Steven Seagal: Hit Man

I doubt anybody could have predicted that a reality show depicting Steven Seagal's secret double life as a Louisiana cop would bring A&E its highest ratings ever. But it did.

That's right, "Steven Seagal Lawman" is a big fat hit. According to A&E, last night's premiere nabbed an eye-popping 3.5 million viewers, with 2 million of them in the coveted 18-49 demographic, "making it the most-watched original series launch in the network's history among all key demos."

I watched both episodes, and, frankly, I'm not sure what to make of it. Watching Seagal's prowess as a sharpshooter was amazing. Say what you want about the guy, but he certainly can shoot a gun - as evidenced by the bit (assuming it was unedited) where he shot off the head of a match from a range of 40 yards, prompting the officer he was training to remark that Seagal "could shoot a gnat off a fly's ass."

On the other hand, huge chunks of the show are spent as Seagal and his fellow cops drive around looking for domestic disturbances and suspicious behaviour. In one bit, they were engaged in a high-speed pursuit of a carjacker; but since Seagal doesn't drive the car, he was reduced to back-seat driving" "Go right! Faster," he would shout, and you could tell the cop behind the wheel was getting fed up.

The funniest part was when a rowdy suspect was in the back of a patrol car, and kicked out the window. The now-I've been-pushed-too-far look on Seagal's face was priceless, but nothing compared to the way he casually sauntered over and proceeded to zap the guy mercilessly with a taser. Clearly not a guy you want to tick off.

On the whole, though, these moments were few and far between, and these debut episodes of "Lawman" were a lot duller than I expected, which makes me question whether the show will hold its audience in future episodes.

Still, 3.5 million viewers is impressive — and probably 3.4 million more than saw Seagal's last straight-to-DVD movie.