New York Times Slams Arpaio's Dumb New Reality Show

I'm on the run this a.m., but I would be remiss if I did not point your attention to this excellent article by David Carr in Sunday's New York Times online concerning our clown of a sheriff, "A Star Turn for a Sheriff on Fox TV." Unlike a lot of...

By Stephen Lemons

January 5, 2009

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I'm on the run this a.m., but I would be remiss if I did not point your attention to this excellent article by David Carr in Sunday's New York Times online concerning our clown of a sheriff, "A Star Turn for a Sheriff on Fox TV." Unlike a lot of other media writers who just end up blowing our top constable in print whenever they pen something about him, Carr did his homework on Arpaio. Indeed, the Gotham scribe carves AZ's ancient law man up like a HoneyBaked Easter ham in this piece about the sheriff's pathetic reality TV show, Smile...You're Under Arrest!

Carr hits all the main points: the deaths in Joe's jails, the Goldwater Institute report, the lawsuits, the civil rights abuses, the fact that crime is up in the county, the 40,000 unserved felony warrants, etcetera, etcetera. He cites the arrests of Village Voice Media honchos Mike Lacey and Jim Larkin in 2007. And he even whacks Governor Janet Napolitano for pooh-poohing a federal investigation into Arpaio back in the '90s.

Also, Carr points out that execs at Fox Broadcasting took a pass on the pilot, and then it later got picked up by the lame-o Fox Reality channel. Personally, I doubt Arpaio will get more than the three episodes that have already been filmed for the pilot. But if he does, and it means more media slams like Carr's dealing out here, hey, go for it, Fox.

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