Just watched the first episode of Stars Earn Stripes, the new NBC reality series where celebrities are teamed with military or police specialists to conduct military missions.
It was surprisingly decent. The celebrities were all in great physical condition, they were all decent shots, and they all seemed highly motivated. The pace of this episode was a little slow, but that should pick up, and I never lost interest.
My main quibble is how dramatically they enhanced the explosions. In the exercise the celebrities had to take out a tower with a grenade launcher. They were clearly firing inert training ammo (the misses didn't explode), but when they did hit it the tower blew up in a dramatic blast. Then they shot targets with rifles, and every time they hit one the target blew up. Rifle bullets don't do that, the targets were clearly rigged with explosives to make the hits look more impressive. NBC must be using the same pyrotechnic experts on this show that used to work on Dateline!
I like the celebrities, I found the missions believable and interesting, and I liked the general tone of the show. I'll never be a fan of Wesley Clark (long story based on serving under him long ago), but I can put up with his presence. I think I'll keep watching.
