Blog: Dermot Cole
Reviewers take aim at Alaska State Troopers' TV show
Published Wednesday, October 14, 2009
•The early reviews of the Alaska State Troopers TV show make much of how many drunks appear on the screen.
The show debuts tonight on the National Geographic channel at 6 p.m. and 9 p.m..
From the New York Times:
On the evidence of "Alaska State Troopers," a new reality series beginning Wednesday night on the National Geographic Channel, the 49th state as a whole is extremely 10-56 (police code for publicly intoxicated).
People ride their snow machines while drunk. Men put chokeholds on their wives while drunk. A drunk refuses to leave his friend's house when asked, leading to this suggestion from a trooper: "You can go to jail in your underwear or you can go to jail in your pants. I'd like to take you in your pants."
Of course alcohol is the fuel on which every show of this type runs, from "Cops" on down. The drunks we see in "Troopers" appear to be less belligerent, but perhaps more stubborn, than their Florida or Arizona counterparts. There is definitely a higher percentage of blurred faces on screen -- apparently signed release forms are harder to come by up north.
The Washington Post reviewer was particularly harsh:
I defy you to remain interested in Alaska's state troopers after watching "Alaska State Troopers." I say that as someone with an unhealthy affinity for watching not only "Cops" but "Speeders," "Parking Wars" and a host of other reality shows that show cops at work. I will always watch a police officer throw an uncooperative subject to the ground and slap on the cuffs, and I always hate myself for it later.
To gloss over its lack of action, "Alaska State Troopers" takes the path of a melodramatic soundtrack matched with a gravelly voiced narrator, who promises nail-biting stuff ahead, which the good-'n'-drunk people of Alaska never deliver. It makes "Cops" look like something meticulously filmed by Martin Scorsese. Nearly everyone besides the troopers has his face pixilated, which means either someone forgot the clipboard with the legal releases, or, unlike the lower 48, the people in Alaska don't want to get on TV.
The Post critic concludes with a comment that may make state officials second guess the decision to cooperate with this project:
"Somewhere an Alaska tourism official is cringing, as well he should be, since "Alaska State Troopers" is one of the few things I've ever watched about the 49th state that made me not want to visit it."
On the other hand, the abuse of alcohol and other drugs is linked to most of the problems that make life difficult for the Troopers and local police across Alaska. And this version of "reality TV," may be all too real.
If there is exaggeration in the show, it's not about dealing with drunks, but a more basic fact — Alaska is not three times the size of Texas, but closer to twice the size of the Lone Star State.
•A state agency reaffirmed its support of the plan to have the Fred Meyer West store and other lots annexed into the city. The Local Boundary Commission staff said annexing the 31 acres will enhance services and promote self-government. The full report is at http://dcra.commerce.alaska.gov/DCBD/Fairbanks_Annex_08-01/Final_Report/08-01_fbx_annex_FINAL_web.pdf
•Alaska is one of 40 states where students taking the National Assessment of Educational Progress in fourth and eighth grade showed no progress in 2009, compared to 2007, a new report says.
Federal Education Secretary Arne Duncan said in a prepared statement:
“None of us should be satisfied. We need reforms that will accelerate student achievement. Our students need to graduate high school ready to succeed in college and the workplace. These NAEP results are a call to action to reform the teaching and learning of mathematics and other related subjects in order to prepare our students to compete in the global economy."
This is the summary for Alaska fourth-graders: http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/pdf/stt2009/2010454AK4.pdf
This is the summary for Alaska eighth-graders: http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/pdf/stt2009/2010454AK8.pdf
One of the related issues is the discrepancy between what is considered "proficient" on the tests Alaska schools use and what is deemed "proficient" on this national test.
On the national math test, 38 percent of students performed "at or above" the "proficient" level for fourth-graders, while 33 percent of the eighth-graders achieved that level in math.
However, on the state tests given in 2008, 74 percent of the fourth-graders were ranked "proficient" or above, while 68 percent of eighth-graders reached that level.
