Real Stories of the Highway Patrol
Real Stories Of The Highway Patrol is a half-hour syndicated television series which ran in the United States for six seasons from March 22, 1993[1] to June 29, 1998 for a total of 780 episodes,[2] capitalizing on the success of "real-life" police series such as COPS. Production companies were Mark Massari Productions, and Leap Off Productions, and was distributed by Genesis Entertainment, New World International, and later New World/Genesis Distribution. The show described as Cops meets America's Most Wanted.
| Real Stories Of The Highway Patrol | |
|---|---|
| Genre |
|
| Created by | Wayne Lepoff Mark Massari |
| Starring | Maury Hannigan |
| Opening theme | "I'm Looking Out for You" by Belize |
| Ending theme | "I'm Looking Out for You" (instrumental) |
| Country of origin | United States |
| No. of episodes | 780 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Wayne Lepoff |
| Producer(s) | Mark Massari |
| Production company(s) | Leap Off Productions Mark Massari Productions |
| Distributor | Genesis Entertainment (seasons 1–3) New World/Genesis Distribution (season 4) 20th Television (seasons 4–5) |
| Release | |
| Original network | Syndicated |
| Original release | March 22, 1993 – June 29, 1998 |
Format
The series revolved around the stories of highway patrol officers and state troopers from across the country, who would give commentary on a particularly difficult (or sometimes, comedic) arrest they made. At times, the officer's work caused them grievous injury and a subsequent commendation from their department. Each crime and subsequent arrest was dramatized for the viewing audiences, though some segments were shot in a traditional multi-cam setup, rather than emulating the single-camera cinéma vérité style of COPS.
The series was hosted by Maury Hannigan, who at the time was Commissioner of the California Highway Patrol.
Syndication
The first two seasons of episodes were last aired on the now-defunct Fox Reality Channel many times of the day. Reruns currently air on the Heroes & Icons subchannel network in the United States.
In popular culture
- The show was spoofed in a segment of the 2000 movie The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle.
- A similarity of the show was a segment featured in the Beavis and Butthead episode "Dream On" called True Stories of the Highway Patrol.
- In 1994, Saturday Night Live parodied the show as Real Stories of the Arkansas Highway Patrol, and featuring John Goodman of Roseanne fame.
- In the first episode of King of the Hill, when it's revealed that Luanne will be staying with the Hills, she is in tears claiming that her mama's arrest was filmed on Real Stories of the Highway Patrol.
- In 1998, Ben Stiller parodied Real Stories of the Highway Patrol on Saturday Night Live. Darrell Hammond portrayed host Maury Hannigan, when he sported a mustache.
- In the 1998 Leslie Nielsen comedy Wrongfully Accused, host Hannigan appears in a cameo (along with America's Most Wanted host John Walsh) in which he asks Nielsen's character Ryan Harrison, who's trying to make a getaway, if he has any "Real Stories" he'd like to tell.