Yeah. I did it. I watched the premiere of Armed and Famous last night. What? I thought there might be good photo ops. And there were, thanks to this show’s inexplicable obsession with subtitles. In the above image, LaToya Jackson would have just murdered the Muncie, Ind. cop who was training her, if the gun she’d been holding wasn’t a toy. Note her absolute delight at this revelation. Below her, "celebrity" wrestler Trish Stratus attempts to distinguish herself by being badass. She wants to take a bullet instead of the same taser shock that threw co-recruit Erik Estrada into an oddly orgasmic trance of extreme face-stretching. Keep in mind, everything that’s being said on the show is in plain, un-accented English. I feel the producers genuinely think adding textual proof to the equation will make us get that much more out of a particular scene. They were right!
Honestly, it wasn’t as awful as I’d expected. I think the ridiculous premise alone — five semi-famous exposure junkies go around arresting crackheads (indeed, and plenty of ‘em) in Indiana — explains my slight fascination. It’s fun imagining WTF the residents think of them, and I like trying to figure out how much of the show’s events are totally staged. (I was convinced all the arrests was fake, until, um, a family’s house burned down. Still, Christmas presents safely stowed in a metal trunk? That was convenient…)
I’ll at least record it next week. Come on, do it for Ponch.
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The state senator from Muncie was just violently mugged. I immediately blamed LaToya for not being up to snuf.
Real or fake, you can’t say “Aww, you lookin’ to get rid of me, Ponch?” wasn’t the greatest TV quote of the week. EW better recognize with their weekly list.
I loved this show. Light, fluffy, hilarious. I usually am not a fan of the celebrity-driven reality shows. There’s another episode on tonight, and yes, I swear I’m not a corporate shill from CBS. I’m a fellow blogger.
It wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it would be. Their training was pretty boring, but once they went out to “fight crime” it got better. How long before some drunk trailer trash decides to toss Wee-Man over his shoulder and run off with him?
Trish Stratus is probably better know than anyone in that group but Estrada. Wrestling’s got a huge following. Seriously, if you put quotations around her name, ya gotta do that for Wee Man too.
I would think that La Toya’s the most famous. She’s a Jackson after all and she was all over the headlines for a few years. I’d never heard of Trish Stratus until this show premiered.
I can’t believe that no one commented on LaToya at the laundry mat. My husband and I almost fell over when she was trying to insert the dollar bill in the change thing. Too funny! Then she tried again!!!!
I’m glad you posted about the show because *shudders* I’ve really been enjoying it. Some of the stuff is definitely staged (like the old woman asking Ponch to sign her boob), but it’s still entertaining.
This show threw me for a loop. I only watched it because there was nothing else on and I wanted to see how horrible it would be. I actually laughed because it was genuinely funny. Jack Osbourne’s fear of Latoya loading her handgun – well founded my friend (I was scared sitting in my living room). Some of the sappy stuff was a little drawn out – I hate seeing some poor family grieve for their lost house on TV…but in all I was shocked at how entertained I was by this program.
This show threw me for a loop. I only watched it because there was nothing else on and I wanted to see how horrible it would be. I actually laughed because it was genuinely funny. Jack Osbourne’s fear of Latoya loading her handgun – well founded my friend (I was scared sitting in my living room). Some of the sappy stuff was a little drawn out – I hate seeing some poor family grieve for their lost house on TV…but in all I was shocked at how entertained I was by this program.
I never understood why LaToya has been tabloid fodder, she only had one song “Heart don’t Lie” back in 1984,and the video was pure garbage. Rebe had a fantastic voice. It was very professional unless the studio did some magic with it. The reality show belongs on VH1 with Flava of Love or at 2 in the morning with Elimidate. It’s awful.
I live in Muncie, and I can definitely tell you that the events are definitely not staged. Muncie is fairly small as far as cities go, so whilst watching this show, we’re all bound to see someone we know on the screen in due time. The house fire was definitely real…it was splattered all over the newspaper for days, with the natives of the city extremely upset that the crisis was filmed for entertainment purposes.
I guess I’m really just commenting to say that they didn’t stage the arrests. Those crimes really were commited in real-time, with the producers later paying each arrestee $150 and prividing them with a T-shirt to allow their faces to be shown on television.
As far as the show itself is concerned, I probably wouldn’t continue to watch it if I didn’t live here.
The Muncie Police Department were the real stars of this show. They were awesome with their professionalism and cut the stars very little slack.
The producer may have been born in Muncie, but has definitely gone Hollywood. In return for Muncie’s participation, the producer gave Muncie 3 Hummers. What small town police department wants Hummers? The gas alone would probably pay an officer’s salary. How about a few new police cruisers? Hummers aren’t that popular in Indianapolis, much less Muncie, where my brother lives. They are all embarrassed by the show. Yes, it is boring. It is a small, university town.
If Armed & Famous was real the bad guys would have their faces pixelled out
Like I said, he criminals were paid $150 by the producers of the show if they would allow their faces to be shown. Those who didn’t accet the offer do have their faces pixelated.
I can’t believe I’m writing in about reality TV. But this show really has heart. I am so glad to see celebrities doing something other than picking on each other or on those less fortunate than themselves. The mean spirited nature of TV today has me thinking of turning it off altogether. But now I’ve seen this (and there are, admittedly, a few other shows) and I think, “Okay, I’ll continue to give TV a chance.” Thanks to CBS, the creators and the surprisingly wonderful celebs on the show. You’ve provided laughs and some great, real moments. Wow, I used the word “real” to describe a reality TV show. wish other reality TV would take notice of this one and see that meanness isn’t the only thing that pays on TV.