V.I.P. (TV series)

V.I.P.
Created by	J. F. Lawton
Starring	Pamela Anderson ; Molly Culver ; Natalie Raitano ; Shaun Baker ; Dustin Nguyen ; Angelle Brooks ; Leah Lail
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	4
No. of episodes	88 (list of episodes)
Production
Running time	45–48 minutes
Production company(s)	Lawton Entertainment ; Columbia TriStar Television Distribution ; (1998-2001); (seasons 1-4); Columbia TriStar Domestic Television ; (2001-2002); (season 4)
Distributor	Columbia TriStar Television Distribution ; (1998-2001); (seasons 1-4); Columbia TriStar Domestic Television ; (2001-2002); (season 4); Sony Pictures Television
Release
Original network	Syndication
Original release	September 26, 1998 –; May 18, 2002

Last updated August 25, 2019

V.I.P. is an American action/comedy-drama series starring Pamela Anderson. Created by J. F. Lawton,^[1] the series aired in syndication for four seasons from 1998 to 2002.

Comedy-drama or dramedy, is a genre in film and in television works in which plot elements are a combination of comedy and drama. It is a subgenre of contemporary tragicomedy. Comedy-drama is especially found in television programs and is considered a "hybrid genre".

Pamela Denise Anderson is a Canadian-American actress, model and animal rights activist. Anderson is best known for her appearances in Playboy magazine and for her work on the television series Home Improvement, Baywatch, and V.I.P..

Jonathan Frederick Lawton is an American screenwriter, producer and director. His screen credits include the box office hit Pretty Woman, Mistress, Blankman, Under Siege, Under Siege 2: Dark Territory, The Hunted, Chain Reaction, DOA: Dead or Alive, Jackson, and the TV series V.I.P. Under the assumed name J.D. Athens, he wrote and directed Cannibal Women in the Avocado Jungle of Death and Pizza Man.

Synopsis

Anderson stars as Vallery Irons, a woman who accidentally saves a celebrity and then is hired by a real bodyguard agency (V.I.P. aka Vallery Irons Protection) as a famous figurehead while the rest of the agency's professionals work to solve cases. Her lack of investigation skills ends up defeating the antagonists in every episode.^[2]

A bodyguard is a type of security guard, or government law enforcement officer, or soldier who protects a person or a group of people—usually high-ranking public officials or officers, wealthy people, and celebrities—from danger: generally theft, assault, kidnapping, assassination, harassment, loss of confidential information, threats, or other criminal offences. The personnel team that protects a VIP is often referred to as the VIP's security detail.

The other team members are an assortment of people of different backgrounds: a former member of the KGB, CIA, FBI, a computer expert, a former law officer, a former street boxer/martial artist and later a karate master/stuntman joined.^[3]

The KGB, translated in English as Committee for State Security, was the main security agency for the Soviet Union from 1954 until its break-up in 1991. As a direct successor of preceding agencies such as the Cheka, NKGB, NKVD and MGB, the committee was attached to the Council of Ministers. It was the chief government agency of "union-republican jurisdiction", acting as internal security, intelligence and secret police. Similar agencies were constituted in each of the republics of the Soviet Union aside from Russian SFSR, and consisted of many ministries, state committees and state commissions.

The series uses a mixture of action, comedy, and camp, with Anderson often poking fun at her tabloid image.^[4] In November, 2001, V.I.P. (the video game) was released on the PlayStation console.

Camp is an aesthetic style and sensibility that regards something as appealing because of its bad taste and ironic value. Camp aesthetics disrupt many of modernism's notions of what art is and what can be classified as high art by inverting aesthetic attributes such as beauty, value, and taste through an invitation of a different kind of apprehension and consumption.

A tabloid is a newspaper with a compact page size smaller than broadsheet. There is no standard size for this newspaper format.

PlayStation is a video gaming brand that consists of four home video game consoles, as well as a media center, an online service, a line of controllers, two handhelds and a phone, as well as multiple magazines. It was created by Sony Interactive Entertainment on December 3, 1994, with the launch of the original PlayStation in Japan, and has been owned by that company ever since.

Many first-season episodes opened with cameos of famous celebrities being protected by Vallery. Among them were Stone Cold Steve Austin, Jay Leno, Charles Barkley, Jerry Springer and Alfonso Ribeiro.^[4] Loni Anderson guest-starred in one episode as Vallery's mother. In season 2, Lisa Marie Varon had an uncredited appearance as a bodyguard. Kathleen Kinmont-See (Fraternity Vacation) was a guest star in the season 4 episode South By Southwest.

Steve Austin, better known by the ring name "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, is an American former professional wrestler, actor, producer, and television host.

James Douglas Muir Leno is an American comedian, actor, writer, producer, and television host. After doing stand-up comedy for years, he became the host of NBC's The Tonight Show with Jay Leno from 1992 to 2009. Beginning in September 2009, Leno started a primetime talk show, titled The Jay Leno Show, which aired weeknights at 10:00pm ET, also on NBC.

