Well, for the uninformed, here is where the debate really started, from jumptheshark.com. I thought there was some really insightful stuff here:
V.I.P.
First Show 1998
Last Show
Genre Action
Network SYN
Slot Day Various
Slot Time Various
Jumped The Shark when... Votes
Never Jumped 17
Day One 16
It got people to stay up late 1
It became politically correct 1
Pam as a bodyguard? 1
Too much plastic for Pam 1
Other Thoughts:
Pamela Anderson as a BODYGUARD??? I think most guys would be encouraged to commit more violent acts with the prospect of Pamela diving on them, even disregarding the possible pain of being jabbed by all the silicone. That aside, the show's even more mindless than Baywatch and Silk Stalkings put together, and that's really saying something.
When the show started getting people to stay up late just to see the sexy women in action and the sexy black guy. The show, V.I.P, has a lot of good guest and when I am a big director/producer I want to marry the black girl who stays with Val. When I am a big writer remember me-this is a message to that sexy black woman who stays with Val.
Day one!! My friend and I started to watch the show and couldn't stop because it was so horrible! It was so bad that it was HILARIOUS!! I was literally on the floor tears rolling down my face, laughing so hard that no sound was coming out. I must admit, I am going to start watching the show on a regular basis because it is so damned funny! It's like they got a bunch of dime-store actors and writers together to make a "story" just to have the excuse to have Pam Anderson running around on TV with her boobs hanging out. Despite the (apparently unintended) humor in this show, it is pointless to watch. Even the teen male of who this ridiculous show is intended for should feel insulted.
NEVER! This show is an example of pure American ingenuity. An entire program built around the beauty of Ms. Pamela Anderson. Yes, the acting is inane, the plots unbelievably contrived, and the action more phoney than '70's wrestling, but who cares? The show is a vehicle to showcase Pam's ever-present cleavage, and it's one of the few programs with thong bikinis in wardrobe. My girlfriend and I never miss it!
After seeing the first episode of V.I.P., I was asking myself, "Why?" I could see how Pamela Anderson Lee wanted to do her own version of BAYWATCH, but why would she drag Johnathan Lawton into this as a creator/co-producer? Even though Lawton wrote the screenplays to PRETTY WOMAN (before it was altered) and UNDER SIEGE, he also wrote and directed (under the name J.D. Athens) the underrated PIZZA MAN and PIRAHNA WOMEN IN THE AVOCADO JUNGLE OF DEATH, probably two of the most satirical films I've seen. Lawton should be making fun of stuff like V.I.P. instead of being responsible for it.
Beware popularity, Pam. As the most popular show in syndication now (sorry Baywatch) VIP has chosen total political correctness thru the introduction of an Asian-American (and second male) character as well as repeat visits from Val's best friend, the beautiful African-American woman discussed above. Unnecessary additions which have complicated the show and taken away from a weekly 'focus character'. Additionally, what is up with the new lingo for the butch munitions expert? Extremely forced and irritating. Unless the costuming gets even more revealing, the show's a goner. Lose the bonus people and get back to red-blooded, all-American T & A.
Oh my god in heaven. Second to best show ever made for TV. It's Saturday morning Kung-Fu meets Who Wants to Marry a Millionaire on silicon implants. What could be better? And unlike the above critique, I LOVE the butch bomber's tough girl lingo. She's always "off like a prom dress" when she's in a hurry. Fav show? Either when Val starts her own line of body guard lingerie and saves the masses by clearing a soon-to-be- exploding-room by starting a congo line...or...when Jay Leno hires them to drive his baby blue convertible up the coast. The harder they reach the better it gets. I wait with baited breath for each new episode.
I thought it would jump when they added new characters (The Vietnamese Guy), but it didn't. It came close, though.
Wasn't Baywatch enough??? Do we really need to see any more of Pamela Anderson's cleavage!
Never Jumped. It's silly. It's Campy. It's jiggly. It's PERFECT.
I can't believe that anyone would cast Pamela Lee a bodyguard. I realize this sounds sexist and I'm not to trying to make light of spousal abuse, so I apologize (as the thrash-metal band Anthrax once said, "I don't intend to offend, I just offend with my intent"), but any woman in this day and age who makes money on her own who doesn't leave an abusive husband is not my idea of a good bodyguard, let alone the head of a bodyguard agency.
