Image Credit: Arnold Shapiro ProductionsThe launch of A&E’s Beyond Scared Straight on Thursday attracted a record-breaking 3.7 million viewers and 2.2 million adults 18-49 — making it the most-watched original series launch in the network’s history among key demos.
The 90-minute premiere grew each half hour, climbing from 3.4 million viewers at 10 to 3.9
million at 11 p.m. Beyond Scared Straight also grew from its lead-in, a premiere episode of The First 48 (2.7 million
viewers) by 32%.
A repeat of Straight’s premiere will air this Saturday at 8 p.m. “We could not be more proud to have undertaken this groundbreaking series and the audience response is extremely rewarding,” said Bob DeBitetto, President and General Manager of A&E Network and BIO Channel, in a statement. “Beyond Scared Straight truly exemplifies our unique brand of highly engaging programming with a focus on excellent storytelling and first-class auspices.”
Beyond Scared Straight is executive produced by Arnold Shapiro and based on his award-winning documentary Scared Straight. It profiles youthful offender programs around the country that put at-risk teens into intensive one-day in-prison sessions.
Nice movie
I still remember watching the original one as a kid and being scared! This new one was excellent, hopefully serve as a wake up call for all the kids in the program. Can’t wait for the rest of the series, I’ll be watching!
I totally agree with you Taz…….I saw the same thing you did probably….I hope it works for them and for any other child watching this show. This should be watched by parents and kids alike and together….
Robin, consider how the show treats these children. Do you really think that kids should be called, “stupid” by an authority figure?
The series Locked up and the series Hard TIme is a much better depiction of life behind bars…
This show doesn’t just make children afraid, it makes them HATE. Hate for the parents that put them their and hate for the corrections officers (who are SUPPOSED TO BE ROLE MODELS AND AUTHORITY FIGURES) who screamed in their faces and made the feel like LESS OF A HUMAN BEING.
So no, I would have to disagree, this show should SERIOUSLY be cancelled.
Please do not scream at you children the way these corrections officers do…research shows that these tactics seriously don’t work….maybe you should consider researching the topic.
I was so excited when I saw the preview for ths show. I remember watching something just like this in high school….Iam going through this same stuff with my son…and I have for the last few years wished I could find this for him I remembered this program and told him that if he saw that he would think twice about his actions…..
I have a son that needs to go thur this program to see where his life could end up at if he don’t think realistic with his life. We only have one life to live and when it’s gone, IT’S GONE!!!!
I just wanted to say BRAVO to A &E for putting a show like this on. I am making my girls watch it, who are under the age of 14, just so they can see what will happen if they get into trouble with the law. I only wish they had programs like this in Canada in every province!!! Please keep this show running…
I am sceptical as though this will do any good. Some of the “advice” the convicts give to the teens is absolutely idiotic. And yelling at them like that? What’s the point. The inmates are blowing a lot of hot air.
Much of the advice at the end was “stay in school and stay out of here”. Nothing wrong with that. The idea is to show these kids that prison is tough and scary. Getting in their face and showing them how it is will get the message through better than covering it up with rainbows and cupcakes.
I think this show should be brought into the schools, in the us and canada and should be a part of the circulum to graduate
What an AMAZING show… THIS is the kind of ” Reality TV” programming that should be on TV… Keep the phenomenal work up
AS Canadian i was very inspired with show those ladies at the jail did awesome job i would like to thanks Mama Green eye, diablo,rabbit and rest the jailbirds who partipated on the program I’ll kindly ask executive produced by Arnold Shapiro ,not to forget them atleast give them scholarship to study socialwork ,they women did i great job .
That show was obscene. What did those kids do? Smoke pot? shoplift? gimme a break! Why should they endure this horrifying abuse for their misdemenours? Talk about overkill!! These were NOT violent kids. They were NOT potential criminals. They were typical teenagers experimenting with pot and struggling to get along under difficult domestic circumstances. The show’s producer should be imprisoned for child abuse and exploitation. These poor kids were terrorized by murderers and threatened with rape and violence. What does any of this have to do with smoking pot? The only thing to learn here is that Americans will never their taste for vulgar, tabloid style TV. Uggh.
This has everything to do with what these kids and every “normal” kid out there. Just like they said on the show, you yourself don’t actually have to commit the crime. If you are present during the crime, you are going to jail right along with your “buddies”. Lets say you are with a friend who steals something from a gas station, and the person working at the gas station fights back, your friend gets mad and stabs the employee. You both get arrested and both of you would go to jail. You wouldn’t get as much time as the person who did the stabbing but you would go to jail, and you would have to deal with the exact same stuff that those ladies were telling those girls about. And yeah that one girl WAS very violent, all it takes is one tiny decision from instead of hitting a window when she is mad to hitting her mom. And assualt is a very serious crime. Not one of those girls had a horrible life, they all had at least one parent, and a roof over their heads, and food on the table. They have no reason to behave the way they do, just excuses. And no judge is gonna say “oh really you don’t have a dad? well jee why don’t i just dismiss your charges and let you go home?” That one girl could have been KILLED when she got drunk and passed out in the driveway! Its all just fun and games until someone gets hurt or killed, and thats what they are trying to prevent.
