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Primetime Show Reviews
"Armed and Famous"
Review by Danielle 1/16/07
This is a new reality show airing Wednesday nights on
CBS. A
group of five celebrities endure three weeks of police training before
going
out and dealing with real police cases in the rural town of Muncie,
Indiana.
The five celebrities are Latoya Jackson, Jason "Wee Man" Acuna, Jack
Osbourne, Trish Stratus, and Erik Estrada.
Some of the celebrities showed
that they
were true to the stereotype and soon fit the little niche of the cast
that
producers no doubt expected of them. Erik Estrada was charismatic but
also had a
need to play the leader or hero. One of his least endearing qualities was
the constant reference to how he'd be better at this than the others
because he
played a cop on TV. Latoya Jackson proved that she is a diva by insisting
the waiters make her a tablecloth out of several napkins while dining at
a
family restaurant. She also gave the most graceful and demure reaction to
the Taser training. Trish Stratus lived up to her strong female wrestler
persona and
was the sole cast member to agree to being shot with the real Taser
pellets.
Jack Osbourne proved to be very skilled with a gun but needed extra
guidance
while out on the job. Jason Acuna proved very surprising in the
hand-to-hand
combat training when he was able to take down tall men posing as enemies
despite his small frame.
Sergeant Rick Eber served as the cast's training director and from the
start
he assumed that the celebrities would treat this task as a joke. The first
part of the training had the celebrities watching dashboard video of
vehicle
stops followed by mock setups with toy guns. The next part of the training
was
having the celebrities endure a real Taser shock where most opted for the
clips delivering the shock rather than being hit with the pellets. After
a quick
course on physical tactics teaching how to restrain a suspect or get
loose
from a suspect who might be attacking the police, the celebrities were
taken
outside for target practice. After some extra coaching for Latoya, every
one
was able to get a qualifying score.
Sergeant Eber apologized to the cast
after
training because they ended up taking the task seriously and surpassing
his
expectations.
The celebrities got to attend a real swearing in ceremony in official
uniform where they got real badges and guns. The cast reported for their
first
nighttime shift and was each paired up with an experienced police officer
for
their partner. The calls they got were somewhat casual including
intoxicated
drivers, arresting an elderly lady for drug trafficking, a domestic
disturbance
and arresting two men who had outstanding warrants. A couple of the more
standout examples of police work by the celebrities was when Latoya
stepped up
and took the initiative to arrest the second suspect who ended up also
having a
warrant out and Trish consoling a family whose Christmas tree had set
their
house on fire.
It was nice to see that the celebrities weren't given any special
treatment
as far as not expecting them to do the real police work or given mock
cases
so they wouldn't be in harm's way, but I think the show would have
been more
intriguing had the cases happened to include crimes of a more serious
nature.
There was still some moments where celebrity status still influenced
their
behavior such as Jason choosing to spend his down time in a bar inciting
the
crowd to "break their taillights just so he'd get to be the one to
pull them
over" or pulling over just to take pictures with fans. I did find
myself
laughing along with the cast during such moments as Latoya automatically
wanting
to shoot the driver in the mock vehicle stop or when the elderly drug
trafficker was more impressed with getting to meet "Ponch" than upset
about going
to jail.
While I think the idea of celebrities having to live life in a
member
of the "common folk's" shoes, especially considering that almost
all of
this group became famous simply because of their family or their
appearance
rather than natural talent, is intriguing, I hope future episodes will
feature
some more treacherous yet still entertaining cases.
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