SPOKANE, Wash. — The long-running show “Cops” resumed filming just three months after it was cancelled by Paramount Network, but Americans won’t be seeing the new episodes on their TV screens any time soon.

What You Need To Know

  • The television show "Cops" has resumed filming months after being cancelled by Paramount Network

  • The show is filming in Washington alongside the Spokane County Sheriff's Office

  • "Cops" was cancelled in the U.S. in June in the wake of George Floyd's death

  • The new episodes are only set to air in international markets

The show, which aired for 33 seasons beginning in 1989 before it was cancelled, is now filming in Spokane, Washington, alongside Spokane County Sheriff’s Office, the department said in a press release. Many “Cops” film crews have accompanied the Sheriff’s Office and Spokane Valley Deputies over the years, the statement added. 

“Shows like COPS highlight the work of law enforcement. They show, even for a few minutes, what the men and women out protecting our communities deal with day in and day out,” Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich said in a statement. “People need to see how quickly things can turn, the decisions that need to be made quickly, and how well Deputies and Officers adjust and respond appropriately. They show the hard work and professionalism of law enforcement, despite what some anti-law enforcement activists and those in the media want you to believe.”

The film crews started their work in Spokane in September, and will continue through the first two weeks of November. 

But the new episodes of “Cops” are not set to appear in the United States. A spokesperson for Langley Productions, the company behind the show, told The Hollywood Reporter that they have resumed filming only to fulfill commitments to international broadcasters where “Cops” still airs. 

“Cops” had been temporarily pulled from the air in May following the death of George Floyd while in the custody of Minneapolis police. It was permanently canceled in June. 

“‘Cops’ is not on the Paramount Network and we don’t have any current or future plans for it to return,” a spokesperson for the cable channel said in a statement on June 9.

Before it was cancelled, the show had followed law enforcement officers in over 140 different cities in the United States.