V.I.P. is a carefully crafted self-parody, with lots of hot chicks and campy guest stars. It's like Adam West's Batman was in its first season. Only with Julie Newmar as Catwoman, Joan Collins as The Siren and Yvonne Craig wearing leather thong bikinis in every episode! The sillier and more outrageous it becomes, the better it is. The collection of females... That little package of TNT - The bombs expert, The tall, willowy raven haired sharp shooter and martial arts champ, the Silverstonesque cutie pie computer geek, and Pam...brilliantly assembled. And the guys are unthreatening to the viewers machismo... it's just a hoot!
try something, go to LA and run around blowing things up. shouldn't someone notice, for the love of GOD!!! then of course there's everyone's favorite pamela anderson, but i don't think seeing her can make up for the disaster that is this show...keep pimpin
Never did jump. Who needs more of Pam's cleavage? I do, for one, and probably a few hundred thousand other guys from 6 to 60
Come on, it's supposed to be campy. Relax and enjoy.
Now this is BAD TV. It doesn't work on any level -- even as camp. And it's a shame, because the show seems to be an attempt to SATIRIZE stuff like "Baywatch". But it doesn't take the humor far enough, and we're left with a show that doesn't know what it wants to be: an action show, or a SPOOF of an action show. Consequently, it doesn't work at all. One last thought: Leah Lail, who plays the computer nerd, is a beautiful woman and a talented actress who's wasted on this show. She appeared in a movie called "Denial" with Jason Alexander, Patrick Dempsey, and Jonathan Silverman, and and she was up to the challenge. She proved she could act, but you'd never know it when you watch "V.I.P."
Damn great show! I can't get over it! And I can't get enough of Pam's references to pop culture and other great blond characters...
What's the deal here. Do people think all we have to do is see Pamela Lee Anderson (or "Anderson Lee, depending on how her relationship with Tommy Lee is this week) in a tight dress and we'll keep watching? All I can say is that this show made Charlie's Angels look intelligent. My 68-year-old father watched an episode of V.I.P, and found it so idiotic, he laughed. He NEVER laughs at TV shows he thinks are stupid. And as far as the sex appeal, the only one of these girls who's remotely attractive is Leah Lail, the girl who plays as the "smart" girl, Kay Eugenia Simmons.
It jumped the shark when it started.. There was not enough nudity of pam anderson. Knowing that the only viewers of this show would of been horny men, they should of made an extra effort to make more revealing scenes.
Whatever you think of VIP, you can't deny that genius was at hand when Ian Ziering made a cheesy cameo as himself, and it not only didn't suck, it was hilarious!
1) Can't you guys get enough of Pamela Anderson over the internet? Or do you like to watch her try to read cue cards. 2) Ugly tattoos. You guys do realize that a barbed wire tattoo represents time spent in prison. And we're supposed to pretend she's a "good girl"? 3) Not a real body. What do you think she would look like today if she couldn't afford those fake boobs, a personal trainer, lip surgery, etc.. 4) The show. Bad writing, bad directing, and no acting. I say fire everyone and use blow-up dolls instead. Maybe then this show can break even financially.
Never!!!! Are you kidding. If these people think they are making a serious show, then you're missing the point. Also, The Asian-American guy is known other than one cool cop, Harry Ioke from 21 Jump Street.
This show has never jumped - all it was ever meant to be is visual Vigra for guys. SCHWING!!!!
When the show started making enough money to afford real explosions. Also, addition of kung-fu love-interest boy to cast and Loni Anderson making a special guest star appearance as Pammy's mom. Yuck!
This show is a riot. I can't believe its not supposed to be funny. I think Pam is the smartest women in show biz. She might not be the best actress ever, but she works her assets, she assembles the right cast, and pow! VIP, best show in syndication, no doubt.
Butch is beautiful, especially with Pam as additional eye candy. Too many shows take themselves too seriously. I'll take this T and A package that doesn't try to be anything else over most of the other crap on TV.
Holy crap! I watched this show when one of my favorite bands, Lit, was on the show. Even with a great band and super hot chicks, I couldn't bear to watch this show for more than 30 minutes! Do you know what hotties like Pam who can't act are called? Porn stars! I want my half hour back!!!
jumped when pam anderson became a blowup doll, a caricature of what beauty is. early in her career she was truly beautiful. now...
The show is meant to be a parody of other action shows plus Baywatch, but it would work better if they made the whole show more campy. When Pam is on, in addition to her entire appearance being "out there", she usually has some pretty good lines that show you she's not taking this all too seriously. But when the rest of the crew is on, I get less interested because they're playing things too straight, and the plots don't make a whole lot of sense. They should also get away from the formulaic cast (generically cute computer expert, Oriental martial arts expert, etc.). If they want to make it a fun show, they need to add some character dimensions and plots that we wouldn't expect to see. Although Pam's not really my ideal of feminine beauty (too many chemicals), I still think the show is best when she's in the scene.
All this show does is take cult-favorite B-movies and make them in a weekly show......rent any of the "Vice Acadamies" or "Reform School Girls" and outside of seeing naked women, the stories are the same!
