| Genre: | Science fiction |
| Creator: | Anthony Wilson Allen S. Epstein |
| Composer: | J. J. Johnson |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Num Seasons: | 1 |
| Num Episodes: | 8 |
| List Episodes: | Future Cop (TV series)#List of Future Cop episodes with airdates |
| Runtime: | 60 minutes |
| Executive Producer: | Anthony Wilson Gary Damsker |
| Channel: | ABC |
Future Cop is an American crime drama science fiction television series that starred Ernest Borgnine and Michael J. Shannon. It was based on the TV movie of the same title and predated RoboCop by ten years. The series was aired on ABC in 1977 and was re-piloted as Cops and Robin on NBC in 1978.[1] A veteran street cop gets an experimental android that has been programmed by the police lab for his new partner.
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Writers Harlan Ellison and Ben Bova 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."[2] The lawsuit was settled in 1980, awarding Ellison and Bova $182,500 in compensatory damages and $154,500 in punitive damages.[3] [4] The story's title was allegedly a pun by Bova, as a robot policeman could be referred to as "metal fuzz", like Brillo soap pads.[5]
On March 1, 2016, Mill Creek Entertainment released the complete series on DVD in Region 1.[6]
To date, there have been five other short-lived American TV series with identical premises: