Reality TV at its Best--Capt. Phil Dies on "Deadliest Catch"

Reality TV has been around for a while now. "Survivor" set both the stage and standard for reality series and it seems that they have become prolific. Some of them are quite good like "Survivor", quite popular like "American Idol", gastronomic like "Top Chef" or pretentious and affected like any of the "Housewives of Wherever."

Discovery has had its share of excellent "reality" series including 2 of the most popular shows on cable networks, "Dirty Jobs" and "Deadliest Catch." And now "Deadliest Catch" has shown us the ultimate reality. The reality of when one of the show's main characters dies during the filming of the season.

Capt. Phil Harris of the Fishing Vessel Cornelia Marie died during taping this last January. His conflict with his sons, his health problems, his passion and ultimately his demise were captured on tape over the last several seasons for everyone to see. It wasn't comfortable, but it was real.

No scripted show could have captured the drama because no one can either write a script or act with that level of realism--because this was real and it was raw. It showed people as people really are and it doesn't matter if it's a profane, cigarette smoking, pasty faced fishing captain or not. Those who have watched this show regularly know the main characters well and yet we were both surprised and touched by what was transpiring.

This man had 2 sons both of whom fished with him on his crab boat. One, Josh, was growing into a responsible man taking on increasing responsibilty. The younger, Jake, was smart-assed, spoiled and a bit of a slacker--the prototypical youngest son. He was also a drug addict. This was something we learned in the episode where his father, Capt. Phil, caught him using and stealing his own prescription meds. And just a little while later in this episode Capt. Phil was stricken with a stroke. Fortunately, Cornelia Marie was in harbor at the time.

The following episodes showed the captain/father in a hospital room. He was med-evaced from an island in the Bering Sea to Anchorage and then was joined by his sons. He had brain surgery to remove part of his skull to relieve swelling. He was getting better. Then he had another stroke. One son was handling the pressure and the responsibility. The other didn't--he got high. Guess which was which.

A side story was another Captain (Jonathan Hillstrand of Time Bandit) who needed to get off his boat to take a break. He was returning to Seattle when word was passed to him that Capt. Phil had suffered a stroke. This guy, who I have always thought to be a major jerk, cancelled his plans to be there for his fellow captain and for that captain's sons.

The long and short of it is that last week's episode where Capt. Phil died generated 8.5 million viewers. Arguably, this week's did as well or better. This week's show featured the reactions of fellow fishermen to the passing of a friend. Their reactions and emotions were real and genuine not contrived and artificial and definitely not scripted. Sig Hansen's speechlessness upon learning the fate of Capt. Phil was nearly as gut-wrenching to watch as it must have been to actually experience.

"Deadliest Catch" has always been a macho, testosterone laden show. Capt. Phil once said, "you ain't a man 'til you've pulled out your own tooth with pliers." And his son Josh, who had a horrible toothache and no way to get to a dentist complied.

This show which features men who are decidedly blue-collar; who are neither learned nor ignorant showed us the love that men can have for one another.

This is Reality TV at its finest for it was totally real and raw. It's deserving of award, recognition and watching. What's also interesting is the number of people from all walks of life who watch and talk about this show. Most of us never risk our lives at work, never suffer the biting cold and pain of working on the water in extreme cold and never rely on the vagaries of crabs to earn our living.

I'm glad I've been following the show this year. I wonder what's going to happen to the sons of Capt. Harris now? Will Edgar Hansen give up fishing and stay on shore with his family? Will the Hillstrands continue as a fishing family. A lot of us are looking forward to next season to find out.

Whatcha Watchin'? "Stuff" Boom de ah da, Boom de ah da!

OK, so I’m neither cool nor sophisticated enough to appreciate the reviews of the fine TV shows that some people like to write for about on their blogs. Maybe that’s because I’m not a fan of Lost and I’d rather watch Top Chef Masters than read a blow-by-blow description of it.

Plus, my wife and I have rather proletarian tastes. We like Dirty Jobs. And Deadliest Catch. We’re huge Mike Rowe fans. And we’re not too proud to confess that we also like Ben Bailey on Cash Cab.

