World's Wildest Police Videos
| World's Wildest Police Videos | |
|---|---|
 The World's Wildest Police Videos logo |
|
| Format | Reality Television |
| Created by | Paul Stojanovich |
| Starring | John Bunnell |
| Country of origin |  United States |
| No. of seasons | 3 |
| No. of episodes | 36 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 60 min. |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | FOX |
| Original run | April 2 1998 – July 27 2001 (cancelled 2002) |
| External links | |
| IMDb profile | |
| TV.com summary | |
World's Wildest Police Videos (sometimes abbreviated to WWPV) is a reality TV series that dealt with police videos from across the world. Video footage of car chases, subsequent arrests, robberies, riots and other crimes appeared on the show. The series ran on Fox from 1998-2002, although episodes were only broadcast up until 2001.[1]
Production
World's Wildest Police Videos began in 1998 and ran for three seasons, comprising a total of 36 episodes. Despite being officially cancelled in 2002, new episodes were only aired until 2001.[2]
Most of the police videos featured the show were from various U.S. police departments, but footage from other nations such as Argentina and the United Kingdom also appeared. Video sources included cameras from police cars, helicopters, store security systems, news reporters, and private citizens from around the world. Much of the footage had previously only been seen by law enforcement officials.[3]
The show became popular with viewers. It had the highest ratings of any FOX network television special to that date. It was also featured on Entertainment Tonight and was re-aired later that month. It was the first sweeps-month special ever to run twice during a sweeps period by FOX.
Format
The series began with the special World's Scariest Police Chases, which was broadcast in February 1997. It was narrated by actor Peter Coyote, and featured commentary by Captain C.W. Jensen of the Portland Police Bureau.
The show was hosted by John Bunnell, a retired police officer and former Sheriff of Multnomah County, Oregon. Each episode opened with Bunnell warning viewers "Due to the graphic nature of this program, viewer discretion is advised". Bunnell's commentary was often characterized by dramatic descriptions of the struggle between good and evil, the police and criminals, victims and abusers, etc. Although Bunnell hosted and commentated on most of the show, some police video segments were sometimes dubbed with the actual law enforcement officials acting in the situation presented.
Originally, a typical episode included sections entitled: "Pit Maneuver", "Car Thieves", "Rainy Chase", "Big Rig Road Block", "Jumping Off Bridge", and "Drunk Drivers." This was soon dropped, and replaced with a string of clips, each commentated on by Bunnell. After a few videos, a small clip of Bunnell would be shown, often describing the police mentality behind the videos about to appear. Tire screeching noises and horn beeps were added to almost every video even though a helicopter's microphone would not be sensitive to capture those sounds from such a high altitude with the helicopter blades spinning.
A video game based on the series was released for the PlayStation in 2001, entitled World's Scariest Police Chases. It featured the voice of Bunnell. The game began in a similar way to the show, with Bunnell warning "Due to the graphic nature of this game, player discretion is advised."
Worldwide syndication
World's Wildest Police Videos is syndicated worldwide, being broadcast in the following countries in order of date of first broadcast:
- United States: 1998-2002 on Fox; as of June 2007 the series is no longer syndicated on Spike TV and can now be found on Court TV. Re-runs are also syndicated on Telemundo.
- Sweden: Aired and rerun on ZTV.
- Norway: Viasat 4
- Indonesia: antv.
- Australia: Some premiere episodes were shown on the Seven Network and Network Ten, and re-runs of all episodes appear on Fox8. It currently airs on Network Ten at 6:30 pm AEST on Saturdays.
- Brazil: weekly (Sunday) mash-up show consisting of 4 shows mixed together. Airs on Universal Channel.
- Germany: on RTL, called Im Einsatz, die spektakulärsten Polizei-Videos der Welt, commentated by former American police officer Stephan T. Rose.
- Ireland: TV3 Ireland
- United Kingdom: Sky One, Five, Bravo and Men & Motors
- México: Televisa
- South Africa: DStv
References
- ^ "World's Wildest Police Videos Episode Guide" - AOL Television. Retrieved 28 January 2007.
- ^ Brown, Matt "World's Wildest Police Videos a Titles & Air Dates Guide" - EP Guides 2005. Retrieved 24 February 2007.
- ^ "http://www.citv.com.au/shows/showDetail.aspx?ShowID=22" - Crime & Investigation Network. Retrieved 28 January 2007.
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