Designed as a brief replacement for the on-hiatus Jericho, the CBS reality series Armed & Famous has been described as a combination of Cops and The Surreal Life. Five celebrities were chosen to train and perform as patrol officers in the Muncie, Indiana police department. The lucky "rookies" included former ChiPs star Erik Estrada, singer LaToya Jackson, wrestler Trish Stratus, Jackass fall guy Jason "Wee-Man" Acuna, and, perhaps inevitably, a member of the famously dysfunctional Osbourne clan, in this case Jack Osbourne. The quintet underwent the standard rigorous training before being partnered with genuine officers and sent out for street duty. Along the way, the stars made arrests, handed out tickets, and even went undercover (in one episode, the female celebs posed as hookers). Much of the series' fun derived from the sporadic temperamental outbursts by Estrada, and the dithery starstruck behavior of the "perps" when they realized who was arresting them! Armed & Famous ran from January 9 through 24, 2007.
by Hal Erickson
synopsis
