''World's Wildest Police Videos'' (shortened to ''Police Videos'' in Season 4) is an American reality

TV series A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed betw ...

that ran on

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

from 1998 to 2001. In 2012, Spike announced that it had commissioned 13 new episodes with the revival of the original name and John Bunnell returning as host, which premiered on May 7, 2012, and ended on August 13, 2012. The series deals with police videos from across the world. Video footage of

car chase A car chase or vehicle pursuit is the vehicular overland chase of one party by another, involving at least one automobile or other wheeled motor vehicle in pursuit, commonly hot pursuit of suspects by law enforcement. The rise of the automotive ...

s, subsequent arrests, robberies,

riot A riot is a form of civil disorder commonly characterized by a group lashing out in a violent public disturbance against authority, property, or people. Riots typically involve destruction of property, public or private. The property targete ...

s and other crimes appear on the show.

Production

''World's Wildest Police Videos'' began in 1998 and ran for four seasons, comprising a total of 56 episodes, before being officially cancelled in 2002. In Season 4, the name was shortened to Police Videos. Most of the police videos featured on the show were from various U.S. police departments, but footage from other nations such as Argentina, South Korea, Brazil, Russia,

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom also appeared. Video sources included cameras from

police car A police car (also called a police cruiser, police interceptor, patrol car, area car, cop car, prowl car, squad car, radio car, or radio motor patrol) is a ground vehicle used by police and law enforcement for transportation during patrols a ...

s, helicopters, store security systems, news reporters, and private

citizens Citizenship is a "relationship between an individual and a state to which the individual owes allegiance and in turn is entitled to its protection". Each state determines the conditions under which it will recognize persons as its citizens, and ...

from around the world. Much of the footage had previously only been seen by law enforcement officials. The show became popular with viewers. It had the highest ratings of any Fox network television special to that date. It was also featured on ''

Entertainment Tonight ''Entertainment Tonight'' (or simply ''ET'') is an American Broadcast syndication, first-run syndicated news broadcasting news magazine, newsmagazine program that is distributed by CBS Media Ventures throughout the United States and owned by Para ...

'' and was re-aired later that month. It was the first sweeps-month special ever to run twice during a sweeps period by Fox.

Format

The series began with the series of specials entitled ''World's Scariest Police Chases'', which was broadcast on February 2, 1997. It was narrated by actor Peter Coyote, and featured commentary by Captain

C. W. Jensen Charles W. Jensen is a retired captain of the Portland Police Bureau in the U.S. state of Oregon. Jensen was also a regular on the Fox television series ''World's Wildest Police Videos''. He also appeared on other police-related programs, includi ...

of the Portland Police Bureau. Five additional episodes of ''World's Scariest Police Chases'' aired, with the second on April 27, 1997, third on November 4, 1997, fourth on February 17, 1998, fifth on April 28, 1998, and the sixth on April 29, 1999. A further two special episodes called ''World's Scariest Police Shootouts'' aired around this time as well. It was hosted by John Bunnell, a retired police officer and former

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Multnomah County, Oregon Multnomah County is one of the 36 counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2020 census, the county's population was 815,428. Multnomah County is part of the Portland–Vancouver– Hillsboro, OR–WA Metropolitan Statistical Area. Thou ...

. The two episodes focused on police shootouts rather than chases themselves, although some of the clips featured a car chase along with a shootout. The first episode of ''World's Scariest Police Shootouts'' aired on May 15, 1997, and the second episode, ''World's Scariest Police Shootouts 2'', aired on April 23, 1998. Both episodes were narrated and hosted by John Bunnell. The episodes featured more well-known content, such as the

North Hollywood shootout The North Hollywood shootout was a confrontation between two heavily armed and armored bank robbers, Larry Phillips Jr. and Emil Mătăsăreanu, and members of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) in the North Hollywood district of Los Ang ...

, the murder of Darrell Lunsford, the

1991 Sacramento hostage crisis On April 4, 1991, 41 employees and customers were taken hostage and held at a Good Guys! electronics store at the corner of 65th Street and Stockton Boulevard in Sacramento, California, near the Florin Mall (now Florin Towne Centre) for approx ...

, White supremacist

Chevie Kehoe Chevie O'Brien Kehoe (born January 29, 1973) is an American convicted murderer. He is serving three consecutive life sentences for the kidnapping, torture, and murder of William Mueller and his family. His accomplice, Daniel Lewis Lee, was sente ...

and his shootout with police, and the

1996 Honolulu hostage crisis The 1996 Honolulu hostage crisis occurred on February 6, 1996, in Sand Island, Honolulu, Hawaii, when 28-year-old John Miranda took hostages at the Seal Masters of Hawaii building, his former place of employment. During the hostage crisis, two ...

