From: http://www.eonline.com/news/article/index....1e-b99d6e60ba97

Armed, Famous & Canceled

by Natalie Finn

Mon, 29 Jan 2007 06:58:51 PM PST

Not that we needed a reality series to prove it, but apparently Erik Estrada, La Toya Jackson and Jack Osbourne are no match for Simon, Paula and Randy.

CBS has canceled the celebs-as-law-enforcement experiment Armed & Famous after only four episodes, blaming the series' downfall on lackluster ratings.

"Going up against American Idol was a tall task for the show," network spokesman Chris Ender said.

'Nuf said, really, although we could add that it wasn't exactly a critical darling, either. ("This is the perfect score: a show so bad even Fox wouldn't touch it," Newsday critic Verne Gay wrote. Smell the unintentional irony.)

Armed & Famous' ratings road took a downhill turn after a respectable 45th-place premiere (8.1 million viewers) on Jan. 10 and a Jan. 11 follow-up episode that attracted 7.7 million.

The following week, airing opposite Idol's Wednesday installment, the show pulled in only 5.8 million.

The Muncie, Indiana-set series followed CHiPs alum and former Surreal Life roommate Erik Estrada; singer, famous sibling and Psychic Friend La Toya Jackson; Jackass' Jason "Wee Man" Acuña; MTV reality vet Jack Osbourne and former WWE star Trish Harder as they trained to become reserve police officers and then headed out on patrol with some of Muncie's finest.

"I don't understand that part of the business," Muncie Mayor Dan Canan told the local Star Press, referring to the question of ratings and network performance. "I'm just pleased with how the city was portrayed and how the department was portrayed. It's showing the general public what they're doing in the middle of the night when everyone else is asleep."

While the finished series featured numerous reality show-friendly scenarios, such as the celebrities absorbing 50,000-volt shots from a stun gun, an emotional graduation ceremony during which they're awarded their hard-earned badges and an elderly drug trafficker who can't believe she's being arrested by Ponch from CHiPs, the production was not without its complications.

For instance, shortly after filming began in November, Jackson almost lost her place on the thin blue line after failing to complete the required amount of pushups during her physical assessment. She later redeemed herself, however, by hitting the bull's-eye during target practice at the shooting range. (And yes, that involved a real gun, with real bullets.)

Jackson then lost some of that cred when, dining at a casual local restaurant with her assigned partner, she asks the waiter to spruce up the table with some finger bowls.

In the breaking even department: Jackson, so afraid of cats that the sight of one on a doorstep sends her flailing back to the patrol car when she's supposed to be writing up a burglary report, ends up seeing a cat therapist, who helps the "Heart Don't Lie" singer overcome her childhood fear.

And Estrada, despite his previous experience as an on-camera cop, found himself in hot water with the police chief earlier this month after losing his cool with a man who was stabbed in the leg during a domestic dispute who referred to the actor as "Emilio Estevez."

I am glad to see it was canceled, I only watched like 20 minutes of the premiere show and just could not stand to watch anymore of it.

VH1 has picked up the show.

I'm glad vh1 picked the show up! It's a great series with lots of humor and heart. It's created by the same people who do Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. And what an appropriate connection because this has totally given La Toya an Extreme Makeover.

Most people have hated her for no reason, but watching this show changed minds! Now hopefully people will give her music a fair shot!

VH1 has picked up the show.

No surpise at all...VH1 will pick up and air just about anything, really....

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I'm glad vh1 picked the show up! It's a great series with lots of humor and heart. It's created by the same people who do Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. And what an appropriate connection because this has totally given La Toya an Extreme Makeover.

Most people have hated her for no reason, but watching this show changed minds! Now hopefully people will give her music a fair shot!

The show has made me a LaToya fan, seriously.

Now I just hope VH1 gives her her own reality show!

I tried to watch the show. 5 minutes into it and I cried for mercy.

This would be a great show for VH1 to add to their Celeb Reality lineup, maybe it could knock Hogan Knows Best over to the CMT channel permanently........

Hope someone YouTubes it!

It now looks like VH1 has delayed the marathon of A&F episodes. And there's a question of whether they'll air the fifth, unaired episode.

http://www.thestarpress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/...eaasYNk/2l1M%3D

'Armed and Famous' VH1 marathon delayed

THE STAR PRESS

MUNCIE — The planned broadcast today of five episodes of "Armed & Famous" — the reality series featuring celebrities working as Muncie police officers — has apparently been postponed by the VH1 cable-TV channel.

Web sites for both VH1 and TV Guide on Friday no longer listed the A&F marathon on today’s broadcast schedule.

The schedule for VH1 (Comcast cable channel 36) now shows the four A&F episodes that aired on the CBS-TV network in January will broadcast 5-9 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 10.

The listings do not list the fifth episode, which has not yet been broadcast and had been scheduled to appear on VH1 tonight, on the Feb. 10 schedule.

"Armed & Famous" was planned as a seven-episode series on CBS, but was placed on hiatus after the fourth episode aired Jan. 24. A CBS spokesman has said the remaining three episodes might air on the network this summer.

Originally published February 3, 2007

Double Post

Edited February 3, 200718 yr by crc

Maybe vh1 is holding the episodes to add to their Celebreality lineup.