We also like “triple D” (Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives) on Food. And we like Monk, Burn Notice, In Plain Sight and Royal Pains. Yep, we go for the “trailer park” of TV--Discovery Channel and USA. (By the way, according to Newsweek, USA is the main profit generator for NBC). We’re fans of My Name is Earl (well, the 1st year anyway) and we really like the new show on ABC Better off Ted.
The cast of "Better Off Ted"

Where else but on Discovery would guys like Sig Hansen, Phil Harris, Keith Coburn and Jonathan Hillstrand go from grubby, profane, cussing fishing boat captains to TV personalities with their own websites, merchandise and fan clubs? I love it! One of these days I’m going to put together some sort of post about the “management styles” of the captains and their relevance to business. Maybe it’ll be the next “One Minute Manager”, who knows.

The Captains of Deadliest Catch

Maybe this has something to do with the fact that I’ve been unemployed for 6 months now. But when I was working and traveling 80% of the time and staying in hotels 4 nights a week, I would watch these shows from the comfort of my Hampton Inn room at night.

Before I lose you from this diatribe, let me mess with your mind this week. Here’s a YouTube video I came across last week. It’s another of those that will get in your head like a broken record and drive you nuts. And, it’s about the Discovery Channel. Here goes and I hope you hum it and hum it and finally have to give it away to someone else in order to clear it from your brain:

TV

The TV we watch cost me $88 at Target in 2004. It’s a 20” flat screen. If I want to upgrade to one which is bigger it looks as though I’ll be spending somewhere in the neighbor of $400-$450 minimum (that would be for a 32” which sounds far bigger but is really just a wider rectangle versus the almost square image I currently enjoy).

I’m not necessarily averse to spending $400 or so on a new TV—assuming it would last me the rest of my life—but first I question if this is reflective of the cost of new TVs or if it’s the price of a new TV because companies which put their name on it know they can get away with charging that much. Probably the biggie for us though, is that the quality of programming barely justifies an $88 investment let alone a $400 investment. Why do we watch “Dirty Jobs” and “Deadliest Catch” and “Top Chef” and “Monk” and re-runs of “The West Wing” and “Third Watch” and even “Andy Griffith”? I have to think that it’s because the other stuff that’s on is crappy. You’ve basically got shows like “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” and “Who Wants to have Sex with a Millionaire” (I made that one up).

And worse yet is that we definitely have a favorite TV show. It’s called “Corner Gas” and it’s actually a Canadian show. It’s one of the best written ensemble comedies I’ve ever seen. It’s funny in a laid-back way and it’s set in a tiny mythical town in Saskatchewan. WGN broadcasts it—that’s the good news. WGN used to broadcast it 5 nights a week—Sunday through Thursday at 9 p.m. our time. Then they changed things. Their excuse is that people weren’t watching it. Now it’s on Tuesdays only, 3 episodes in a row, starting at 1:00 a.m. our time. One a.m.! For crying out loud! And they wonder why people aren’t watching it? At 1 a.m. the only other thing on TV is infomercials to either remove impacted feces or enlarge your penis—there aren’t even any good fishing shows on OLN.

We really enjoy this show. The DVDs of it cost about $45 per season and they’re in their 6th season now. Remember, I’m the “Cheap Bastid”—that comes to $225. So what did I do? I found the show online from a “private source" for a total of $35 for the first 5 seasons (not per season—total). The DVDs are in “plain white wrappers”—no boxes, no shrink-wrap. I guess that makes me some kind of criminal or something. I don’t know about that but we try to ration ourselves to one episode per day, kind of like dessert.

Let’s put it this way—WGN made me do it! I’m innocent! I didn’t want to have to move to Canada (or to the northern tier of the northern tier of states where we could get the CBC on cable). I’m just an innocent fan of this terrific TV show. WGN could have kept it on at a time when I’m awake and made my TV watching a lot more cost effective. But NOoooooo! They didn’t. They moved it to 1 frickin’ in the a.m., 1 frickin’ night per week. Jeesh—they made me do it. Honest, judge! I would have never bought those DVDs otherwise. It’s all WGN’s fault.

I don’t know when I’ll spend the money on a new TV. Maybe when I get a new job. $400 is a lot of money for an entry level HDTV. Those bad boys can get up to over two grand. And if I think twice—or three or four—times about $400, you know I’m not going anywhere near $2000. So I’ll stick to my $88 Target special, watching the Discovery Channel and Food Network. It beats 95% of the other stuff that’s on.