V.I.P. (American TV series)

Synopsis

Anderson stars as Vallery Irons, a woman who accidentally saves a celebrity and then is hired by a real bodyguard agency (V.I.P. a.k.a. Vallery Irons Protection) as a famous figurehead while the rest of the agency's professionals work to solve cases. Her lack of investigation skills ends up defeating the antagonists in every episode.

The other team members are an assortment of people of different backgrounds: a former member of the KGB, CIA, FBI, a computer expert, a former law officer, a former street boxer/martial artist and, later, a karate master/stuntman joined.

The series uses a mixture of action, comedy, and camp, with Anderson often poking fun at her tabloid image. In November 2001, a video game version of V.I.P. was released on the PlayStation console.

Many first season episodes opened with cameos of famous celebrities being protected by Vallery. Among them were Stone Cold Steve Austin, Jay Leno, Charles Barkley, Jerry Springer and Alfonso Ribeiro. Loni Anderson, of no relation to Pamela Anderson, guest-starred in one episode as Vallery's mother. In season 2, Lisa Marie Varon had an uncredited appearance as a bodyguard. Kathleen Kinmont-See was a guest star in the season 4 episode "South by Southwest".

Cast

• Pamela Anderson — Vallery Irons, the glamorous figurehead
• Molly Culver — Natasha "Tasha" Dexter, Vallery Iron's lead associate, a former spy and model
• Natalie Raitano — Nicole "Nikki" Franco, the team's weapons and explosives expert
• Angelle Brooks — Maxine De La Cruz (Seasons 3–4, recurring seasons 1–2), Vallery's best friend
• Shaun Baker — Quick Williams, a former boxer and martial artist
• Dustin Nguyen — Johnny Loh (Seasons 3–4, recurring seasons 1–2), a karate master and stuntman
• Leah Lail — Kay Simmons, the team's computer expert

Episodes

Main article: List of V.I.P. episodes

Merchandise

On March 14, 2006, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment released the first season of V.I.P. on DVD in Region 1.

V.I.P. received video game adaptations from Ubi Soft, for the PC, PlayStation, PlayStation 2, Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance in 2001 and 2002. An adaptation for Xbox was announced but cancelled.

In 2000, Johnny Lightning released two sets of V.I.P. themed diecast cars in 1/64 scale. There were 8 different vehicles issued in total.

TV Comics! published a comic based on the series in 2000.

The series V.I.P. was co-produced with Telewizja Polsat from Poland. This is the first foreign series co-created by Telewizja Polsat, which exclusively aired the show in Poland.

Awards and nominations

In 1999, the series was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Main Title Theme Music. In 2002, V.I.P. was nominated for three Daytime Emmy Awards, winning one for Outstanding Single Camera Editing.

Syndication

The show premiered in syndication on September 26, 1998. Among the stations that carried it was the ensemble of Fox's 22 owned-and-operated stations, who signed when the show was in pre-production in December 1997. As of 2025, the series is currently airing on MeTV+ and is available on Tubi, but formerly on Crackle. Episodes in Spanish debuted on CineSony on February 14, 2014.

References

References

1. "V.I.P.". [[The New York Times]].
2. ENDRST, JAMES. (27 December 1999). "Lee Has Campy Sexcapade Genre Down Pat".
3. Terrace, Vincent. (9 October 2002). "Crime Fighting Heroes of Television: Over 10,000 Facts from 151 Shows, 1949-2001". McFarland.
4. (8 October 2000). "A Show So Dumb, It's Smart".
5. "V.I.P.". [[TVShowsOnDVD.com]].
6. I. G. N. Staff. (2000-05-12). "V.I.P.".
7. "Polsat i Tołstoj". [[Newsweek]].
8. (December 11, 1997). "Fox stations sign on for Lee’s ‘V.I.P.’". Variety.