Metalworking on TV

This has been discussed here before. I personally have emailed the producers of the American Chopper program telling them the same thing. I've since stopped watching it all together.

Lane

(Snip)

Yes. I watch the tube with the remote in one hand and a good book in the other. Commercials, Boyd, and Paul, Sr. get muted.

So each episode is about four, one-minute segments of mildly interesting metalworking (or goofing off) sprinkled in a '50 minute' show.

Yesterday's episode of Monster House is a good *counter-example*.

You and I are not the audience.

We are way over on the right side of the bell curve.

The audience is one that apparently finds 'bail bond' and 'phone sex' ads useful.

--Winston

--Junkyard Wars in its first two seasons were as close as we're likely to get to what we would like to see. The person who made this as good as it was is Cathy; not sure of last name but she was the show's producer. Contact her if you want to have a chance of bringing back the good times...

Cathy Rogers. She was the personality in front of and behind the original "Scrapheap Challenge" (shown as Junkyard Wars in the USA, since we seem to prefer wars). Contrast the style of the original with the screaming idiocy of "Mega Junkyard Wars". Hollywood really knows how to take a great thing and ruin it.

Greg

If you liked that Ed.....you'll LOVE "The Apprentice".

"You're FIRED!!!"

Like my Uncle Schlomo used to say, "Nobody ever went broke underestimating American taste".

Living proof of those words are displayed on this page which I couldn't resist adding to my personal fun web site:

Greetings Ed, I heartily agree with you. I've never worked in a shop where the amount of strife in these shows has lasted very long. With people getting all het up about things and all the yelling nothing would get done. I have personally taken the boss aside and told him that he had better not deride a fellow employee in front of me again. If there's a problem with one employee it should be dealt with in private. I don't see how a shop can consistently put out a good product with everyone all pissed off. I think all the emphasis on arguments etc. just wastes my time. It really dumbs down the shows. The first years of Junkyard Wars (actually, Scrapheap Challenge) were great. Lots of problem solving, people taking real risks, and not a bunch of babies who can't get along. I read that Jesse James got divorced. Is anybody surprised? Eric R Snow

||Maybe It's just me, but I'm starting to really dislike all the confrontation ||I see on programs like American Hotrod, American Chopper, etc.. I love all ||phases of metalworking and really admire how the mechanics of these shows ||ply their trade, but all the ass chewing is starting to get to me. Those of ||us who still work ,or even deal with society, probably get enough of reality ||each day to want more of it when we relax. I really want to see the great ||techniques and tools in action, not some hot head deriding his workers. I'm ||realistic enough to know that a lot of this is for the camera, but I think ||the producers have gone over the top with attitude. If the producers really ||knew their audience, they would fill the time with the creative stuff and ||knock off the crap. Any opinions ??

I agree, and I no longer watch those shows. I thing Overhauling is the closest thing to Doing It Right. Unfortunately, it's more car restoration than machine work. Texas Parts Guy

confrontation

It's not just you. My wife says she can't understand why I watch those shows. I tell her I watch it for the projects they create. But I'm getting to hate the socially dysfunctional parts, enough that I'm slowly watching less and less of the show.

Thinking about getting out of IT, I often consider what it would be like to work in a metal shop. But you know what? My experience on summer jobs and later full time working in an engineering firm (with a shop in the back) tells me I'd hate it. Not for the work, but the people. I haven't met any group quite as bad as those on TV, but I'm betting the producers of those shows just saw something that was already there, and decided to amplify it. The real people I've met in office settings can be nasty too, but not like the people I've met on the other side of the shop doors. That's five different shops in total, enough of a sample to make me keep my eyes open.

Lots of you guys work in machine shops. Please tell me there are shops where everybody is respected, just for being a human being.

- Owen -

I can go out to my shop and fix all manner of things around my house. I can build a fence, build a gate, repair a lawnmower handle.......... do things that will benefit me, my friends, my neighbors in a VERY positive way. I can do very positive, very constructive things that actually affect lives and improve quality of living.

Enter stage left ............. Jessie James ....... going to make a 3,000 hp

I don't see any parallels in the real world. And I do not live life vicariously, nor am I titillated by the outrageous. So, I don't watch those programs any more. At first, I did, and then when I saw what kind of program it actually was, I grabbed the remote.

I have made some outrageous projects. I have made some frivolous and very wasteful projects. I have made some things, and then just trashed them. But I have not been guilty of pissing off money by the truckload like these guys. Fabricators they are not. Just watch them. They don't even observe basic safety rules. I am surprised they all have their fingers. They fart around, and VOILA!, the next thing you know, there's a beautiful creation sitting there. And they always meet the deadline. Shazam, Batman!

So, I guess to answer your question, I don't know. HGTV has this type of stuff by the wheelbarrow load. Remodels, landscape redos, projects of all manner. Things YOU can take out into your garage or yard and do tomorrow. All of the sort of things you mentioned you would like to see.

There used to be some woodworking programs. They went off. Not enough people watched them.

It all comes down to the bottom line, and maybe the same thing will happen to them as happened with the woodworking programs. People will get bored, and stop watching.

But then, Jerry Springer goes on, and that program is boring 5 minutes into the episode for me.