. Eventually, the show was broadcast weekly. Bunnell's commentary was often characterized by puns, multiple clichés, over-dramatic descriptions of the struggle between good and evil, the police and criminals, victims and abusers, etc. Although Bunnell hosted and commented on most of the show, most police video segments were dubbed with the actual law enforcement officials acting in the situation presented. Tire screeching noises, horn beeps, automobile collision sounds and sirens are often overdubbed into these segments; this is especially noticeable in footage where vehicles are driving over dry grass or sand. It has been widely noticed that the same voice is used in almost every helicopter footage scene, regardless of the location the footage is from. This uncredited role is said to be that of Lawrence Welk III, who usually goes by "Larry Welk," and is a reporter and helicopter traffic pilot for

KCAL-TV KCAL-TV (channel 9) is an independent television station in Los Angeles, California, United States. It is owned by the CBS News and Stations group alongside CBS West Coast flagship KCBS-TV (channel 2). Both stations share studios at the C ...

and

KCBS-TV KCBS-TV (channel 2) is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast flagship of the CBS network. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division alongside independent outl ...

in Los Angeles. He is also the grandson of famed musician Lawrence Welk. Originally, a typical episode included sections entitled: " PIT maneuver," "Car Thieves," "Rainy Chase," "

Big Rig A semi-trailer truck, also known as a semitruck, (or semi, eighteen-wheeler, big rig, tractor-trailer or, by wiktionary:synecdoche, synecdoche, a semitrailer) is the combination of a tractor unit and one or more semi-trailers to carry fr ...

Road Block," "Jumping Off Bridge," and "

Drunk Drivers Drunk driving (or drink-driving in British English) is the act of driving under the influence of alcohol. A small increase in the blood alcohol content increases the relative risk of a motor vehicle crash. In the United States, alcohol is i ...

." This was dropped after the first season, and replaced with a string of clips, each commentated on by Bunnell. After a few videos, a small clip of Bunnell would be shown, often describing the police mentality behind the videos that were about to appear. Occasionally, episodes were dedicated to police officers killed in the line of duty and an episode featured the footage of the crash of

Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961 Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961 was a scheduled flight serving the route Addis Ababa–Nairobi–Brazzaville–Lagos–Abidjan. On 23 November 1996, the aircraft serving the flight, a Boeing 767-200ER, was hijacked en route from Addis Ababa to Nai ...

in 1996. A video game based on the series was released for the

PlayStation is a video gaming brand that consists of five home video game consoles, two handhelds, a media center, and a smartphone, as well as an online service and multiple magazines. The brand is produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment, a divisi ...

in 2001, entitled '' World's Scariest Police Chases'', also featuring Bunnell. The game received mixed reviews, ranging from a 3.6/10 from GameSpot.com, to a 9/10 from Official PlayStation Magazine (UK). There were also home video releases on VHS of the first three ''World's Scariest Police Chases'' around late 1997, which included never-before-seen footage that wasn't shown on FOX. The specials would be re-released as Deluxe Versions, with minor differences.

Series overview

Episodes

Specials (1997–2003)

Season 1 (1998)

Season 2 (1998–99)

Season 3 (1999–00)

Season 4 (2000–01)

Season 5 (2012)

In pop culture

In the ''

Family Guy ''Family Guy'' is an American animated sitcom originally conceived and created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The show centers around the Griffin family, Griffins, a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Peter Griff ...

'' episode "

Quagmire's Baby "Quagmire's Baby" is the sixth episode of the eighth season of the animated comedy series ''Family Guy''. It originally aired on Fox in the United States on November 15, 2009. The episode centers on neighbor Glenn Quagmire, who suddenly discover ...

", there is a sequence of Fred Flintstone fleeing from the police in the family car, in an episode of ''World's Wildest Police Videos''. Flintstone crashes, and attempts to flee on foot, but is delayed by the

Hanna-Barbera Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc. ( ) was an American animation studio and production company which was active from 1957 to 2001. It was founded on July 7, 1957, by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera following the decision of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to c ...

skidaddle running effect. A similar sequence was used in the episode "

Something, Something, Something, Dark Side "Something, Something, Something, Dark Side" is a direct-to-video special of the animated series ''Family Guy'' which later served as the 20th episode of the show's eighth season and is the second part of the series' ''Star Wars'' parody trilogy ...

", when TIE fighters and a Star Destroyer were chasing the '' Millennium Falcon''. These sequences were narrated by Bunnell himself. It was also parodied on '' MADtv'' as "World's Queeniest Police Chases". Some of the

Alarm für Cobra 11 - Die Autobahnpolizei An alarm device is a mechanism that gives an audible, visual or other kind of alarm signal to alert someone to a problem or condition that requires urgent attention. Alphabetical musical instruments Etymology The word ''alarm'' comes from the ...

