h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

The "Monty Python" of police sitcoms.

God Bless Jack Soo!

"That's not garbage, that's my lunch! That's Bak Choi!"
"What's it made of?"
"Fish heads, seaweed, turnip greens, corn... Oh, my, it IS garbage!"

There would have been no "Hill St." without "Barney Miller".

Mostly bolted in place at the station house, in one room, it took ensemble playing and guest star appearances to a nirvanic height that was not realized again until "Night Court".

It's creative team had people who had been or would be involved in "Taxi", "Your Show of Shows", the "Steve Allen Show", "Cheers", "M*A*S*H", "The Dick Van Dyke Show", and the actors were a veritable bouquet of styles, attitudes and appearances.

It was one of the first shows to deal with age, gayness and the deaf with any regularity. It had practically every ethnic group you could think of wandering through.
And the scriptwriters knew when a show didn't need to be funny.

Oh, and it had a wonderful theme song!

And, I believe it was the first TV Cop Show to tackle the werewolf phenomenon (at least, I believe it came before 'Nightstalker'.

Wow. I didn't remember that.
But I wouldn't consider the Kolchak series to be a cop show.