Monday, October 19, 2015

A Classic Reborn with a twist: Scare Tactics (2003)

Modern day hidden camera shows like MTV's Punk'd and our next subject owe their existence to Allen Funt's legendary Candid Camera. It just happens that the Sci-Fi Channel (now SyFy) took the concept to an extreme that not even Funt thought would work.

Scare Tactics premiered in 2003, and initially lasted two "seasons" over one calendar year (2003-4), with two different hosts. Shannen Doherty came over from Charmed as the show's 1st host, but you have to figure there were issues, similar to what led to her leaving Charmed and Beverly Hills 90210 before. So Stephen Baldwin, perhaps still best known as Pauly Shore's sidekick in "Bio-Dome" a decade earlier, took over.

However, when Tactics returned after a 4 year hiatus, Baldwin was gone, and comedian Tracy Morgan (30 Rock, ex-Saturday Night Live) took his place for the final four years. In fact, if you check Hulu, chances are you will only find episodes from the Morgan era. YouTube? Ditto.

Here's a sample clip from YouTube:



Rating: B.

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