011.
Outside of his television work, Langley loved off-road racing. He had started his own off-road race team called theCopsracing team, and he was active in Southern Nevada Off Road Enthusiasts and SCORE International. In 2017, he won the Baja 1000, where he passed away this weekend, in the Spec Trophy Truck class.
Langley’s survivors include his wife Maggie; son Morgan, who oversees Langley Productions and serves as an executive producer ofCops; son Zak; daughters Sarah Langley Dews and Jennifer Blair; and seven grandchildren. Our thoughts are with the family at this time.Rest in peace, John Langley. This news comes to us fromTMZ.
