Steven Seagal Lawman On A&E

An interesting spin on police officer reality-based television is coming your way tomorrow, December 2nd, on A&E as Steven Seagal makes his way to television. Steven Seagal Lawman lets viewers in on the fact that Seagal has in fact been a police officer for twenty years.

The show plays out a little differently than you might expect, with things devoted about equally to riding along with Seagal and his special unit, and watching him instruct other officers in various aspects of close combat and/or shooting. It’s a bit surreal at times, but wildly interesting to watch someone you’ve seen on the big screen hitting the streets at his “day job.”

Like many of A&E‘s better efforts (and apparently like Seagal himself), there is an unusual humility that comes through in the way the show delivers itself. It’s not a show that shouts about how great it is, or goes to great lengths to make everything that happens seem vastly more dramatic than it actually is. Here is a show that just says it believes you will find this interesting, and this is it.

It’s actually a bit difficult to make statements about the show, because even after two episodes, it’s just such an odd thing. I can easily see how people would dismiss this out of hand, but I recommend against it. The idea of the martial arts movie star in a reality show has something inherent in it that doesn’t want to go down right, but you have to keep in mind that this is only accidentally a show in some sense. Seagal didn’t sign up so that it in a month or two we could start filming. He’s really been doing it for twenty years.

Be sure to give it a look. In fact, set your Tivo right here.

A&E presents “Steven Seagal Lawman,” a new Real-Life series that will chronicle martial arts expert and international film star Steven Seagal’s extraordinary life in law enforcement on Wednesday, December 2nd at 10PM ET/PT on A&E with back-to-back episodes.

Seagal’s movies have grossed more than $2 billion worldwide.  He is an expert martial artist with a 7^th-degree black belt in aikido.  Along with Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger, he is considered one of the film industry’s greatest action stars. But it turns out that Steven Seagal isn’t just an action hero in the movies. For almost 20 years, Seagal has been working as a fully-commissioned deputy with the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office in Louisiana.  In fact, in addition to going out on patrol, Seagal is an expert marksman who has worked with their SWAT team and has instructed Jefferson Parish officers in firearms and hand-to-hand combat.

“I’ve been working as an officer in Jefferson Parish for two decades under most people’s radar,” said Seagal, “I’ve decided to work with A&E on this series now because I believe it’s important to show the nation all the positive work being accomplished here in the New Orleans area – to see the passion, commitment and fine police work that comes from the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office in this post-Katrina environment.”

Until now, Seagal has never sought attention for his work with the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office. However, over a span of almost two decades, he has regularly gone out on patrol and worked major cases.  Each thirty-minute episode will allow fans to ride shotgun with Seagal as he and his hand-selected elite team of deputies respond to crimes-in-progress.  Then, when Seagal goes off-duty, the cameras will continue following him as he pursues his many ventures – including musical performances and philanthropic efforts – in Jefferson Parish and New Orleans.

Steven Seagal is best known for playing the invincible action hero character that defined his career in such films as Above the Law, Hard to Kill, Under Siege (1 & 2) and blockbuster hit Exit Wounds. He just finished shooting the new Robert Rodriguez film “Machete” which will hit theatres in 2010. Steven co-stars with Robert DeNiro, Jessica Alba, Michelle Rodriguez and Danny Trejo. His familiarity with his signature roles stem from a long personal history with Eastern culture in both studying martial arts as well as practicing Buddhism. He is also a recording artist and guitarist, is founder of Steven Seagal Enterprises that markets his own all-natural energy drink “Steven Seagal’s Lightning Bolt” and is a dedicated philanthropist and activist for environmentalism and animal rights.

RU?