Dog the Bounty Hunter | |
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Directed by | Marion Akar |
Starring |
Duane "Dog" Chapman |
Country of origin | USA |
No. of seasons | 9[1] |
No. of episodes | 230 |
Production | |
Running time | 30 minutes (season 1–5 & 7-9) 60 minutes (season 6) |
Broadcast | |
Original channel | A&E Network |
Original run | August 31, 2004 | – present
External links | |
Website |
Dog the Bounty Hunter is a reality television show on A&E which chronicles Duane "Dog" Chapman's adventures as a fugitive recovery agent, or bounty hunter. With a few exceptions, the show takes place in Hawaii or Dog's home state of Colorado.
Contents |
Dog is joined by his business partner and wife, Alice Beth Smith Chapman; his grown sons Duane Lee Chapman, II and Leland Chapman, and his "brother," Tim "Youngblood" Chapman (despite having the same last name, Dog and Tim are not biologically related). In Season 2, Dog's teenage daughter, "Baby" Lyssa Chapman returns home and becomes a member of the bounty-hunting team. Justin Bihag (son of longtime family friend Moon Bihag) also helps out during Season 1 and occasional later episodes.
The program spun off from Chapman's appearance on the show Take This Job, a program about people with unusual occupations. Both shows are produced for A&E by Hybrid Films, a New York-based production company. Dog the Bounty Hunter captured an audience immediately by drawing viewers into the interaction of Dog and his family/team, mixing street smarts, romance, arguments, teamwork, adrenaline-laced arrests, and a philosophy of hope and second chances. Viewers responded to the family's ability to overcome their own criminal histories to live law-abiding and Christian faith-based lives.
Viewers are taken along as Chapman and his family/team locate and arrest clients who have become fugitives by breaking the terms of their bail agreements. Bounty hunts and arrests segue into the rides to jail, during which Dog and his team show compassion and strongly counsel the fugitives to start over, leaving behind drugs and/or crime to become dependable members of their families and society. Rounding out most episodes are scenes featuring Dog, Beth, and their large family of children, grandchildren and friends.
As the show progressed, viewers were taken further behind the scenes during Baby Lyssa's training as a licensed bail bondsman and bounty hunter, Dog's capture of Andrew Luster and the ensuing arrests of Dog, Tim and Leland in Mexico, the deaths of Beth's father (Garry Smith) and Dog's oldest daughter (Barbara Katie Chapman), Dog and Beth's 2006 wedding, Baby Lyssa's wedding and the birth of her second child, and the shock and fear of the family after Dog, Tim and Leland were arrested by federal marshalls in Hawaii to await possible extradition to Mexico. Dog and Beth freely invited viewers into their lives, sharing personal stories about Dog's 1976 imprisonment, his ex-wives and custody battles, his baby son who died at one month old, Beth's son whom she had given up for adoption, Dog's son Tucker's imprisonment for violent crimes, Beth's arrest as a teenager, Dog's complicated relationship with his own father, and the struggle for the team to be accepted as professional bounty hunters. Conversely, some family situations have been omitted from the program, such as several family divorces, Tim's arrest (and acquittal), and details about some of Dog's children.
Da kine Bail Bonds' main location, run by Dog and Beth, is in Honolulu, Oahu. Leland Chapman has established his own Da kine Bail Bonds office in Wailuku on the Maui (island), where he lives. Episodes are also filmed in Colorado Springs, Colorado and in the family's hometown of Denver, Colorado, where they make extended visits to bounty hunt for their own company there as well as several other companies run by long-time friends (and sometimes former rivals).
Heavy metal artist Ozzy Osbourne sings the show's theme song, "Dog the Bounty Hunter". The song can be heard on Ozzy's Prince of Darkness box set (CD #3). Many episodes feature at least one song from a band that is either unsigned or with an independent label, usually played during an action scene. These songs are plugged at the end of each episode, following the closing credits. Several episodes in season three and four have music from NYC-based dub reggae group Subatomic Sound System's On All Frequencies album. Featured songs include: "Criminal", "Doin' It", and "Ghetto Champion". Soulja Boy's music video for "Yahhh!" includes an impersonation of "Dog".
