Real Stories of the Highway Patrol

Real Stories Of The Highway Patrol (sometimes referred to as RSHP or Highway Patrol) is a half hour syndicated television series which ran in the United States for six seasons from 1993 to 1999 for a total of 780 episodes,^[1] 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 series is currently owned and distributed by 20th Television, which purchased New World's assets in 1997.

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 cinéma vérité style of COPS.

The series was hosted by Maury Hannigan, who at the time was Commissioner of the California Highway Patrol.

RSHP in other media

• RSHP was known to be 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. It occurs when Beavis dreamt when he was in the TV show, hitting people with his night stick.
• 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 will be on RSHP.
• In 1998 Ben Stiller did a spoof of Real Stories of the Highway Patrol on Saturday Night Live.
• 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.

Episode Status

All episodes are assumed to exist. 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.

See also

• COPS
• World's Wildest Police Videos

References

1. ↑ The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946-Present. Ballantine Books. 2003. p. 986. ISBN 0-345-45542-8. 

External links

• Official Website, on Heroes & Icons
• Real Stories of the Highway Patrol show on aol.com
• IMDb Profile