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Does Herc Deem CBS’ ARMED & FAMOUS Arresting Television??
SPOILER ALERT !!
I am – Hercules!!
Do minor stars armed with real guns make for major entertainment?
A cross between “Cops” and “The Surreal Life,” and a bit more fun than either, the diverting new reality series “Armed & Famous” follows five celebrities – Erik Estrada (“ChiPs”), Jack Osbourne (“The Osbournes”), Trish Stratus (“WWE Smackdown”), Jason “Wee-Man” Acuna (“Jackass”) and La Toya Jackson (big sister to Janet and Michael) – as they are trained, issued guns and sworn in as real reserve police officers patrolling Muncie, Ind.
Produced by Julie Link (“Extreme Makeover: Home Edition”) and Todd Hurvitz (“Punk’d”), the show will keep “Jericho’s” timeslot warm before the apocalyptic drama’s Feb. 21 return.
As typical with reality shows, casting proves key. At least three of the five of the stars turn out to be compelling and mostly likeable for various reasons, with wrestling icon Stratus and hard-partying dwarf Acuna emerging as standouts long before their three-week training course concludes. 57-year-old Estrada proves nothing if not a good sport.
The first episode turns out to be surprisingly more adept than any episode of “Cops” I’ve ever seen at illustrating the strange and dangerous appeal of police work.
Some highlights:
* An early training exercise (happily one not utilizing real guns) sees Jackson gun down an unarmed motorist.
* A training documentary depicting a botched vehicle stop that results in a grisly police fatality drives home the serious nature of the job.
* We learn that, under Indiana law, one cannot carry a 50,000-volt taser unless he or she has been shocked by one. As a result, all five recruits subject themselves to the jolts. Longtime “Jackass” regular Acuna seems right at home, of course, but it turns out to be Stratus who goes the extra mile for the exercise.
* An off-hours trip to the laundrymat features the sheltered Jackson trying to stick a dollar bill into a machine that doesn’t dollar bills.
* Jack Osborne, a longtime gun owner who confides that he once shot his sister when he was eight, does prove an excellent shot at the target range.
* When Estrada takes into custody what appears to be a 75-year-old crack dealer, the perp seems both thrilled and horrified that it’s TV’s Ponch who is bringing her in for booking.
There’s also fire, fingerbowls, farting, a beating victim with deformed hands, and Wee-Man amiably accommodating drunken young women in the street.
Worth booking into TiVo custody, I say. But what matters Herc’s opinion?
Variety says:
In surreality TV, the right casting can occasionally wring surprising mileage out of a hokey concept, which is a fair description of CBS' latest addition to the "Marginal celebrities will do just about anything for attention" genre. … sounds idiotic on its face, but the resulting hour actually delivers moments of warmth and humor, as well as its share of idiocy. … the series works best when the faux police make like Acuna and resist the temptation to take themselves too seriously. …
The Hollywood Reporter says:
… . If this doesn't amputate the long arm of the law, nothing will. … Yes, this show really belongs on VH1 or Fox Reality and, yes, that whirring sound you hear might be coming from Frank Stanton's newly dug grave. Remember, though, that the midseason now belongs to Fox and "American Idol." That gives rise to a "what-have-we-got-to-lose" mentality that in turn makes shows like "Armed and Famous" possible.
The Washington Post says:
… exists mainly to be ridiculed … In tonight's premiere, they shoot their guns only during training sessions but still, what kind of recklessness is it to give loaded guns to blundering numskulls and then stand back to watch the fun? Ho ho, there goes an innocent bystander crumpling to the sidewalk. …
The Boston Herald gives it a C-plus and says:
… Some of the footage screams instant YouTube classic. … The new officers don’t get coddled on their calls. Acuna frisks a man who is practically a walking drug lab; Jackson must secure a threatening subject; Stratus comforts the victims of a fire. Still, “Armed & Famous” seems to be begging for a lawsuit from some justifiably aggrieved private citizen who calls 911 and ends up with a cop more concerned with a close-up. …
8 p.m. Wednesday. CBS.
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Post-Holiday Twofer Sale!!!!
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+ Expand All
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Should be amazing. Really. Just mind boggling.
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WHERE THE HELL IS BARETTA?? NOW THAT WOULDA BEEN COOL!!!
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My mother-in-law lives in the town where they shoot this show, and this is the place I spend my christmases. This is all anyone could talk about this year. :)
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Give some to Paris & Nicole and make a new season of The Simple Life! It will be the first time that I'm watching it!
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Jericho needs one more nuke. Bleah.
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She hasn't appeared on Smackdown since around the Invasion storyline back when WCW folded like 5-6 years ago.Raw not only is the WWE's flagshp show, but it is home to the Women's Championship, and Trish was one of the few actual female wrestlers in the company, while Smackdown's Divas are nothing more than run of the mill bikini models.Sure, Trish is no stranger to bikinis...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVN_Vd1bOC4 :)But,
your listing of her is an insult.Please correct your mistake. -
Listing Family Ties for Courtney Cox.
