TV Review: Unique Personalities Dominate ‘Small Town Security’

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CHICAGO – Joan Koplan is one of the more unique reality TV characters of the last few years because she seems refreshingly aware of own personality quirks. We’ve seen dozens of these larger-than-life personalities over the years but Koplan is memorable and genuine enough that AMC has essentially built their newest reality show around her, “Small Town Security,” premiering after the return of “Breaking Bad.”

HollywoodChicago.com Television Rating: 3.5/5.0
Television Rating: 3.5/5.0

The program is mostly what you’d expect from a show about the operations of a security company in a Georgia town with only about 3,000 people in it but it’s nice to see reality TV get out of the homes of the rich and the spoiled and into a more unique corner of society and the show explodes into something far more interesting in its final moments as it gives viewers a true emotional moment. At its best, “Small Town Security” is reminiscent of the work of the Coen brothers or Terry Zwigoff in the way it brings these small town personalities to big city TVs.

Small Town Security
Small Town Security
Photo credit: AMC

Koplan was almost a movie star and a pop singer when she was younger (and she wonderfully shows off her music and film career) but she settled down in Ringgold, GA and founded JJK Security & Investigations, which provides guards for events, conferences, etc. She also had her own public access show in town which was canceled because Joan used the word “vagina” and it was deemed profane. If Koplan were a movie character she might feel too much like a caricature but I really don’t think she’s faking this and I’m pretty good at sniffing out “scripted reality.” Sure, there are some elements of “Small Town Security” that are played up for the cameras but these personalities feel way more grounded than most cable series like it.

Take for example Dennis Croft, a former military guy whose life went downhill after he over-planned for Y2K. It sounds ridiculous. And the seriousness with which he takes his job makes him first seem like a cartoon but then the show starts to ground him. He just works hard at what he does. He’s ridiculous but genuine at the same time. He believes he’s not just a small town security guard but an “elite force.” In the premiere, Joan gets her show (“Joan Koplan’s Forum”) back and her first guest is, of course, Officer Croft.

And that’s what this fun, nearly absurd ride for twenty minutes takes an amazing turn. There’s a reason that Joan chose Dennis for her first guest on her rebooted show. And his secret doesn’t feel like exploitation or a cheap reality trick — it feels genuine. And that’s exactly what’s been missing from reality TV lately — truth. You never know where it might be found. Even in a small town.

“Small Town Security” premieres on AMC on Sunday, July 15, 2012 at 10pm CST and runs for eight weeks after “Breaking Bad.”

HollywoodChicago.com content director Brian Tallerico

By BRIAN TALLERICO
Content Director
HollywoodChicago.com
brian@hollywoodchicago.com

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