STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
As Joel Rose reports, the show tries to present a sympathetic portrait of this sadly misunderstood profession.
JOEL ROSE: Anyone who's ever come back to their car to find out a little envelope under the windshield wiper knows exactly what this man is going through. Denial followed by anger.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SERIES, "PARKING WARS")
DANIELLE O: Unidentified Man: (Unintelligible).
CONNOR: Unidentified Man: Why don't you get it fixed? That's what I'm saying...
ROSE: That's a scene from TV series "Parking Wars." The argument goes on like this for a while before the driver finally gives up and speeds away. For ticket writer Danielle O'Connor(ph), this is just another day at the office.
CONNOR: Unidentified Woman: You don't like being wrong.
CONNOR: Have a nice day.
ROBERT SHARENOW: They're targets and more so than any other job I can think of.
ROSE: Robert Sharenow is the vice president at A&E, the cable network that's producing "Parking Wars."
SHARENOW: There's no other job in the public sphere where people walked down the street and are mocked and yelled at and sometimes spit at. And you developed, you know, a real fix skin and part of that personal armory is to have a sense of humor to be able to laugh it off.
ROSE: This isn't the first time A&E has focused its cameras on the Philadelphia Parking Authority. It was also the subject of a one-hour documentary in 2003. Parking Authority's Deputy Director Linda Miller hopes the show will create some sympathy for her crews.
LINDA MILLER: We're hoping that it will soften the aspect when people encounter our people on the street and understand it's what they do on a daily basis and it's their job.
ROSE: What you won't see on the show is any mentioned of recent scandals over perks for Parking Authority managers and other financial shenanigans. Executive Producer Robert Sharenow says the show focuses instead on the human drama.
SHARENOW: People do harbor such deep-seated emotions about their cars. It's almost like a family member. So when they have their family member taken away, you get some very irrational reaction.
ROSE: Unidentified Woman #2: And so like (unintelligible).
ROSE: An unscientific poll conducted outside the Parking Authority office on a bitterly cold day suggests that a lot of Philadelphians know about the show and some may even watch it.
MERRILL DRIVER: Yes, yes. I think they'd be funny.
JENNIFER GEE: Watching people get their car, running after their cars.
DRIVER: Like running after a tow truck and stuff.
KENNY HOLMES, Host:
Some think a writer work in this kind of weather and worst, you know, and then going into a hostile environment. Yeah, I have sympathy for some of them. For some of them, not all of them.
ROSE: Kenny Holmes, Jennifer Gee and Merrill Driver. But Sarah Jacobson(ph) says she will not be watching the show when it premiers tonight.
CHERRY JACOBSON: Because I think that that's in a way supporting them and I don't ant to support them at all because they've towed my car three times.
ROSE: For NPR News, I'm Joel Rose in Philadelphia.
INSKEEP: This is MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.
RENEE MONTAGNE, Host:
And I'm Renee Montagne.