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cable shows for years, yet everytime WWE is mentioned you bring up Smackdown. Why? Just because it's on network television, and I use that term lightly, doesn't mean that it's the most popular of the WWE's broadcasts.
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OWW, My Balls is the bestest relity tv.
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"Put down the weapons, you n****rs!"
Shermdawg, you know way too much about wrestling! -
Who the fuck cares? I'm a wrestling fan, but why the fuck would I expect Herc to know that WWE has two diffrent brands and/or care what show Trish Stratus is on? BTW, Jillian Hall isn't a bikini model. Ashley and Kristal are, but so is Candice and Maria.
RAW might have better ratings but is there any doubt that Smackdown is the better show? The fans were chanting "we want wrestling" on Monday, Smackdown excels at that. Finlay, Benoit, London, Kendrick, Helms, etc. It's currently the best wrestling show on TV. -
It's the longest runing entertainment program of all time (wthout hiatus). It has been the at the top of cable ratings for damn near ever. It launched the careers of breakthrough personalities such as The Rock, Stone Cold, and yes even that chump John Cena.You would think that someone who is Mr.TV would have some knowledge of Raw regardless if he/she is a wrestling fan or not.I still love ya Herc, but ya screwed up on this one!
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WCW Saturday Night was on the air longer than RAW.
3s and 4s are top ratings?
How exactly is Cena a breakthough personality? A CD no one bought and a movie no one watched? He's a star in WWE, but outside of it, people don't even know how to pronounce his last name.
I'm sure he knows what RAW is, but I doubt he gives a damn about which show Trish Stratus was on. -
scary for my sorry ass.
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I mean, c'mon. He's just a little fella. I just hope he doesn't fall for that "valentine in the hotel hallway" trick again.
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Even among the rest of us nerds, they are extra special...
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WCW Saturday Night does NOT count. It officially started in 1992."At the top", doesn't mean "on the top".Yes, I'll admit, Cena isn't breakthrough yet, but given how many brats love the bastard, and considering how fucking hard they're pushing him over more deserving guys like Angle, Triple H, and yes even Umaga, it wouldn't suprise me if he does so. Don't ya remember the Predator reboot that was rumored on this very site last year??? (Back to Umaga, they were fucking stupid not to do a title juggle like they did with Rock and Foley back in the day.) besides Trple H (who really carried the company for awhile there) I've never seen anyone pushed like Cena. Not since Hogan himself. Like him or not, the guy will "break through" whether he deserves it or not.Andonceagain he should give a damn what show Trish was on. I mean it's his job to know. And its not all that hard bit of inf to find out.
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...and the people who watch them is the reason why 99.5% of all tv these days is shit. You couldn't pay me enough to watch crap like this...though I do welcome anyone who wants to try.
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Entertainment Tonight has been around longer than RAW.
Cena deserves the belt more than anyone because he's over and has improved greatly. You don't have to worry about Triple H. He'll be running the company when Vince dies and you do realise that this is the first WrestleMania in years he won't main event and that's only because he tore his quad again.
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Just sayin'...a couple of rough n' tumble, violent, tiny titans tusslin'in the middle of the squared circle would be damn funny!
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Popularizer of hard-luck African banker, Umaga Ombongo?
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...for the sammiches, not the holes in the ground. Plus, all his appearances on the talk show circut helps the common folk know him. Just sayin'. And, yes, RAW is the longest running non-syndicated weekly entertainment show, without a hiatus, in television history. ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT is a syndicated news program ABOUT entertainment...so it doesn't count in the technical terms. WCW SATURDAY NIGHT network broadcasts started in 1992, sure...but they ended in 2000. WWE RAW started in 1993 and is still on the air. Eight year WCW:SN run vs. 14+ year WWE:RAW run. No matter how you do the math, RAW comes out on top. I have too much time on my hands, learning silly chunks of knowledge like this.
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Starring Michael "Tango" Richards and Dustin "Cash" Diamond.
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Goooooooooo EAGLES!
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Herc would have had his facts straight.
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was a security gurad and he went apeshit and it was filmed. Bring him back with a gun.
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So technically you could say it ran from mid '85 to 2000.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WCW_Saturday_Night
I don't really care either way. -
Come home to the Zone already. We miss you too much.
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I'm gonna have to keep watching. Some cheesy moments that were obviously meant to be cheesy for the tv show, but overall it was enjoyable.
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I know there'll be a t-shirt by the end of the week with that on it.
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Thanks for the shout out, I am just alonzo mosely I have no other IDs... One of these days I may pop back into the zone...
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I've never heard that name nor seen that person in my life.
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That training video they saw of an officer being gunned-down, it wasnt a fatality. The officer actually LIVED (i know this cause i watch the reality cop shows all the time on court tv, lol).
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it would lessen the laugh factor and that would be bad.
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How was Ponch farting as he was wrestling on the ground not mentioned on the review? That was a total riot!
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That's copspeak for fart.
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wonka? Adam? ...No, who would have trouble wiping their own ass? Dino, I suppose. But he has hired help for that sorta thing... When Giada's not home to help.
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