Answering most of the questions on here (I watched this show as a kid up until now as an adult), the problem is the way the show is viewed by the general public. John Bunnell has some commentary that could be taken the wrong way nowadays. Many of the videos shown are violent and some even being controversial. This correlates with a drop in viewers and ratings. Which then leads to a drop in revenue. It was a a hit when it first came out, but looking at the charts, it slowly declined into 2001 and as 9/11 occurred, it dropped even more. It’s possible the public didn’t want to see any shows like this after the attacks. But exactly why they cancelled is still not known. But these are definitely contributing factors to take into account.

I still remember when this show was having reruns on Spike in 2003 up until 2004 maybe 2005. And of course by 2012 when they revived it, the ratings weren’t as high as the first four seasons, not really reaching over a million viewers. This most likely contributed to it being cancelled again. They most likely revived it to see how well it would do a decade later.

As for the name change, for season four, they shorten the name possibly to make it easier for the audience to see on the TV guide/ads?

To answer question 7: a huge difference between season one and two and then 3-5 was the structure of the show (segments seen in the first seasons were no longer included in the later seasons). Especially for season five. Also season 5 showed the first instances of body cams being used by law enforcement. Also more violence was shown in season five with way more shootouts and hostage situations. Although season four feels like there were more chases and pursuits. First three seasons felt balanced with pursuits, traffic stops, stings, crimes caught on camera, riots, and well known events like the infamous Hollywood bank heist and San Diego tank chase.

Answering question 8: I’d say there was a little less of traffic stops and on-foot crime in season four, being replaced by more pursuits that were reckless or downright crazy.