Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Homeland Security turns into reality TV
Niagara Falls Review ^ | Dec 24,2008 | LYNN ELBER/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Posted on 12/24/2008 4:08:42 AM PST by HollyButler

Ratings champion "American Idol" will face serious competition when it returns next month -the U. S. Department of Homeland Security.

"Homeland Security USA," an ABC reality series debuting Jan. 6, tracks the daily efforts of the federal workers responsible for safeguarding the nation's airports, borders, waters and anyplace else threats might arise.

While viewers see the mechanics of

agencies including Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Transportation Security Administration, absent is discussion of such hot-button issues as post-Sept. 11 security programs or immigration policies.

That's by design, said series executive producer Arnold Shapiro, whose credits include "Rescue 911" and "Big Brother."

"It doesn't have a political point of view," Shapiro said. "It's not meant to show the (department) higher-ups ... just the average men and women on the front lines protecting our country from various things illegal and dangerous."

"Homeland Security USA" has a week to win viewers before it has to face Fox's hit singing contest, back Jan. 13.

The ABC series, filmed with the department's co-operation, is a virtual travelogue in the first episode as it skips from border crossings at Blaine, Wash., and San Ysidro, Calif., to Los Angeles International Airport to a mail processing plant.

Turns out even mail has dramatic possibilities, as sharp-eyed officers pry open toys containing black-market prescription drugs and uncover an exotic and illicit food item - barbecued bats from Thailand.

The show mixes the offbeat and the serious, including drug smugglers, people trying to enter the country with doctored papers and a woman who's been shoved under a car seat in a painful, failed effort to slip into the country.

(Excerpt) Read more at niagarafallsreview.ca ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption
KEYWORDS: aliens; immigrantlist
But "Homeland Security USA" has provoked debate sight unseen. A Facebook page opposing the series drew more than 500 postings within its first few days. Many were negative, including denunciations of the show as government propaganda.(This statement seems to be a true a way of looking at it as there is.)
1 posted on 12/24/2008 4:08:43 AM PST by HollyButler
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: HollyButler

Please, PLEASE, tell me this is satire.


2 posted on 12/24/2008 4:23:05 AM PST by OCCASparky (Steely-Eyed Killer of the Deep)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: HollyButler
"Homeland Security turns into reality TV"

After Hussein takes office, it will be a comedy.

3 posted on 12/24/2008 4:26:25 AM PST by KoRn
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: KoRn
will they show the efficiency of the TSA (thousands standing around) perfoming their nuisance rituals at airports?

How about the obese dullards at Midway forcing the handicapped WW2 vet out of his wheelchair to be thoroughly searched (because the shrapnel still in his back from Iwo Jima sets off the detector) while waving Fatima wearing a burka through?

4 posted on 12/24/2008 4:39:08 AM PST by slapshot (""USAF- when you absolutely, positively need it delivered on target, on time, right away)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: KoRn
A little off subject, but on the news today in Massachusetts, Kennedy and Kerry were bragging that millions of dollars for food and beds for the homeless was being brought to the state from Homeland Security.

I see no connection between food and beds for the homeless and homeland security. Just another bureaucracy to siphon from those willing to work.

5 posted on 12/24/2008 4:41:43 AM PST by Billg64 (LOL ROFL Senator Mccain for what????)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: slapshot

Better yet, they could come here to the ICE Help Desk and watch how many password resets we do every day.


6 posted on 12/24/2008 5:03:58 AM PST by Tennessee_Bob (They're illegal aliens, not immigrants - there is a difference!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: HollyButler

Talk about loose lips....


7 posted on 12/24/2008 7:23:31 AM PST by maclay (SEEKING: Global Warming Alarmist for Martian Terraform Press Secretary)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: HollyButler
"Homeland Security USA," an ABC reality series debuting Jan. 6, tracks the daily efforts of the federal workers responsible for safeguarding the nation's airports, borders, waters and anyplace else threats might arise.

Yea. A series about morons who think a swiss army knife is a useful "weapon" on an airplane.

What a crock.

8 posted on 12/24/2008 8:07:55 AM PST by zeugma (Will it be nukes or aliens? Time will tell.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: bcsco

This thread looks interesting for the AFIRE ping list, a bit of a twist to the usual outrage.


9 posted on 12/24/2008 8:29:38 AM PST by Kevmo ( It's all over for this Country as a Constitutional Republic. ~Leo Donofrio, 12/14/08)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kevmo

It’s on today’s ping. MERRY CHRISTMAS!


10 posted on 12/24/2008 9:35:00 AM PST by bcsco (Illinois politicians should be read their Miranda rights when sworn in to office...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: OCCASparky

Please, PLEASE, tell me this is satire.I wish I could but this is an actual show due out in Jan . I saw the previews on ABC last night.So it is real


11 posted on 12/24/2008 9:46:16 AM PST by HollyButler
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson