I’ve been a fan of Deadliest Catch for several years now. The harsh and hazardous working conditions make for interesting television, and some of the personal drama (the death of Phil Harris, Jake Anderson losing his father and sister in separate incidents, various severe injuries) is equally compelling. However, some of the interpersonal stuff seems painfully contrived.
Most recently, Junior has been extending offers to cooperate with other boat captains, and then screwing them over whenever it’s to his advantage. He could deny it later on - but cameras are rolling in his wheelhouse as he explicitly admits his deceptiveness. Is he really that stupid? Does he really think the other captains are not going to watch this episode of the show, and know that he’s been screwing them over? Or are they all in on this charade, being paid by The Discovery Channel to put on a good show for us?
Other seemingly arbitrary stuff happens from time to time, too, like the greenhorn who unilaterally decided that he would only replace a handful of bait in each bait bucket all day to save time, and then lied (on-camera) to the captain about it. Is he really dumb enough to think that swapping a handful of bait is adequate (after having zero previous experience but having been trained in exactly how to do his job, including completely replacing the bait every time)? Or is this more contrived drama?
Well, that guy who now runs the Saga was dumb enough to phone-stalk his ex while the cameras rolled last year…
Jake Anderson’s last confrontations felt a bit staged to me, as did the the “discovery” of the raided storage trailers. (I don’t doubt that the equipment was stolen if the trailers were left in that location…something just seemed off when it was presented on the show.)
And last night’s episode was great. He’s ordering flowers for that same ex: "Can the card say “I can’t wait to take you for a ride on my new boat. And can you put quotes around “ride”? Heh heh. OK, bye. Yeah, I send her flowers every week, trying to get her back…you do what you can…”
Yeah, I’m sure that dirty joke from her stalker will go over like gangbusters.
As for the drama, I think these dudes are pretty stupid and forget the cameras are there. But the editing and stuff - oh I’m sure there’s tons of embellishment. For one I don’t think they’re in danger of not making their quota as much as the show has you believe. But it’s a good reality show for me b/c it’s pretty damn hard to fake how difficult the job is, which is why I watch.
My brother in law produces ‘reality’ TV shows. The original Bachelor was his project. He tells me that there is so much content in these shows that is either embellished or instigated by the production team. In addition, the cast is encouraged to create or at least not avoid situations that lead to conflict or drama. That is what keeps people watching. During preliminary talks with producers putting together a high school theater reunion of actors and actresses 25 years after graduation, the producers had apparently done their homework on all of us being considered for the show. They knew that I had a fling in high school with one of my leading ladies, and asked me if I would consider instigating an affair with her should the reunion show go to production, even though they knew she was happily married. It was at that point that we knew they were less interested in doing a human interest reality show so much as creating ‘the Real World’ with 40 year old former theater classmates. Needless to say, most people lost interest.
My husband used to annoy me, coming in the room when it was on and doing his bad version of Mike Rowe’s sonorous voice: “Fifty miles out of Dutch Harbor, the storm clouds began to gather over the roiling sea”. …And “hey, I have a feeling in this episode they’re gonna haul up a big cage full of king crabs” and “Anyone fall overboard yet?” “Any new guys puking seasick yet?”
I don’t think the quota works that way any more. After the first season things were done a lot differently. Then they could fish as much as they wanted during a short season. The law changed and now they have a set quota. It can take them three days or two weeks depending on how lucky they get. There are also a lot fewer boats allowed to fish.
I’ve watched the show mostly because I think its the least embellished reality show on TV. Especially early on. Its not actual reality of course even with no embellishments. You can do a lot with editing and they have a ton of footage to edit every season.
That first season when they were staying up for days at a time trying to catch more than everyone else, it was more intense, more about the danger. And I’ll never forget that guy falling overboard - that was insane scary. By the second season, when the rules changed, they could take more time and the show became more about personal drama. Plus, they were used to the cameras and started playing for them. I watched until Phil died and then lost interest because it was just the same old thing every week and how many times can you watch Monty kick a greenhorn off his boat. :rolleyes:
Well, it’s certainly “real” in that they really are boat captains/crews, they are aboard real boats out on the real Bering Sea and they really are catching crab. It’s certainly many orders of magnitude more “real” than a show like, say, Welcome to Myrtle Manor which is, by pretty much all accounts, entirely fictional.
Sure, there’s a hell of a lot of editing. There’s quite a bit of prodding/coaching involved in order to highlight/emphasize/fabricate storylines. The real question is: do you really care? Personally, I do not. It’s still compelling. Just don’t be shocked when you discover how much of it is contrived.
