Stars Earn Stripes: NBC's Action Reality Show Puts Celebrities To The Test

Premiering on NBC tonight is the celebrity reality series Stars Earns Stripes, a show that has celebrities competing against one another in a variety of military-inspired training exercises. How will the likes of Dean Cain, Terry Crews, Nick Lachey, Todd Palin, Picabo Street, Laila Ali, BIggest Loser trailer Dolvett Quince and WWE diva Eve Torres handle the challenge? We'll find out tonight when NBC unveils the series with a two-hour premiere.

Heavily promoted during the Olympic games, Stars Earns Stripes combines celebrity appeal with a patriotic twist that will attempt to pay homage to the men and women who serve in the United States armed forces and first-responder services. The premiere episode sees each celebrity paired up with a different special operative and trained to use weapons and navigate through the obstacles they'll face in the challenge that's set up for them. The operatives (Dale Comstock, J.W. Cortes, Brent Gleeson, Chris Kyle, Andrew McLaren, Grady Powell, Tom Stroup and Talon Smith) are law enforcers or come from military backgrounds (among them, the U.S. Navy SEALS, the Green Berets, and the U.S. Army Delta Force.)

Based on what I saw of the series premiere, I'll admit, I found myself a bit more interested in the armed forces and first responder operatives than I was in the celebrities, and I wouldn't mind seeing these guys go up against one another in similar challenges. That's actually a compliment to NBC for doing a fine job of introducing them to us and giving us an idea of their accomplishments. But it could be interesting to see each contestants progress throughout the series. And there's money for charity on the line, so the competition element among the celebrities adds to the suspense.

Those looking for gunfire, explosions, and the sight of celebrities put their strength and endurance to the test should be satisfied with what NBC's offering here. Things really start to get suspenseful as the premiere closes in on its first hour. There's a nice amount of momentum built up at that point, which makes me think NBC has the right idea in going with a two-hour premiere.

Stars Earn Stripes premieres tonight (August 13) at 8:00 p.m. ET on NBC.

Following the two-hour premiere on August 13, Stars Earn Stripes will air new episodes on Monday, August 20 (9- 10 p.m. ET) and Monday, August 27 (9- 10 p.m. ET). The two-hour finale will air on Monday, September 3 (8- 10 p.m. ET).