CBS has picked up a reality show that will put experience on a few Ball State University students' resumes and guns in the hands of five celebrities.
Those celebrities are going through police training to become real Muncie police officers for Armed & Famous, a reality TV show that began filming in Muncie Friday.
Jack Osbourne, Erik Estrada, Trish Stratus, Jason "Wee Man" Acu+â-¦a and La Toya Jackson are in the middle of training to become police officers, Phil Gonzales, CBS vice president of communications, said. After completion of training, they accompany experienced officers into real-life situations.
"Muncie is what it is," Chief of Police Joe Winkle said. "They are going to go on the same calls we go on every day, going to see the same stuff we see every day."
The show, which will air on CBS, is being produced by Tom Forman Productions, the same company that did Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. While no air date has been set, it will be on TV next year, Gonzales said.
Several Ball State telecommunications students are working on the crew as production assistants. Their main jobs are setting up and tearing down equipment, as well as shopping for food or any supplies needed for production, Jacob Jennings, senior and production assistant, said. Working on the set can provide valuable experience for students pursuing a job in the field.
"Since it's an unpaid internship they have been really good about helping us learn as much as we can," Lauren Peak, senior and production assistant, said. "I really want to learn everything about the production process because the more I know the better I'll be in the long run."
Both students said they hoped being on the crew of a large network TV show would enhance a their resumes. They applied for the positions weeks ago, but only heard back about them recently.
"Having it on [a resume] that I worked with a CBS-backed production will let employers know that I have experience with a big project," Jennings said.
The celebrity cast is going through normal training all police officers must complete, Winkle said. While it typically takes fifteen days to cover everything, including training with firearms, defensive tactics, building searches and law education, the celebrities will complete it in twelve days so they can spend more time on the streets.
"They go through what we call pre-basic, the standards of what a regular policeman would go through before being allowed to work," he said. "They certainly treated their training today seriously, which is encouraging for us. It's not a joke to them."
Winkle said despite the serious nature of the show, it will be a fun experience with some comedic moments by both the police officers and celebrities. It will be an exciting opportunity for his officers to be on national TV, he said.
"There's got to be some funny moments seeing Wee Man go on calls," Winkle said.
Mayor Dan Canan and Winkle were on a committee to decide if this project was a good investment for Muncie, deputy mayor Phyllis Amburn said. After deliberating for a short time, they decided it was.
The city's goal for the show is to get recognition for Muncie to help it expand economically, Amburn said.
"We are looking at it positively," she said. "This is not a comedy, it's relatively serious and will get recognition for Muncie."
If all goes well for the show, the number of recruits that the Muncie police department receives could increase, Winkle said, although that isn't the reason he decided to do the show.
"We're hoping that if we are received well we will attract recruits who would otherwise not be attracted to Muncie," he said.
One of the co-producers who originally approached Winkle graduated from high school in Muncie, which is part of why the producers chose the city for filming, Winkle said.
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