I have fished with skippers on multi day trips who I thought were nuts only to find out the crabbers in DH are really off the hook. They are a different breed and operate largely in an unregulated and unsupervised area that is only occupied by others just like them or others there to rescue them. It is the last frontier and just based on that alone its a winner. I have been in 20ft seas with a 40 knot wind on 96ft boat and it scared the schizzle out of me, mild compared to what they face. They cannot produce a 50ft wave on demand, mother nature has that power, that is why I watch.
The first season of Deadliest Catch was a derby style. The government sets a total amount of crab for the season and all the boats compete/race to catch a portion of the quota. The season might be over in days or weeks depending on the skill and luck of skippers. The second season and beyond, the crab fishery switched to a IFQ ( individual fishing quota). Each boat was assigned a specific amount based on historic catch. Each boat’s share adds up to the total quota.
The derby style fishery is essentially a zero sum game. A lucky skipper/boat might catch a killing while other boats go without. Depending on the season/ quota size boats have large incentives to risk weather and safety due to the short season. This creates more real drama due to the short season.
The new IFQ style fishery, is much safer due to the larger time share allowed to catch their share of the crab. They can sit out bad weather, and not rush due to impending season closures since their catch allotment is guaranteed. OF course fishing is a business, and you want to catch the crab with the least amount of cost, but most of the *worst weather/time aspect is manufactured for TV.
Has it ever happened that they didn’t make the quote? AFAIU, the season is plenty long enough to make the quota, even if your average numbers are low, so you just basically stay out longer if the fishing is bad.
One thing I wonder about is when they tally up the earnings at the end of the season, some crews get $15K each and some get $50K. The variation is huge. And since they know the quotas beforehand, they know how much they’re going to earn… So why such huge differences?
I don’t think they manufacture any situations - there’s plenty of TV-worthy events going on all the time. But they’ll certainly encourage the fishermen to make as much as possible about every damn thing, even if it would normally pass without mention.
Ever notice how Norman Hansen almost never gets camera time, even though he’s always on the Northwestern? His single sentence Tuesday night about Jake was is the first time he’s been on screen in like two seasons. Yet he’s a part owner of the boat, so it’s unlikely they’d still be filming if he was totally opposed to it. I think he just refuses to answer their questions or say anything interesting on camera.
They know the quota, but they don’t know the total costs for the season. The crew’s share, IIRC, comes after subtracting out all the boat costs - fuel, food, etc. So if you spent $200,000 on fuel instead of $100,000 because you spent a lot more time tooling around looking for crab, that affects everyone’s share.
Presumably, spots on the consistently high-earning boats are hard to come by. So yeah, you’d like to be on a boat with $50k shares, but the only boat hiring is the one with $20k shares.
Also, different crew members will make different shares, depending on experience and who knows who, etc. I did crab processing a few trips, and it does get very competitive and sketchy out there. I imagine that once the show got rolling, they were worried less about quota and more about a “good show”, but whatever drama is manufactured for the show is pretty much guaranteed to have happened somewhere. I can only imagine that, after the first couple seasons, that those crews get looked down on by the other boats as being Hollywood rather than real crews. If someone gets seriously hurt, for example, I bet they get much faster medical attention than someone 200 miles out of St. Paul. We had one guy break his leg, and it was decided to finish out the couple days of the season and just bring him in to DH rather than pay for heli service.
IIRC it took nearly a day for Captain Phil to be transferred from the Corneila Marie to the clinic at St. Paul, and nearly 2 days to be transferred from St. Paul to the ICU in Anchorage. I remember reading or hearing somewhere that he would have had a better chance at recovering from his stroke if he hadn’t been that far from the mainland.
ETA: Yes, my time lapses may be off, but I do remember there were long delays between transfers. The clinic at St. Paul didn’t have the equipment nor the expertise to help him.
I have no doubt that the producers probably “throw a pebble” into the natural order of things in order to entice a storyline. Case in point: The season where the two Jakes switched boats.
OTOH, as somebody upthread said, DC is the most realistic of the reality shows out there. You can’t fake the inherent danger of crabbing, and it takes a certain type of personality to do that sort of work.
One thing I have heard about a lot of these shows is that they get used to the cameras so much that they kind of forget they are there. I am not saying that there is no manufactured stuff, but I do believe they catch quite a bit that seems stupid to us because they are on camera.
In these types of shows, there is a huge incentive for the participants themselves to create drama and be memorable. The producers don’t always need to intervene. No doubt that the “stars” can demand more salary and perks.
I recall reading the contract that Dave “Yupp” Hester had on Storage Wars. He made something like 25k per episode plus $100k for the season for expenses. All added up, it was over $500k for the season. The more camera time he could get, the more he could demand.
So I could totally believe that the various captains themselves create dramatic situations to increase their worth to the series. They know if they don’t get screen time, they’ll get less money and may eventually be replaced.