"The beautiful and lethal Valerie Irons: plucked from obscurity to head an elite Los Angeles bodyguard agency. They know how to get things done... eventually."
VIP, an action/comedy Pamela Anderson vehicle created by J.F. Lawton, aired in syndication for four seasons from 1998 to 2002. Anderson plays Vallery Irons, a... blonde... who lucks into a celebrity date to a movie premiere, blunders into saving his life, and – after her date lies to save face by claiming she was his bodyguard – is snapped up by a local celebrity protection agency as a figurehead leader/mascot to draw in business. Hilarity Ensues.
Something of a Spiritual Successor to Baywatch considering the shared star, mix of action and Camp and prevalence of Fanservice throughout. Unfortunately this similarity stretches to the series's DVD treatment, with only the first season released by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment back in 2006. There remains no word on additional releases.
No relation to the Japanese Super Mario World ROM hack series. Or to the 1963 film The V.I.P.s.
This show contains examples of:
- Accidental Hero: Val in the pilot.
- Achievements in Ignorance: Often combined with Beginner's Luck, Valerie pulls off highly improbable, yet plausible accomplishments on a frequent, regular basis. Despite having no formal martial arts, military, or intelligence training, she has, from the pilot, defeated professionally trained terrorists, assassins, a notoriously deadly ninja in a one-on-one sword duel, without killing him, stopped a powerful explosive with tofu, thwarted spies and mafia alike and pulled off all kinds crazy stunts with motor vehicles, and survived being lost at sea for a week without a raft of any kind because she did not know how impossible any of that stuff is!
- Action Girl: Tasha and Nikki, a spy and munitions expert respectively.
- Artistic License – Law: V.I.P. is a company of bodyguards and other forms of security. Even with license to carry, security officers are not private investigators, bounty hunters, or police. They don't go out and investigate crimes, or hunt down threats to their clients. They observe and document. Security does not engage in the use of force, except in clear-cut cases of self-defense.
- As Himself: As Themselves: In the episode Hard Val's Night the band Lit guest starred as themselves. They also premiered their video for "Miserable", which had them walking all over a giant Val's body, at the end of the episode. It would go onto be their most famous and well-beloved videos, as well as the one thing they're most remembered for in general.
- As Herself: In-Universe this occurred in the same episode, with Val starring in the video as herself.
- Bare-Fisted Monk: As a martial arts practitioner and former boxer, unarmed fighting is Quick's specialty, though he's not above using a gun.
- Also applies to Johnny, an active martial artist and fight choreographer.
- The Beautiful Elite: In full effect here.
- Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: Val/Kay, Nikki, Natasha
- Bound and Gagged: Val winds up kidnapped on a few occasions, usually resulting in this.
- The Cameo: Justified in VIP's role as a celebrity protection agency. Prevalent in the first season but dropped altogether later on. Notable cameos included "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, Jay Leno, Coolio, Charles Barkley and Jerry Springer.
- Lit's appearance was originally going to just be a cameo. However, it eventually evolved into them becoming guest stars.
- Death by Music Video: After protecting them for the episode, ''"Hard Val's Night"'' ends with Val getting to star in Lit's newest music video, where she plays herself as a giant woman who lounges around in a bikini and platform heels while the band serenades her. She's nice to the band at first but at the end of the video Val gleefully captures each member of Lit and swallows him alive.
- Do Not Adjust Your Set: At one point Kay delivers a rare heroic version of this, hijacking televisions all over the world to broadcast a villain's Engineered Public Confession.
- Easy Amnesia: Val gets amnesia in "Val's Wonderful Life" after being caught in an explosion.
- Fake Ultimate Hero: Val. Early episodes have Tasha in particular more than annoyed at how she and the team do the jobs and Val gets all the credit as even the bad guys who are beaten give Val far more credit than deserved. She does get better as the show goes along.
- Fanservice: The focus is decidedly on Val, but the ball gets passed plenty amongst the main cast.
- Fish out of Water: The transition to bodyguard life isn't kind to Val. Rule of Funny keeps this far from tragic.
- Fun with Acronyms: V.I.P. stands for Valerie Irons Protection, and it also describes the kind of clients they protect. V.I.P.s.
