Surreality: Armed & Famous (2007)

Some "reality" shows just aren't meant to succeed. Period.

Someone convinced the programmers at CBS that sending five celebrities to Muncie, Indiana to train to become police officers would make good television. That person should've been sent along---as a tackling dummy.

Armed & Famous was a mid-season entry that premiered in January 2007, and of the five celebrities taking part, only one had any real experience with police work. That would be Erik Estrada, who starred on CHiPs 30 years earlier. The rest of the lineup? Newly retired WWE "diva" Trish Stratus, Jason Acuna (Jackass), LaToya Jackson, who looked like she could pass for sister Janet, and Jack Osbourne, whose mother, Sharon, was a judge on America's Got Talent and currently is on The Talk. Young Mr. Osbourne would move on to another potentially successful reality series, Haunted Highway, but that got cut short when he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.

It's safe to say CBS gave up on Armed rather quickly, because after the first week, the show was slotted opposite American Idol. Ballgame over. CBS yanked Armed three weeks later, and suspended production. Cable step-sister VH1 picked up the series and played the two remaining episodes, along with the four that had aired on CBS. Today, it's safely tucked away in the vaults.

In this promo clip, Estrada, Acuna, & Jackson get tasered, with comments by Osbourne & Estrada.



The cast would've been better off if Estrada hosted a marathon screening of CHiPs at a community theatre.

Rating: C.