V.I.P. is an American action/dramedy television series starring Pamela Anderson. Created by J. F. Lawton,[1] the series aired in syndication for four seasons from 1998 to 2002.
Anderson stars as Vallery Irons, a woman who accidentally saves a celebrity and then is hired by a real bodyguard agency (V.I.P. aka Vallery Irons Protection) as a famous figurehead while the rest of the agency's professionals work to solve cases. Her lack of investigation skills ends up defeating the antagonists in every episode.[2]
The other team members are an assortment of people of different backgrounds: a former member of the KGB, CIA, FBI, a computer expert, a former law officer, a former street boxer/martial artist and, later, a karate master/stuntman joined.[3]
The series uses a mixture of action, comedy, and camp, with Anderson often poking fun at her tabloid image.[4] In November, 2001, a video game version of V.I.P. was released on the PlayStation console.
Many first season episodes opened with cameos of famous celebrities being protected by Vallery. Among them were Stone Cold Steve Austin, Jay Leno, Charles Barkley, Jerry Springer and Alfonso Ribeiro.[4] Loni Anderson, of no relation to Pamela Anderson, guest-starred in one episode as Vallery's mother. In season 2, Lisa Marie Varon had an uncredited appearance as a bodyguard. Kathleen Kinmont-See was a guest star in the season 4 episode "South By Southwest".
On March 14, 2006, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment released the first season of V.I.P. on DVD in Region 1.[5]
V.I.P. received video game adaptations from Ubi Soft, for the PC, PlayStation, PlayStation 2, Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance in 2001 and 2002. An adaptation for Xbox was announced but cancelled.[6]
In 2000, Johnny Lightning released two sets of V.I.P. themed diecast cars in 1/64 scale. There were 8 different vehicles issued in total.
TV Comics! published a comic based on the series in 2000.
The series V.I.P. was co-produced with Telewizja Polsat from Poland. This is the first foreign series co-created by Telewizja Polsat, which exclusively aired the show in Poland.[7]
In 1999, the series was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Main Title Theme Music. In 2002, V.I.P. was nominated for three Daytime Emmy Awards, winning one for Outstanding Single Camera Editing.
The show premiered in syndication on September 26, 1998.[citation needed] As of February 2009, the show can be streamed for free in the US on Internet Movie Database, Hulu, Tubi and Minisodes and full episodes are available on Crackle. In Canada, episodes are available on Netflix. Episodes in Spanish debuted on CineSony on February 14, 2014.[citation needed]