The world has officially been turned upside down for me.
Apparently when he's not making bad-ass movies like Under Siege, Exit Wounds, or my personal favorite, Today You Die, Steven Seagal is a Deputy Sheriff in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana and he's been doing it for 20 years.
Can it get better? Yes. Starting in December, A&E is sending cameras along with him.
Seagal's new reality series Lawman (not to be confused with the upcoming Timothy Olyphant FX drama of the same name) has very quickly jumped up my must-see list of the new TV season. The comic value alone is worth tuning in. Can you imagine getting busted by Steven Seagal?!?
Turns out that 20 years ago, while filming near his home in Jefferson Parish, he taught some cops a few skull-knockin' tricks and things turned out so well that they deputized him. The job stuck, because two decades later he's still at it.
To call this a reality series seems like a bit of a stretch - it's not like they pulled some random actor out of nowhere to be a cop for a few months. I'll say it a third time because it still hasn't gotten old for me - Steven Seagal has been a cop for 20 years.
Here's a trailer for the show. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm flying to Jefferson Parish, taking off my pants while drinking a 40oz. of Olde English in the middle of Main Street, and praying that I get arrested for public indecency.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
9-10-2009 @ 1:43PM
Modwild said...
Have to admit...I, too, am shocked. But it's pretty damned cool.
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9-10-2009 @ 2:13PM
Mike said...
Awesome! Wow... just... wow...
However, I fail to see how it isn't a reality series. It certainly doesn't appear scripted. I guess you mean it's more documentary than reality. I dunno, what's COPS? I think it's a reality series of sorts, just not a reality game show or reality freak show or combination of the two.
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9-10-2009 @ 2:28PM
thendust said...
Shenanigans! I'm from NY and two out of the three cops during the martial arts demonstration sound like they were taken straight from a NY cop casting call. Unless they relocated from the Tri-State area theres no way were they from Jefferson Parrish.
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9-10-2009 @ 3:15PM
GigG said...
There is an amazing similarity in some New Orleans accents and NY ones.
9-20-2009 @ 7:17AM
artabr said...
GigG is correct.
A lot of Yats sound like they just got off the bus from Brooklyn.
I sound like I'm from Boston and I was born and spent 40 of my 50 years on the bayou. New Iberia, La.
9-23-2009 @ 7:56AM
Judy said...
I was born and raised, lived in Jefferson Parish, a suburb of New Orleans. People from here just DIE when we see movies supposedly set in New Orleans and everyone talks in a southern accent. NEWS FLASH, only in northern most Louisiana do people speak with a southern accent. A great portion of New Orleanians speak in the very accent you are claiming HAS to be from New York. I can promise you, they are most definitely NOT FROM NEW YORK BUT PROBABLY THE 9TH WARD OF NEW ORLEANS. Open the book "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy O'Toole (a GREAT book that took many awards) and the very accent you are denying could possibly be from anywhere but New York is discussed in the very first pages. Oh, by the way, we've lived here in Jefferson Parish all our lives and we never knew him to be a deputy. He had become great friends with Jefferson Parish the top sheriff of Jefferson Parish when he came to be in a Mardi Gras parade. Many residents did report seeing him out with the police shooting nutria, huge rodents that were such a problem the police sharp shooters were taking them down. We've been in California since hurricane Katrina but saw the commercial there. Am in New Orleans every 2-months and am here now and people here are as surprised to hear he was a deputy as everyone else.
10-23-2009 @ 7:57AM
box alarm said...
Never knew anyone from the Irish Channel in New Orleans I take it...
And Miss Judy, I'm told they kept his work quiet. He did alot for the JPSO and was a good friend of Harry Lee.
9-10-2009 @ 2:37PM
George said...
I saw this preview at a movie theater over the weekend and watched it with a sort of stunned delight. There is simply no way that this could be unrewarding viewing. Not necessarily *good* viewing, and perhaps not worthwhile viewing, but rewarding? Oh yes.
The only thing that could make this better is if, midway through the series, Seagal shows up for his shift in a home-made buckskin police uniform, complete with fringe.
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9-10-2009 @ 2:38PM
George said...
I forgot to mention one of the best things -- throughout the preview (and in the photo above) you can see Seagal making a conscious effort to hold his head at an angle that minimizes his double chin. Awesome.
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9-10-2009 @ 3:21PM
Will said...
As a former resident of Jefferson Parish, I'm interested in seeing this.
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9-11-2009 @ 8:16AM
Han Solo said...
Hasn't this already been done on CBS?
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0921875/
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9-11-2009 @ 8:16AM
Cray said...
Seagal comes off as total poser in this. He's acting when it's a reality show. I got tired of his stare downs after his second film. I knew he wasn't going to grow as actor.
If this show is only going to survive, it will because of the loyal following who revere his 24/7 tough guy attitude.
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9-21-2009 @ 11:45AM
donna trebt said...
cant wait, looks really fun to watch, love this guy. cant help it. Just great to watch him
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9-21-2009 @ 11:48AM
donna trebt said...
looks fun to watch, cant wait. Love to watch this guy. Hes just fun to watch. love the bad attitude
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10-05-2009 @ 9:30PM
Bongos said...
What a load of BS. Just because they so it's no scripts doesn't mean it isn't. As if he really has been a cop on duty for 20 years. If I lived in the area I would be protesting this over dramatizing of the police force.
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10-06-2009 @ 9:43PM
g etlinger said...
Where did he a conduct his police academy training and how long was it ? does he qualify with his service weapon and off duty weapon every 6 mo. ? I am a retired police captain from the northeast.
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10-27-2009 @ 8:19PM
bill said...
As a 20yr officer Now retired even i can tell you YES he is qualified. were you really an officer? because most of us know he conducted weapons training with the LAPD as an instructor not a student.So yes he is more qualified
than most on duty officers. Hell i say more power to him if he stepped behind the badge because most wouldnt even think it
10-06-2009 @ 9:23PM
g etlinger said...
where dis he conduct his academy training? how many weeks was the training? is he required to qualify with his duty and off duty weapon every 6 mo. I am a retired police captain,just would like to know?
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10-06-2009 @ 10:51PM
max said...
iv lived in jefferso parish all my life to and i have to say those Jefferson parish poliece are dicks...cause they dont get as much action in JP as in new orleas so their constanty giving traffic tickets, brake tagg tickest, yelling at skateboarders ect... but who cares ill still watch it mabey even be in it!
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10-25-2009 @ 4:01PM
Joe said...
What is 'Poliece'?