The great thing about YouTube and its supply of not-entirely-legal uploads: just when you think you’ve seen everything, the right combination of search words or a recommendation from another video will lead you to the craziest thing you’ve ever seen. So I thought I wasn’t capable of being surprised by a TV opening sequence that seems like it should be a parody, but I don’t think I’ve seen this one before. “He’s the cop of the future… a future cop!”
The great thing about YouTube and its supply of not-entirely-legal uploads: just when you think you’ve seen everything, the right combination of search words or a recommendation from another video will lead you to the craziest thing you’ve ever seen. So I thought I wasn’t capable of being surprised by a TV opening sequence that seems like it should be a parody, but I don’t think I’ve seen this one before. “He’s the cop of the future… a future cop!”
Of course, 35 years later, TV still hasn’t lost its ability to create moments of unintentional self-parody. You may have heard about this bit on Hawaii 5-0, where a plug for the sponsor was inserted into the show with incredible ham-handedness; it seemed like the writers saw the Burger King stuff on Arrested Development (“It’s a wonderful restaurant!”) and thought that was seriously how you’re supposed to do product placement. The writing on Hawaii 5-0 is heavy-handed in all ways, so it’s arguably just an example of them writing product placement the way they write everything else.