8.7 /10 2 Votes
8.2/10 TV Country of origin United States No. of seasons 7 First episode date 8 January 2008 Network A&E Network Cast Bill Kurtis | 6.7/10 IMDb Original language(s) English No. of episodes 104 (list of episodes) Final episode date 22 December 2012 Director Po Kutchins | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Directed by Daniel EliasPo Kutchins Similar Wreck Chasers, South Beach tow, Teach: Tony Danza, Rookies, Storage Wars: Texas | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Parking Wars is a reality television series which aired on the A&E television network. The program followed traffic enforcement employees as they ticket, "boot," and tow cars as part of their parking enforcement duties.
Contents
The show began airing on January 8, 2008. The 7th and supposed final season premiered October 6, 2012. The final episode was December 22, 2012.
There have been rumors recently that a 8th season was currently in production and would air later this year after a 5 year hiatus.
Background
The series' original focus was on the employees of the Philadelphia Parking Authority (PPA) and their daily work: ticketing, booting (via wheel clamp), and towing cars, and dealing with the issues that arise with the public when they try to retrieve their vehicles from the impound lots. The show also includes footage of vehicle owners interacting with employees on the street when their vehicles are ticketed, booted, or towed.
Each episode consists of three segments, shown either in chronological order of a car entering the PPA violation system (ticket, boot/tow, impound) or reverse chronological order. Many of the "Booting" segments feature the favorite team of Steve (better known by his last name, "Garfield"), a longtime PPA employee and self-professed "gadget geek," and his partner Sherry, who has "the fastest fingers on the Eastern Seaboard" according to her partner, as they travel on their assigned beats to track down cars with three tickets or more, all at least six months old, and "boot" them so that the owner cannot continue to drive the car until they pay the outstanding fines. Booting a car usually requires the PPA employee to snap on a device, locking the mechanism of the front wheel so that it will not be able to move. Sometimes, attaching a boot to a car is difficult because of the size of the wheels. This is unnerving because it is a race against time before the owner of the vehicle returns.
One of the PPA tow truck drivers featured in the series, Martin, died shortly before the show's debut. The show's official page at aetv.com has a section dedicated to his memory.
Production
The first five seasons of Parking Wars were filmed on location in Philadelphia. Beginning the third season, Detroit's MPD (Municipal Parking Department) was added as a location as well, in addition to the PPA. Beginning in season 5, the parking enforcement unit of Providence, Rhode Island is featured. In season 6, the show added Staten Island and North Hempstead, New York, and Trenton, New Jersey to its list of filming locations.
It has recently been advertised on A&E recently that the show was being revived and that a new 8th season of Parking Wars was currently in production and to be "coming soon" according to the TV advertisement. However there is no mention of the new season, which would be the 8th season after a 5 year hiatus, on the official A&E website. So far its only confirmed through quick "teasing" advertisements during currently repeated episodes that are being aired in random order.
The series was based on a 2001 documentary of the same name about the PPA, produced for A&E and Britain's Channel 5, about a day in the life of the PPA, from morning to late night, taped in April 2001. The documentary featured off-screen narration by Daniel Jenkins, as well as all elements of the PPA's operation—ticketing, booting, impounding, towing, adjudication and auctioning. When the series debuted seven years later in 2008, the narrator was dropped in favor of the employees telling the stories themselves, each episode had three separate segments, and the adjudication and auctioning aspects were no longer featured (with towing only featured very occasionally). Some of the staffers that appeared in the documentary, such as boot crew member Steve Garfield, would later be seen in the series. When this documentary was rebroadcast after the start of the series, it was listed in television listings as "The Lost Pilot".