Charles Wade Barkley is an American retired professional basketball player who is currently an analyst on Inside the NBA. Nicknamed Chuck, Sir Charles, Street Beef, and The Round Mound of Rebound, Barkley established himself as one of the National Basketball Association's most dominant power forwards. An All-American power forward at Auburn University, he was drafted as a junior by the Philadelphia 76ers with the 5th pick of the 1984 NBA draft. He was selected to the All-NBA First Team five times, the All-NBA Second Team five times, and once to the All-NBA Third Team. He earned eleven NBA All-Star Game appearances and was named the All-Star MVP in 1991. In 1993 with the Phoenix Suns, he was voted the league's Most Valuable Player, and during the NBA's 50th anniversary, named one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History. He competed in the 1992 and 1996 Olympic Games and won two gold medals as a member of the United States' "Dream Team". Barkley is a two-time inductee into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, being inducted in 2006 for his individual career, and in 2010 as a member of the "Dream Team".

Cast

Pamela Anderson — Vallery Irons, the glamorous figurehead
Molly Culver — Natasha "Tasha" Dexter, a former spy and model
Natalie Raitano — Nicole "Nikki" Franco, a weapons and explosives expert
Angelle Brooks — Maxine De La Cruz (Seasons 3-4, recurring seasons 1-2), Vallery's best friend
Shaun Baker — Quick Williams, a former boxer and martial artist
Dustin Nguyen — Johnny Loh (Seasons 3-4, recurring seasons 1-2), a karate master and stuntman
Leah Lail — Kay Simmons, a computer expert

Molly Culver is an American actress and model. She is best known for portraying the role of Tasha Dexter on the syndicated TV series V.I.P.

Natalie Raitano is an American actress.

Angelle Brooks is an American actress and model. Brooks is best known for her co-starring role as fashion designer Maxine De La Cruz in the comedy/drama series V.I.P. (1998–2002) as well as her recurring roles as Holly Brooks on Malcolm & Eddie (1996–1997) and as Dean Toni Ross on the UPN sitcom The Parkers (2001).

Episodes

Merchandise

On March 14, 2006, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment released the first season of V.I.P. on DVD in Region 1.^[5]

Before the DVD, V.I.P. expanded to video game from Ubi Soft, for the PC, PlayStation, PlayStation 2, Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance in 2001 and 2002.

In 2000, Johnny Lightning released two sets of V.I.P. themed diecast cars in 1/64 scale. There were 8 different vehicles issued in total.

The series V.I.P was co-produced with Telewizja Polsat from Poland. This is the first foreign series co-created by this station. This station is the exclusive broadcasting company in Poland. .^[6]

Awards and nominations

In 1999, the series was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Main Title Theme Music. In 2002, V.I.P. was nominated for three Daytime Emmy Awards, winning one for Outstanding Single Camera Editing.

Syndication

The show premiered in syndication on September 26, 1998.^{[ citation needed ]} As of February 2009, the show can be streamed for free in the US on Internet Movie Database, Hulu, and Minisodes and full episodes are available on Crackle. In Canada, episodes are available on Netflix. Episodes in Spanish debuted on CineSony on February 14, 2014.^{[ citation needed ]}

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References

↑ "V.I.P." The New York Times .
↑ ENDRST, JAMES (27 December 1999). "Lee Has Campy Sexcapade Genre Down Pat" . Retrieved 14 August 2017– via LA Times.
↑ Terrace, Vincent (9 October 2002). "Crime Fighting Heroes of Television: Over 10,000 Facts from 151 Shows, 1949-2001". McFarland. Retrieved 14 August 2017– via Google Books.
1 2 "A Show So Dumb, It's Smart". The New York Times. 8 October 2000. Retrieved 14 August 2017.
↑ "V.I.P." TVShowsOnDVD.com . Archived from the original on 2006-03-03.
↑ "Polsat i Tołstoj". Newsweek .

External links

V.I.P. on IMDb
V.I.P. at TV.com

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Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
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[NYT-1] "V.I.P." The New York Times .

[2] ENDRST, JAMES (27 December 1999). "Lee Has Campy Sexcapade Genre Down Pat" . Retrieved 14 August 2017– via LA Times.

[3] Terrace, Vincent (9 October 2002). "Crime Fighting Heroes of Television: Over 10,000 Facts from 151 Shows, 1949-2001". McFarland. Retrieved 14 August 2017– via Google Books.

[nytimes.com-4] 1 2 "A Show So Dumb, It's Smart". The New York Times. 8 October 2000. Retrieved 14 August 2017.

[5] "V.I.P." TVShowsOnDVD.com . Archived from the original on 2006-03-03.

[6] "Polsat i Tołstoj". Newsweek .