Who knows?

Steve

On Tue, 05 Oct 2004 19:44:14 GMT, steamer calmly ranted:

AMEN! She was a hottie and the show rocked back then.

This is why the TV that I watch sits to the left of my monitor. If I find something interesting, the left eye watches while the right eye reads RCM. SWMBO has her TV behind me but with half decent cushions on my earphones it doesn't interfere. I use the earphones even when I'm home alone - too many airplanes at close range for too many years. Gerry :-)} London, Canada

I get the feeling that a fair amount of the rhetoric on American Chopper is just mugging for the camera. I'd like to see more tig welding and waterjetting and less ass-kicking threats.

As for American Hotrod, I really enjoy watching Duane, Roy, Charle and Mike. They are all trying to do a good job and appear to be quite skilled. Bluebear, on the other hand, should be fired for his inane screwing around. I suspect that the ratings would take a hit if they did it though. And nobody should be fired on-camera.

Both the old man on American Chopper and Boyd on American Hotrod are highly creative, driven people who have managed to create a company by the force of their personality. These people don't usually show great management or inter- personal skills. Boyd, in particular seems to be his own worst enemy at times.

I take it you missed Friday's episode with Duane getting a speeding "ticket" then getting another guy fired? I've read of viewers who noticed the motorcycle cop had no markings on his bike. So now the question is if the whole thing wasn't a set-up. After 'scaring' the guy with termination, Boyd and Duane 'talked' and Boyd told Duane to can him, which he did on-air. The whole show had 3 or 4 different people's screw ups that could have resulted in termination to go with the commercials promoting "someone will get fired this week". With the new guy that Bluebear kept mooing at I'm sure they're on some sort of contract, else he'd be set with a hostile workplace action.

Joel. phx

James Burke is, to all practical purposes, American. When he first started doing those Connections-style shows (which is over 20 years ago) I didn't like them because I found their glossy gee-whizz content-free style to be rather annoying.

Presumably Tim Hunkin is a name that some will recognise. Has Arthur Ganson ever made TV ? I think those two have a lot in common.

Adam Hart-Davies is another name to watch out for, particularly for stuff aimed at kids.

It's easy to write off America as a land of burger-munching halfwits, passively consuming whatever TV feeds them. So where do people like Kelly Johnson and the Rutans spring from ? Is it nature or nurture ? Are there two tribes out there, smart people and American Chopper fans, or is it a question of whether you went to school, or to Airhead High with the rest of the sheeple ?

Does airing his works on the large screen at a science fiction convention count? (with additional running commentary by the artist, even) Admittedly, it's not broadcast... I got his DVD, very cool.

|| Thinking about getting out of IT, I often consider what it would be like ||to work in a metal shop. But you know what? My experience on summer jobs ||and later full time working in an engineering firm (with a shop in the back) ||tells me I'd hate it. Not for the work, but the people. I haven't met any ||group quite as bad as those on TV, but I'm betting the producers of those ||shows just saw something that was already there, and decided to amplify it. ||The real people I've met in office settings can be nasty too, but not like ||the people I've met on the other side of the shop doors. That's five ||different shops in total, enough of a sample to make me keep my eyes open. || || Lots of you guys work in machine shops. Please tell me there are shops ||where everybody is respected, just for being a human being.

LOL I'm an auto parts guy going way back. And back then every other parts store had a machine shop in back, with a full-time machinist. It was common knowledge that a good machinist was also a crotchety old fart who did not suffer fools gladly and should not be asked to wait the counter - ever. I recall one occasion when a machinist wound up waiting on a retail customer who wanted a set of spark plugs. The machinist looked up the plugs and set them on the counter, a set of 8 ACs in a flat box. The customer questioned him at length as to whether they were the right ones etc, and the machinist was getting more and more irritated. Finally the customer grudgingly said he'd take 'em. As Mr. Machinist was writing up the ticket, the customer said "Now, am I going to have to gap these things??" Mr. Machinist picked up the plugs, slammed them on the counter on the small side, then flipped it 180 degrees and repeated. "Yes" Texas Parts Guy

confrontation

I record American Chopper then watch it later. Fast forward is a wonderful thing. Skipping the commercials and the stupid yelling fits I can cut the time spent watching by 50%.

Steve.

Well, I guess for some people working like that is reality. Owner of this company used to treat his daughter's that way, calling them "dummies", "Stupid", "useless", etc. I wouldn't have been able to take that but fortunately none was ever directed at me. The closest I got was when he was calling customers names like "dummies" to me and I took to just hanging up the phone (we worked in different offices) when he did that. Mostly cured him of speaking like that to me.

Anyway, I guess there are those who watch to say "Gee, I'm glad it isn't that bad at my work" and those who watch to say "Gee, I guess I'm not the only one who has to put up with that kind of crap".

Koz

I missed the staff meeting but the minutes show "Ed Angell" wrote back on Tue, 05 Oct 2004 17:50:03 GMT in rec.crafts.metalworking :

These are not documentaries about fabrication shop work. These are drama shows which occur in fab shops Conflict is drama, drama sells. While you and I would love to see an explanation of how these things are made in minute detail, there isn't enough of us to make up a sizeable audience.

tschus pyotr