John Langley

John Russell Langley (June 1, 1943 – June 26, 2021) was an American television and film director, writer, and producer who was best known as the creator and executive producer of the television show Cops, which premiered on Fox in March 1989. Prior to that, he was among the reality television pioneers as a producer of various two-hour event specials in syndicated television markets during the 1980s. In fact, Langley was often credited as being the "Godfather of Reality Television" with the appearance of Cops in 1989. Biography Personal Langley was born in Oklahoma City, but moved to Los Angeles as a small child. He was the son of Lurleen (Fox), a homemaker, and John Russell Langley, an oil wildcatter. Langley was a Morse code intercept operator in the Army Security Agency, an intelligence unit of the United States Army from 1961 to 1963, in Panama. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from California State University, Dominguez Hills in 1971, and later a Master's degree in literature and composition.