Tinted Reality through Red and Blue Lights

Alaska State Troopers is a behemoth of a reality television series. It has interesting characters, great action, and sweet visuals. The show is very well done but the line between truth and fiction is skewed for the sake of interesting TV. 

The show is in the same vein as COPS, only in Alaska. It follows around individual state troopers performing their daily tasks, from arresting drunk drivers to handing out hunting fines. The show is very well shot, taking the audience into the heart of wild Alaska or the relative quiet of urban life. Every episode boasts that “this one is the best and greatest of the series” explaining some wild red-neck gets loose with a gun and the heroic troopers need to arrest the armed suspect, usually resulting in some anti-climactic arrest. For example, in the past episode the most exciting thing was a flash flood with troopers needing to find survivors; in the original form, that is not very exciting compared to the relative bustle of big budget television. The series uses intense music and “Hollywood” editing to make the action seem much more intense. 

Police lights image courtesy of http://www.publicdomainpictures.net/view-image.php?image=48866&picture=police-lights&large=1

This isn’t necessarily yellow journalism, but it does skew the truth in some regard. I understand the show is trying to make it as appealing as possible in order to get viewers, but the idea of reality might be questioned. Flashy editing techniques and overwhelming music are good tools to give the guise of action. The show actually features a lot of great moments, but no one is ever in an incredible amount of danger. It creates a sense of danger and makes the audience feels like someone could get harmed, but personally I never feel the heat. The series creates action through editing and that can get old after a couple of seasons; when every episode uses this tactic relying on commercial breaks, which I do not have thanks to Netflix, it can get old fast. 

Still, the series is very well done, and the vast landscapes of the Alaskan wilderness are wonderful. The series stays interesting, featuring many recurring officers. Some of my favorites are the veteran Wildlife Trooper Jon Simeon, Trooper Jonnathon Stroebele, Trooper Jared Noll (who is constantly chewing gum), the solitary Howie Peterson, and Sgt. Wildlife Trooper Doug Massie. The show also stays fresh with different focuses in every episode. For instance, the series featured this festival called Artic Man where many Alaskans flock to this sporting event featuring professional snowmobiles and amateur sofa riders.

The State had over 100 Troopers at the festival supervising the drinkers and the partyers. Veteran Wildlife Trooper Jon Simeon over-saw the event and a small avalanche buried a couple of snowmobilers. Luckily the two were found and suffered only minimal damage. The editing definitely hyped up this already interesting development, and overall that style hurt the moment because it turned into this cheesy melodrama. 

The show also features many officers flying vast distances to arrest suspects in small villages. Personally this is my favorite feature of the show and these tend to be very interesting. The troopers land near the village and snowmobile in, and attempt to find the person by asking the relatively hostile villagers. They do some classic detective work in an attempt to find the suspect, who they usually capture. The show is very interesting and entertaining, but without the fancy editing the show just features a bunch of people performing their dangerous jobs.