![]() Turns out, “Whisker Wars” is actually kind of charming. So I expected the worst out of IFC’s “Whisker Wars,” which is about (yep, you guessed it again) competition between dudes with really, really long beards. A lot of the shows are formulaic, chock full of cooked up “fights” between the principal players and scenes of “drama” so transparently faked that they make Megan Fox look like Judi Dench. There’s a reality show about people who pound the dents out of old crap, paint it, and sell it (“American Restoration” on History Channel). There’s a reality show about people who bid on abandoned storage units so they can pilfer through the junk inside and sell it (“Storage Wars!” on A&E). There’s a reality show about people who build high-end fish tanks for rich folks (“Tanked” on Animal Planet). When will the reality show insanity end? There are reality shows about everything these days. ![]() The reality show transports a crop of young hooligans to a maximum-security prison, where the lifers usually threaten them with (you guessed it) stories of prison rape to scare them back to the straight and narrow. While I’m on the subject: A&E brings back their popular “Beyond Scared Straight” series for a new season this week. It may be a bit exaggerated, but it keeps me from bilking old ladies out of their millions. That’s my impression of prison, and I’m going with it. Please don’t write to try and educate me. From what I’ve seen from Sylvester Stallone’s “Lock Up,” my well-worn copy of “Prison Hoochies 12” and “The Shawshank Redemption” we have long since tossed the idea of rehabilitation of long-term prisoners out the window in favor of a system in which inmates’ daily schedule goes something like this: rape, rape, shanking, breakfast, rape, shower rape, a sound beating at the hands of neo-Nazis, lunch, rape, praying for the sweet release of death before bed and then being repeatedly raped in their sleep throughout the night. Executive producer for A&E is Laura Fleury.While this writer is restrained from doing bad things by our somewhat tarnished moral compass, we’re a lot more restrained by the thought of going to the Academy of Ass-Poundery that is your average U.S. Executive Producers are Arnold Shapiro and Paul J. Happily, the majority of them made life-altering adjustments to their dangerous behavior.”īeyond Scared Straight is produced by Arnold Shapiro Productions for A&E Network. ![]() It gave kids who were heading down the wrong path a preview of their future and a road map on how to change it. ![]() “I am so proud of the teenage lives that have been changed and even saved over our 83 episodes and six years of production. ![]() “While it is sad when a successful series ends, I’ve decided that it’s time for Beyond Scared Straight to come to a close,” said series creator and executive producer Arnold Shapiro. Since the series’ inception in 2009, Beyond Scared Straight has profiled 331 teens in crime prevention programs in 29 prisons and jails across the county. These defiant teens are forced to spend a day (and sometimes a night) in jail, interacting with convicted felons who give them first-hand experience of life behind bars with the hope that they see where the path of destruction they are headed down could lead them. Inspired by “Scared Straight!,” the Academy Award and multiple Emmy-winning documentary film by Arnold Shapiro, Beyond Scared Straight follows teens who pride themselves on bad behavior ranging from theft, drugs, promiscuity, gang affiliation, violence and arson. Beyond Scared Straight, the Emmy-nominated series that profiles unique crime prevention programs aimed at deterring troubled teens from jail, returns for its ninth and final 11-episode season. ![]()
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