STAR-BULLETIN FILE
Duane "Dog" Chapman has signed on to star in A&E's new Hawaii-based television reality show chronicling his home life with Beth Smith and their children, including Garry and Bonnie Jo, shown making their way through the Honolulu Interisland Terminal last July.
‘Dog’ will have his
day on television
Hawaii-based bounty hunter Duane "Dog" Chapman, who gained international notoriety last year with his capture of convicted California rapist Andrew Luster in Mexico, has signed with Hybrid Films to star in at least 13 and as many as 36 Hawaii-based reality shows for the A&E network.
Tentatively titled "Dog the Bounty Hunter" and described as "The Bounty Hunter Meets the Brady Bunch," the program will chronicle the team of Chapman and Beth Smith.
"I am so very happy about this deal, and at the bottom of my heart, I promise I will make Hawaii very proud," Chapman said.
A&E made the announcement yesterday in Los Angeles that it is branching out beyond traditional documentaries to broadcast several new series.
New York-based Hybrid Films is expected to begin filming late next month in Hawaii and the western United States for the first of six one-hour shows the producers want ready for summer, said Smith, Chapman's longtime companion.
Chapman's first show is expected to air in June.
Much of the series will be filmed on Oahu featuring Chapman's home and professional life, then follow him to the mainland as he tracks down and captures wanted criminals.
"Our command central will be Hawaii," Smith said.
The couple have three children together; Chapman has nine more, with five still living at home. Several of Chapman's adult offspring work for him at his bail bonds offices in Kona and on the mainland.
As recently as last September, CBS was considering Chapman for a reality series called "Beware of the Dog." But as negotiations dragged, A&E started a bidding war and won with contracts signed between Chapman and Hybrid two days before Christmas, Smith said.
"A&E told us they would make us a big fish in a small pond, and they committed to a lot of shows," she said. "It's a very classy network."
Producers are Hybrid Films founders Daniel Elias and David Houts and Chapman associate Boris Krutonog, who was with the bounty hunter when he made last summer's capture. Hybrid Films produced "Brooklyn North Homicide Squad" for Court TV, which was produced and directed by Elias and Houts.
Elias and Houts produced and directed another "A&E" show, "Take This Job," on which Chapman appeared. Hybrid also is producing the prime-time reality series "Dearly Departed," which focuses on three sisters who help run a mortuary.
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