World's Wildest Police Videos
The complete series, remastered in HD — from Pursuit Productions. Created by Paul Stojanovich, hosted by Sheriff John Bunnell.
About the show
World's Wildest Police Videos was created by Paul Stojanovich, a creator of Cops, and produced by his company, Pursuit Productions, for Fox, where Mike Darnell ran specials and alternative programming. It grew out of the special World's Scariest Police Chases, which premiered in the February 1997 sweeps and placed 18th for the week among all shows — on Fox, only The X-Files finished higher. A repeat set a Fox record for its Tuesday-night slot among 18-to-49-year-olds, outperforming the World Series.
The New York Times Magazine sat in on a Pursuit screening for Darnell in Building 88 on the Fox lot and followed the footage back to Pursuit's offices on Sunset Boulevard, where host John Bunnell, a former sheriff, "tours the globe with a team of researchers soliciting police departments for memorable pursuits." Stojanovich on why people watch: "The fact that it's really happening just touches an emotional center in the psyche that compels us to watch."
In its first three weeks as a series in 1998, the show placed second in its time slot against NBC's Friends and doubled the ratings of the program it replaced. Four seasons ran on Fox from 1998 to 2001, a fifth on Spike in 2012. The complete series, remastered in HD, is now on YouTube, Prime Video and Plex.
Sources: Tom Vanderbilt, "When Animals Attack, Cars Crash and Stunts Go Bad," The New York Times Magazine, Dec. 6, 1998 · Caryn James, "Critic's Notebook: Car Chases Without That Distracting Plot," The New York Times, Apr. 23, 1998.