In Australia, viewers can watch the show on FOX8 or Go!. In Germany, it is broadcast on RTL II. In New Zealand, the show is broadcast on Prime TV. Fans in Norway can see it on MAX, and in Sweden, it is available on Kanal 5. In Canada, the show is available via the United States-based A&E. Beginning in July 2011, A&E is running four repeat episodes per day during the week (7:00-9:00am, with the last hour repeating from 2:00-3:00pm).
In Italy, starting in 2007, a special adaptation of Dog the Bounty Hunter was aired on the GXT satellite channel.
Production and airing of the show was halted by A&E on November 2, 2007, after an audio tape was released, featuring Duane Chapman using the word "nigger" repeatedly in a rant directed towards his son Tucker's black girlfriend. Tucker had sold the tape to the National Enquirer, and it quickly was picked up by numerous print and broadcast media outlets. This media exposure led Duane to make an apology on CNN's Larry King Live for his lack of sensitivity on the matter, educate himself and vow to make amends. On February 19, 2008, A&E announced that the show would return.[2] Reruns of Dog the Bounty Hunter, along with never-before-seen episodes from season 4, began airing on June 25, 2008, and the show continued, along with special episodes about the arrest and fallout from the Luster situation.
On April 21, 2009, during filming of Season 7, Dog was allegedly shot at with a handgun while his crew, along with bail bondsman Bobby Brown, were attempting to arrest a fugitive named Hoang Nguyen in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The suspect escaped on a motorcycle and was captured by Dog about 6 hours later. This is contrary to evidence shown on the A&E airing of this episode, Easy Rider, on December 16, 2009. According to Dog's website and TMZ, Nguyen was arrested and charged with attempted homicide related to the shooting attempt of Dog and the Chapman family. On May 15, 2009, the El Paso County Assistant District attorney dropped the attempted murder charge against the alleged shooter due to lack of evidence and conflicting statements by Dog, his son Leland, and bail bondsman Bobby Brown. The prosecutors also state that they have not received the requested video footage from the incident which was allegedly filmed by the television crew. In March 2011, Nguyen filed a lawsuit against Chapman, Brown, and Dog's sons Duane Chapman II and Leland Chapman. In the lawsuit, Nguyen claims he lost his job as a result of the incident and had to relocate. He also says he was injured by pepper pellets that were allegedly fired at him. Dog's attorney, James A. Quadra, told Celebrity Crime Reporter the lawsuit has no basis "in law or fact."[3] The case is currently in mediation. If mediation fails to result in a settlement, the suit will move forward to trial on November 28, 2011.
The television series led to a 2007 autobiographical book, You Can Run But You Can't Hide, which chronicles Chapman's years before becoming a bounty hunter and some of his more infamous hunts, including the controversial hunt that took him and his team to Mexico to capture serial rapist Andrew Luster. It also delves into his criminal past as well as his family background, imprisonment in Texas, marriages, and children.[4][5] A second book, Where Mercy Is Shown, Mercy Is Given, was published in 2009. Its title reflects Dog's overriding philosophy of second chances, which he writes about at length as he asks the public for a second chance of his own. The book largely deals with the fallout from two things: the federal marshals' arrest and the N-word situation. Dog writes of his personal growth, a new humility and a more mature philosophy of family leadership, self-control, and responsibility for one's words and actions.
Dog has been parodied in live action productions.
Dog has also been parodied in both motion animation and print:
DVD name | Ep # | Release date | Additional information |
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The Best of Season 1 | 7 | January 25, 2005 | Features Dog's episode of Take This Job, cast biographies, and promos. |
The Best of Season 2 | 7 | March 29, 2006 | Features cast biographies and a pop-up dog hunting quiz. |
The Best of Season 3 | 8 | February 27, 2007 | Features a photo gallery. |
The Best of Season 4 | 8 | August 26, 2008 | |
The Best of Season 5 | 8 | September 8, 2009 | |
The Wedding Special | 1 | December 12, 2006 | Features 5 featurettes titled:
|
The Arrest | 1 | September 25, 2007 |
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Crime is on the Run | |||
To Seize and Protect | |||
Special Edition- Previously Unreleased |