You, sir, are an idiot.
Not violent? You must have missed the segment where the TWELVE YEAR OLD girl boasted that she got in lots of fights in school…. and had not lost a fight yet.
The point of the program is to scare them onto a different path BEFORE inertia takes over and they progress to the point at which it’s too late and NOTHING will stop them from ending up in prison.
If you found the show to be so bad, then my suggestion you to, your highness, would be to not watch any more episodes.
@Stephen, if these kids were serious criminals as you suggest, they would have already been in prison with the very same inmates “screaming at them” to stay out. A misdeameanor can easily turn into a serious crime. Stop pacifying these teens because they are young. We have some of the worst kids now than we ever had, either from bad parenting, or no parenting at all. Whatever it takes to keep these kids on the right track is alright with me…I think the show was right on point with the message they were trying to send. One “petty” crime will lead to another..and then you end in a the prison from hell!
@stephen, uh, what planet are you from? It has to to with EVERY kid. There are many several kids that are in prisons today because of one stupid mistake. So, by having you kids watch this, it will teach them they they themselves do not have to commit the crime but simply just be there when the act is being committed, they also can be held liable. Did you not see the 1st show?? Kids need to know what it is like so they come to they never want to go to Prison.
I was so glad to see real tv …..im havin problems with my 10year old daughter so i taped it and made her watch it ….i would so love to have her on the show….i have tried everthing else and i kno watchin the show open her eyes but i think up close and personal may be her last chance to see where she headed before it to late…..
I think this is a good wake up call for these kids. I just wish they had this program for my step daughter before she was mudered for a drug buy gone wrong. She was only 14 and my husband is still carring the gilt.
how do you apply for BEYOND “SCARED STRAIGHT” … my little brother is quiet headed the right direction and we try to guide him the right way but nothing seems to work
I have a son who is out of control at the age of 15. he fights alots and is always in trouble. I have put my career on hold to stear him in the right direction. I know this would be a great experience for him. i would like to apply for this show. final hope is to apply for this program
I have to daughters that disrespect me to da fullest one makes parties at my house the other one calls me names real bad names I am sick of them please contact me n I will tell you everything
Maybe you should contact the show and try to get your daughter in that program.
Research has proven that the original Scared Straight did nothing to deter kids. The fact they’ve brought it back completely unethical.
“Numerous studies of Scared Straight have demonstrated that the program does not deter future criminal activities. In some studies, rearrest rates were similar between controls and youths who participated in Scared Straight. In others, youths exposed to Scared Straight actually had higher rates of rearrest than youths not involved in this intervention. Studies of other shock probation programs have shown similar effects. (For more information on Scared Straight and similar shock probation interventions, see Boudouris & Turnbull, 1985; Buckner & Chesney-Lind, 1983; Finckenauer, 1982; Lewis, 1983; Sherman et al., 1997; Vito, 1984; Vito & Allen, 1981.)”
I am an ex felon Myra Williams w45684 and the same girls Green Eyes. Diabla. Shanece we were all cellmates I was one of those young girls just like Michelle pretty . Popular but I liked to get high. I went to prison in 1991 with 3 years for receiving stolen property burglary and auto theft I was pregnant. I moved into a lifers rm. I got 5 more years for being in possession of drugs . I was forced to hold. So to a&e I want to share my story with all the youths in trouble please call me I will help u if I can help one kid or thousands not have to go thru this PRISON SUCKS and yes the women do look like men
i really dig what they was sayn to them lil girls they needed someone to yell at them n put em in check..
I think it benefits the kids to hear what it is like from innmates because once they experience the environment and hear the stories first hand then hopefully it will deter them from a life of crime.
Also though, I think most of the innmates that were talking to them in the end seemed like they actually kind of nice and they did really mean well and wanted to help those teenagers.
Thank You ladies You have taken these little knuckle heads,and made them see the light.
HEY I WANTED TO WRITE TO ONE OF THE LADIES THAT WAS ON THAT SHOW MICHELLE IF U KNOW HER INMATE NUMBER OR AT LEAST HER LAST NAME IT WOULD BE GREATLY APPECIATED THANK YOU IN ADVANCE.
I went inside CCWF in 1991 with 3 years being little and afraid in prison isn’t fun. Being forced to hold drugs for a lifer …… I got five years added to my sentence I fought my way through 10 years I paroled from CCWF across the street from VSPW..
we need more people like you to speak to these teens that cant make it on beyond scared straight. where can we find more inmates like you willing to talk to the youth?