The discrepancy points to a problem that the state has failed to address. State education officials have said that the difference stems from a matter of definition.
There is some truth to that assertion, but it also seems to me that this is evidence that the state standards are too low and we are fooling ourselves about what constitutes an adequate level of performance.
wow this is the first ive heard of this. and hopefully the last!
Anybody else remember when it was legal to be drunk?
AK 656,425 square miles / TX 268,601 square miles = about 2.44
Well obviously the answer is to spend more money on education. FNSB can go from the highest cost per student school district in the country to even higher. That should take care of it.
Power of the O: So, now the FNSBSD is the most expensive school system in the country?
Man, we're number 1! We've got the most expensive public university AND the most expensive public school system! Awesome!
Or... is this fact equally bogus as the other one? Can you prove either of these? Can you cite a source that backs up these claims?
You haven't before, despite being asked to do so. I can only conclude that this "fact" is every bit as bullsh1t as the previous one. That you made them up.
Henry -
Though I am not sure of the actual ranking...it can be easily proven that by dividing the annual budget by the number of students the cost is over $14000 EACH!!!!
That is a hell of a lot for a 4th grader, isn't it? More than a year of college in many in-state schools....
maybe he should have said '...can go from one of the highest...'
would that make you feel better Henry?
It makes me feel just plain ill....
Well, this is from 2004.
http://www.epodunk.com/top10/per_pupil/i...
We were #7
Didn't open the 2007 report, but we are not in the top 5:
http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/...
Well, akguy, wouldn't you agree that there is a difference between being expensive and being "the most expensive?" Sure, we spend a lot on stuff like this. Things just cost more here. There's no big conspiracy.
Tok242, your links must be incorrect. They show Fairbanks schools as being less than the most expensive. According to our good friend, Power_of_the_lying_fool, FNSB and UA are the MOST EXPENSIVE!!! How could that be?
Unless, of course, Power is simply a lying fool who makes sh1t up to suit his purposes. I'm not sure, but that's my guess.
The program shows Alaska (esp Fairbanks) for what it is. A place with a lot of drunks on the streets, in the bars, and on the roads. 2 of my neighbors have drunk driving convictions. They live across the street from me and next to my house. Check the Trial Court Records Website. This town and State has a problem with alcohol.
I watched the first episode this evening, and I gotta say it could've been a lot worse. However, that bar has been set pretty low by the likes of people like Geo Beach and whatever twit narrates Ice Road Truckers. At least the entire show wasn't accompanied by a fake-bass narrator talking in exaggerated tones about how death is around every corner.
Those shows could be made infinitely better by just taking away the 12-year-old boy macho posturing. I had to stop watching Tougher In Alaska because Geo Beach was just so...embarassing! Not to mention the fact that dude went to Phillips Exeter prep before going on to Yale -- tougher, indeed!
I only watched about 10 minutes of the show before being bored to death. Did it have any squealing tires? I can't wait to hear squealing tires on ice.
NativeSon, you need to go outside more often if you want to see that kind of action.
I watched the first episode and for some reason it kept going back and forth from winter scenes to fall scenes. But it was ok other than that. I thik very few programs or movies on Alaska will be liked by us locals.
About time something shows the real Alaska. Everyone always feels sorry for the drunk homeless people. Now the world can see what it is really like up here.
"This is Alaska - everyone has a gun in their car." What a bunch of BS.
wife228: yup. Now imagine the drunk Alaskans yelling & screaming at their relatives who have few assets and/or no home, & there you have a large part of the 'homeless' problem, a part that no one ever seems to talk about. Ditto drugs: imagine the stoners (oh, no, don't we know they never yell? Right...) yelling & screaming at their friends & relatives - same thing. Does this seem like I'm overdoing it, here? It's nothing, compared to the impact of all these dysfunctional people on each other. I never knew this garbage existed until I moved up here! So much of it...
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