Reality show features gun-toting celebs

[Lodge2004]

This should be interesting...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061207/ap_ ... and_famous

MUNCIE, Ind. - Erik Estrada and other lesser celebrities have been sworn in as reserve officers of the city police department here, allowing them to carry badges and guns as part of a reality television series.

About 200 people packed into a Muncie City Hall auditorium for the Tuesday ceremony to swear in the former "CHiPs" star, along with La Toya Jackson, Jack Osbourne, Wee Man and Trish Stratus.

A producer coaxed the crowd into cheering loudly for the camera, and parts of the ceremony had to be repeated several times for the TV cameras.

"Roll call is at 6 o'clock," Muncie Police Chief Joe Winkle told the celebrities. "Do not be late."

Winkle had to say the line three times. The first take was interrupted by audience applause, the second was too quiet.

"Welcome to TV," said Julie Link of Forman Productions. "Sometimes, we have to retake."

The CBS show, "Armed and Famous," being filmed in this east-central Indiana city, population 66,000, follows the celebrities as they enforce the laws alongside city police officers.

Estrada joked with the crowd that people may not recognize him as an officer because he would not be wearing his toupee. He pulled up the back inch of his hairpiece and wiggled it, drawing laughter from the crowd.

Estrada carried a gun but rarely used it to stop bad guys in his 1970s motorcycle-cops drama.

He also appeared in VH1's "Surreal Life" in 2004. Osbourne, 21, son of rocker Ozzy Osbourne, was on the MTV's "The Osbournes." Wee Man, 33, a 4-foot-7 skateboarder, gained fame on the MTV show "Jackass."

Jackson, 50, a singer and sister of Michael and Janet Jackson, is a native of Gary, and Stratus is a former WWE professional wrestler.

[kauboy]

As soon as Estrada shoots someone for making fun of his hair, I'm gonna die with laughter.

[40FIVER]

This should be interesting...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061207/ap_ ... and_famous

MUNCIE, Ind. - Erik Estrada and other lesser celebrities have been sworn in as reserve officers of the city police department here, allowing them to carry badges and guns as part of a reality television series.

I always thought Erik Estrada was a lesser celebrity.


40FIVER

[GrillKing]

I wonder if Indiana allows just anyone with connections to be a reserve deputy. I would hope not. Did these celebrities go through any substantial training? I don't know the minimum requirements for Reserve Officers in Texas but I do know the Travis County Reserve Deputies have the same requirements as the full time deputies, a TCLEOSE license, which is something like 700 hours of instruction and pass the exam or exams.

[stevie_d_64]

I'm not diggin' this type of show so much...

Sure, we can poke some fun at the premise and the nuckleheads they present to us in this fashion...

But I believe the demeaning of the seriousness of self-defense is just another method to bring down the idea, as a whole, in the audience who chooses to waste their time watching this drivle...

Call me a negative nancy about this thing, but I do not see any value to this particular waste of electricity...

[HighVelocity]

Nothing good can come from this show.

[GrannyGlock]

Very bad idea. I hate "reality" shows as much as soap operas.

[Skiprr]

Resurrecting this bad idea--as GrannyGlock said--to close it. This is from Wayne LaPierre's blog:

Thursday, February 01, 2007
Armed and Famous

Did you happen to catch the CBS "reality" show called "Armed and Famous?" If not, you're out of luck, because the network's cancelled the show after four episodes.

Actually, you're not out of luck at all. If you missed the show, consider yourself lucky. I can't believe this junk ever got on television in the first place!

The premise was simple: take a bunch of celebrities, put them through a crash course in law enforcement, deputize them and let 'em take to the streets.

What a goofy idea. If you want to see what the police go through every day, watch "Cops." But instead of focusing on celebrities playing make-believe, what if the network had decided to broadcast a show that dramatized some of the estimated 1.5 million defensive gun uses every year? Yeah, I know. It'll never happen.

But there is a syndicated show that does just that. It's called "CrimeStrike." Check your local listings for broadcast times, and if it doesn't air in your city, ask one of your local stations to pick it up. We don't mock law enforcement on the show. We just praise the everyday armed citizens who refuse to be victims.

[Paladin]

Link:

http://www.crimestriketv.com/

[Armybrat]

Paladin, I notice not one of the 6 major Texas cities carries the Crimestrike show. Wonder why that is?

[Liberty]

Paladin, I notice not one of the 6 major Texas cities carries the Crimestrike show. Wonder why that is?

Is Dallas a major Texas City? KHPK at 3:00p M-F
Several channels in Corpus Christi Carry it.

[Armybrat]

Ok, 5 of 6 don't broadcast it.

[nitrogen]

Paladin, I notice not one of the 6 major Texas cities carries the Crimestrike show. Wonder why that is?

Is Dallas a major Texas City? KHPK at 3:00p M-F
Several channels in Corpus Christi Carry it.

Yeah but it's not on any major cable systems in the dallas area

[Will938]

I think celebs would make bad cops, I mean with a well trained officer if you were annoying them they'd just stick it to you, whereas it seems like a celeb would be more likely to do something out of line and get any charges tossed.

[KBCraig]

I think celebs would make bad cops,

Shaq seems to do okay. But he's not playing the celebrity angle.