It's so bad, that's it's great!! All the girls are so hot...although one of them needs to grow some damn hair! It's so campy and I love the guest appearances...Mark Hammil, Erik Estrada, etc...Now if we could only get an all nude show sometime!
UNREALISTIC when Pam Andersons character does several costume changes in several scenes having to do with Valerie getting in the shopping mall, going through the shopping mall, and getting out of the shopping mall. WHERE AND WHEN DID SHE CHANGE HER CLOTHES? and they are all having low rider tight pants and plastic/vinyl/leather tight pants..............
Usually Pammy is one of the brightest bulbs in the box, but put her around bad boy rockers and her brain goes out her butt.
This show is so ridiculous that I find myself staying up after Madtv just to see how far they've jumped each week. I'm just waiting for Pamela's chest to explode on the set. I don't think she can get her implants any bigger. Her chest doesn't even move when she runs in her hooker shoes. In one episode she was dressed like a two dollar whore and the sheriff was deputizing her. Give me a break. If Pam was such a smart business, woman she would have the writers give her character some class. Obviously she doesn't want to be respected for her "acting" ability, if she has any. Instead, she is still hanging on to those breast implants. News flash: Guys will find someone other hot babe to swoon over. She is a very beautiful woman. It is too bad she has taken the low road to fame.
I'm not sure if the staff is writing this stuff straight faced or if it is really a clever parody of Baywatch/BayWatchNights. It's so bad it's good. They cover all the bases, they've got boobs and good and evil, varied races, butches, babes, straights, cardboard villains, and all of it looks and feels strangely like Miami Vice. The show is always the same. It moves from huge ultra modern office sets, to shower/hot tubs/pools/gyms, then to seedy nightclubs (all with the same damn stage), then to a hotel, then the office, and finally a shoot out/resolution in a parking lot/airport. You know, maybe a really smart person wrote out a formula for a program, died of a heart attack, and then the staff just filled in the blanks every week? I'd rank this up with "Son of the Beach", except it's just not as funny
I do not know whether it was Alfred Hitchcock or G. K. Chesterton in a Father Brown story or someone else who said it first but, "The public will sooner believe the impossible than the improbable." While I can accept the idea of Pam playing a reluctant Remington Steele type bodyguard. I found hard to believe the scene where Pam was riding a surfboard while wearing high heeled platform sandals. Is such a thing possible?
Oh, come on, people! It's just a T.V. show! Get a grip, will you? In my opinion, V.I.P. was harmless (if a little stupid) brain-candy. What's with all the venom? If you want the meaning of life, go to a bookstore, go into the spirituality section, and pick up something by your-religious-icon-of-choice-here. But for Chrits's sake, if you expect to get it out of a show starring the one woman in Hollywood with the most scilicon in her chest, you are going to be deeply dissapointed. Give Pam and yourself a break! The show is meant to be light, campy fun - and that's all it is. Yes, the dialogue is cheesy. Yes, it's a little hard to belive. Yes, it doesn't show off Leah Lail as much as it should. Yes, the costumes are revealing (We are talking Pamela Anderson here). Yes, it tries a bit too hard to be P.C.. But if you don't like it, you can choose not to watch it - it's that simple.
The show is just plain awful. I thought I might watch it because it's obviously meant to be a campy dumbass show, but I was expecting sort of a satire of campy dumbass shows...this just goes way over the line (that, or it's satire is so sophisticated that it went way over my head). Still, boobs are boobs. But I just can't sit and watch a show in which they portray some of these women smarter than they could ever possibly be. Operating a helicopter, "hacking" into computers, quantum physics?! Oh come on, they'll be lucky if they can spell out their entire names right. But what really pushed me over the edge is the fast motion. God, I hate fast motion. I recall one scene in which one of the skanks was going to jump off her gyrocopter onto a moving truck, but of course the truck and gyrocopter were in reality moving about a mile an hour, and the fast motion just looked ridiculous. Satire or not, that was just plain dumb. This show is an insult to everyone's intelligence.
This is a weird show, for many reasons, including the fact that it seldom has a script, direction, or acting -- but also because it has only two real stars: Pamela Anderson's heaving, silicon implanted breasts. The show also has the two weirdest men on action tv--two weird looking, ultra-short guys who are supposed to be studs but instead are dorks. The producers could at least have cast men who were bigger than the aforementioned breasts.
This show is GENIUS. The secret I think is the fact that, apart from Pammy, and maybe the secretary/computer geek, they all play it so straight that it takes you a while to work out that it's satire. It's one of the funniest shows on at the moment and I'd watch it just to laugh at Pam's costumes - I think her silicon boobs are hideous but you have to have brains to play a bimbo of the Valerie Irons variety.
It's good reading. I have left all the spelling and grammatical errors intact.
Nope, I don't expect anyone to bother.
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