- Giant Woman: Val plays a 90ft woman in a bikini at the end of the episode Hard Val's Night.
- Girls with Guns: Nikki's hat is weaponry and explosives, but just about everyone uses a gun at some point.
- Hotter and Sexier: Every season after the first one. In the first season, the show seemed to take its premise seriously. But starting with season two, it seems like the writers realized that most people were just watching it because of the attractive women, so the amount of fan service increased a lot.
- Human Shield: Val gets this treatment from her date in the first episode when he's in danger. She also sometimes invokes it herself when protecting her clients, putting herself between them and potential danger.
- Mission Control: Kay serves as this from her computer at headquarters.
- More than Mind Control: Several episodes have shown characters brainwashed, drugged, or otherwise compelled to act in ways they wouldn't normally do through some kind of mind-altering phenomenon.
- The One Guy: Between the original owner's departure in the pilot and Johnny's promotion to the main cast in season 3, Quick is the only male member of VIP and main character.
- Oddly Small Organization: VIP is too small for the amount of clients they get, and too overqualified. They would need people to handle the ordinary work. Either a bigger in-house cast, or a partnership with lesser firms. (Neither is seen/mentioned)
- Of Corsets Sexy: The client in "Vallery's Secret" hires Val to be the face of a corset-focused clothing line, providing the episode with an excuse to have Anderson wear a good half-dozen of the garments, which manage the unlikely feat of providing her with even more va-va-voom factor. Unlike many a fictional wearer, Val is extremely into them, and only Status Quo Is God has her reverting to her standard wardrobe by the end of the ep.
- Opening Narration: See page quote.
- Phenotype Stereotype: All the main characters suffer from this. Val is a blonde from LA, so she's The Ditz. Tasha has a Russian heritage, so she's a former spy, and Ethical Slut. Nikki has an Italian background, so she's the granddaughter of a Mafia Don. Quick's black, so he's from Chicago. Johnny's Asian, so he's a martial artist. The series manages to avoid being offensive with this by showing other characters from the same demographics that don't fit the stereotypes on a regular basis. Ergo, the stereotypes are just a perk of the main characters and don't deliver any kind of message, intentional or otherwise.
- Pop-Culture Pun Episode Title: Almost every episode, and the vast majority of those work Val's name into the pun.
- From just the first season there's "Bloody Val-entine," "Hard Val's Night" "Diamonds Are a Val's Best Friend," "One Wedding and Val's Funeral," "Val Got Game," "Good Val Hunting," "Val on the Run," "Raging Val"... you get the idea.
- Power Dynamics Kink: Implied Trope in the episode Hard Val's Night. When Nikki starts bossing the members of Lit around and engages in some Malicious Misnaming towards the group, drummer Alan Shellenberger is shown loving the hell out of it and asking his band mates if any of them are turned on too.
- Product Placement: All the main characters drove cars provided by the same major automotive company: In seasons 1-2 they were provided by Ford Motor Company, in 3-4 Daimler Chrysler.
- Slow Motion: Employed in much the same way as Baywatch, showcasing the cast in pool scenes, gym workouts, exotic undercover disguises and the like.
- Special Guest: Lit guest starred in the episode "Hard Val's Night" as themselves. Val (and Pam in Real Life) returned the favor by starring in one of their music videos.
- Token Minority: Quick is the only African fellow (as well as the only fellow for a while). Johnny for Asians.
- Unlimited Wardrobe: In an episode where an importer of Valerie's showed up, the multi hundred thousand dollar budget of Valerie's clothes was quoted.
- Virtual-Reality Interrogation: In one episode, Val and Tasha are kidnapped and drugged after they hide a witness in a safehouse. In order to make them reveal the secret, the villain attempts to convince them they've been comatose for 40 years.
- Walking Armory: In one episode, the team is forced to give up their weapons. Tasha gives up a gun and backup piece and Quicks gives up a number of guns and knives. Nikki, meanwhile begrudgingly pulls a veritable arsenal of guns and explosives off her person. She tried to keep a hand grenade hidden away but Valerie knew her too well to let her get away with it.
