The Good

Pamela Anderson, Molly Culver and the other cast do their best with this show.

The Bad

At the end of the day not even Anderson's looks can save this show from being laughable.

Pamela Anderson stars as Vallery Irons. A woman who stumbles into providing protection services for people who need it. Vallery has partners such as Quick Williams (Shaun Baker) and Tasha Dexter (Molly Culver), among others, who help her get the job done when nobody else can. Whether they are protecting internet nerds, actresses, or other beautiful people like themselves, you can be sure that V.I.P.: The Complete First Season is going to have it's share of babes, bullets and blowups.

What this show has done that I as a viewer appreciate, is not try and make Pamela Anderson some superskilled person that has gone through an FBI program. Essentially, they are playing up the fact that she is a busty blonde, who makes up for her lack of knowledge with a genuinely positive and open to life attitude. This sees her through even the most dangerous situations.

Features

Trivia Track

This is a track that's played over the episode "Beats Working At A Hot Dog Stand." As the episode plays we are given such trivia tidbits as how much it costs to make an episode of this show ($1.3 million, in case you were wondering), where the show was being shot, tidbits about Pam Anderson and of course information about the specific locations being used in the show. A fun track that is cool simply for it's comedic value.

Filmmaker and Cast Commentary

A commentary track from the episode "Val The Hard Way" which features Executive Producers J.F. Lawton, Morgan Gendel, writer Steve Kriozere and actress Natalie Raitano. Everyone seems to be having a good time as they recall their work on the show. They talk about shooting certain scenes, what was going on behind the scenes and try and give the viewers that much more insight into what we are seeing on the screen.

Behind the Scenes

We get to hear from people like J.F. Lawton and Morgan Gendel who produced V.I.P.. They discuss how the concept for the show originated, the transformation that Vallery Irons went through during the first season, the music, the explosions, etc.. I really appreciate these guy's frankness about their work. They obviously created something that was popular (it ran for four years, right?), but at the same time they know they haven't reinvented the wheel.

Cast Introductions to Select Episodes

These give us cast members featured against backgrounds that have been shot against a green screen. They are done in a pretty tongue in cheek way, with the introduction more a way for the actor to discuss their character than it is anything else. This is an interesting approach to say the least.

Video

1.78:1 - Anamorphic Widescreen. What I really appreciate about this show is that it is the perfect hybrid between a movie and the TV show. The widescreen look and clear DVD transfer give this show a nice solid tone, yet V.I.P. was made before TV started employing so many shaky camera moves and flashy angles. As a result, this show is classically structured in it's composition, yet it feels a bit bigger than most of the action shows that preceded it.

Audio

Dolby Digital - English Stereo. Close Captioned. Infused with techno sounding rhythms and every other artifice which screams "action," V.I.P.: The Complete First Season does a have a bit of a cheap feel. It tries to create suspense and drama by escalating the stakes of our main characters, yet at the same time the music and the writing seems to suggest none of these characters are ever really worried that they won't save the day.

Package

Pamela Anderson, wearing a skimpy white outfit, sits crouched down holding a gun on this front cover. Behind her are the other cast members from the show. The back gives us three shots from various episodes, a small, succinct description of what V.I.P.: The Complete First Season is about, a "Special Features" listing and some technical specs. The five discs that make up this set (yes, five discs), are stored in three slim cases inside their larger, cardboard covering. The slim cases each feature a different photo of the seductive Anderson, with an episode index and a description on the back of each of them.

Final Word

One kind of has to like a show like this a little bit. Sure, it really isn't that good but V.I.P.: The Complete First Season works because it doesn't try and be something that it's not. How could it be with Pamela Anderson as the star? She seems to be essentially playing one side of herself. Vallery Irons isn't advancing the cause of women but she's not really pushing it back either. As viewers we see Anderson placed in situation after situation, all of which seem to have a somewhat corny look at society and the entertainment industry in general.

While not a show that will be seen as a landmark, for what it is, V.I.P.: The Complete First Season is decent TV.

V.I.P. was released .