Wednesday, 26 August 2009

Dog the Bounty Hunter

This is a show which I was vaguely aware of, but have had no access to since we ditched all our paid TV. When it was featured on Charlie Brooker's excellent show 'You Have Been Watching' I relived all the slightly conflicted feelings I had previously had about it. On the one hand, there is a sense of justice being done where we can see it as they round up bail jumpers on television rather than behind closed doors with pixellated faces, the similarities to 'The Fall Guy' cannot be over looked, and in fairness, Dog himself does seem to be pretty proportionate when apprehending people. On the other hand, there is the salaciousness of watching someone being cornered and brought to justice, the slightly dubious nature of the whole bounty hunting industry in the US and allegations of racism against Dog himself. So, rife with internal conflict, I came up with possibly the best adaptation to an existing show ever - screen it live! That way, the show would take on an interesting bent as criminals are tempted to tune in to check that they don't recognise the outside of their own front door, but knowing at the same time that if they do try to escape, they will miss the opportunity to feature on the show. Either I am a genius, or I have devised a way of tackily exploiting the legal system for entertainment even more than the show's makers were already doing - I used to believe the two were mutually exclusive, but I am coming to realise that might not be so...