Der Clown ''Der Clown'' is a German television series that aired between 21 April 1998 and 11 October 2001. It ran for 46 episodes and starred Sven Martinek, Diana Frank, Thomas Anzenhofer, and Volkmar Kleinert. Story The story is about Max Zander, an age ...

and one from Die Wache car crashing clips were used in 2 episodes in 1998.

Worldwide syndication

Americas

* United States: April 2, 1998 – September 7, 2001 on

. The series was syndicated on both CourtTV/TruTV from 2002–11, and on Spike TV/Spike until 2015. It was also seen as ''World's Most Dramatic Police Chases'' in the early morning on TNT. Spanish language re-runs were also syndicated on Telemundo. * Mexico: Televisa * Latin America: truTV Latin America * Canada:

mentv History2 is a Canadian English language specialty channel dedicated to airing historic and non-historical programming of military, science, and technology interest. The channel is owned by Corus Entertainment, with its name licensed from the U.S. c ...

CourtTV Canada Investigation Discovery is a Canadian Discretionary service owned by Bell Media. Based on the U.S cable network of the same name, the channel focuses on true crime programming. Originally launching as a Canadian version of Court TV, it was rela ...

* Brazil: weekly (Sunday) mash-up show consisting of 4 shows mixed together. Aired on Universal Channel.

Europe

* Hungary:

Viasat 6 Viasat 6 (formerly known as TV6 until February 11, 2011) is one of the thematic television channels of Antenna Group. History The channel launched on January 28, 2008. On April 1, 2013, the aspect ratio was changed to 16:9 and the channel got a ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

: Aired and rerun on ZTV. * Norway: Viasat 4 * Germany: on RTL, called ''Im Einsatz, die spektakulärsten Polizei-Videos der Welt'', commentated by former American police officer Stephan T. Rose. * Ireland:

TV3 Channel 3 or TV 3 may refer to: Television *Canal 3 (Burkina Faso), a commercial television channel in Burkina Faso *Canal 3 (Guatemala), a commercial television channel in Guatemala *Channel 3 (Algeria), a public Algerian TV channel owned by EPTV ...

* Iceland: SkjárEinn (2000-2001) * United Kingdom:

Bravo Bravo(s) or The Bravo(s) may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music Groups and labels *Bravo (band), a Russian rock band * Bravo (Spanish group), represented Spain at Eurovision 1984 *Bravo Music, an American concert band music publishing company ...

, ITV4, Channel 5,

Men & Motors Men & Motors was a men's lifestyle television channel in the UK. It was the last remaining station operated by the former Granada Sky Broadcasting joint venture, set up by Granada Television (now part of ITV plc) and satellite broadcaster Briti ...

and CBS Reality * Greece:

Skai TV Skai TV (Greek: ΣΚΑΪ) is a Greek free-to-air television network based in Piraeus. It is part of the Skai Group, one of the largest media groups in the country. It was relaunched in its present form on 1 April 2006 in the Athens metropolita ...

* Italy: AXN Italy

Asia

* Indonesia: antv,

NET. NET (an initialism of News and Entertainment Television, stylized as NET.) is an Indonesian free-to-air television network that was launched on 26 May 2013. It replaced Spacetoon on terrestrial television. The channel's programming is focused ...

* United Arab Emirates: MBC Action * Malaysia: Star TV * Philippines: Studio 23 * Thailand:

UBC series The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks among the top three ...

Oceania

* Australia: Some premiere episodes were shown on the Seven Network and

Network Ten Network 10 (commonly known as Ten Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network owned by Ten Network Holdings, a division of the Paramount Networks UK & Australia subsidiary of Paramount Global. One of five ...

, and re-runs of all episodes appeared on Fox8. Episodes of the 2012 series began airing on the Seven Network in 2013.

Africa

* South Africa:

DStv Digital Satellite Television, commonly abbreviated to DStv, is a Sub-Saharan African direct broadcast satellite service owned by MultiChoice and based in Randburg, South Africa. Launched on 6 October 1995, the service provides multiple audio, ...

References

External links

* {{Spike (TV network) programming 1990s American crime television series 2000s American crime television series 1998 American television series debuts 2001 American television series endings 2010s American crime television series 2012 American television series debuts 2012 American television series endings Fox Broadcasting Company original programming Television series by 20th Century Fox Television Spike (TV network) original programming 2010s American reality television series Telemundo original programming TruTV original programming English-language television shows American television series revived after cancellation