For those who don’t know, the show follows 5 or so Alaskan fishing boats through a fishing season, keeping track of their catches, and following the drama. . .men overboard, ice storms, personal conflicts, job conflicts, etc.
It’s hard to describe just how well made and dramatic this show can be. It was pretty heartbreaking last year when a young smart dude who thought he was going to get to captain a boat got snubbed by the owner.
The Deadliest Catch is a reality show that is head and shoulders above every other show of that genre.
The rogue wave from last season was some of the best TV ever. They’re filming out the front of the wheel house, and a wall of water crashes over the boat, everything goes black, the crew is scrambling trying to find out what happened, and get the engines back up so they’re not dead in the water during a storm. It reminds you that these guys are one bad break from an icy death.
Honest conflict and drama, these are not men who are “humiliating themselves for our amusement”, as an old coworker of mine described reality TV.
I was checking the bios for this season, and it looks like Blake is a captain this year. I think he was the guy who I mentioned was passed over last year.
Also, one of the captain’s wives is on board, and the greenhorn who got bitched at by his dad last year now has a full share, and his older brother is joining the crew as a greenhorn. Good stuff.
I have been counting down the days until the premier.
I watched the marathon and the best of season 2 special last weekend. Mike Rowe interviewed the cameraman who was on the Aleutian Ballad when the rogue wave hit. He said that he had just set the camera up in the window when the wave slammed them. Pure luck that he got that shot.
I can’t wait to see the guys on the Northwestern again. It looks like we have some new boats this time too.
I heard that Mike Rowe isn’t narrating the new season. Someone please tell me this isn’t true, it would really diminish my enjoyment of the show.
This show makes me crazy. I can’t for the life of me figure out what would make a person do that job (aside from lots of money, adventure, and bragging rights, which I guess is all ya need, right?). It scares the shit outta me! And yet I continue to watch as mere mortals harvest sea cockroaches from frigid waters.
Sig.
I like the Cornelia Marie. It has the guy who is a hard ass on his son, and it looks like they’re bringing his elder son on board this season. That’ll be good. They seem like a pretty interesting family.
I hadn’t heard. Who knows. . .new guy might be better. He never really grabbed me, though.
But, what gets me is that it is not all that much money. Maybe it’s alot of money per hour (for some folks) but they don’t work all year round. It’s not like they walk away with enough to retire, or even enough to make it till the next season. Personally, I could piss away what they make in a week or less.
I looked for a cite but couldn’t find one, but I seem to remember them mentioning crew members could make in excess of $60,000 in a season. Considering that leaves the rest of the year to work your “day job,” that’s a pretty nice chunk o’ change.
I rarely pop ino Cafe Society, but this might have made it worth it. Please tell me we DO have a new narrator. I couldn’t take 10 seconds with the original guy.
Except that I’m pretty sure Sig would have no problem taking a slacker and cutting him up for bait, pour encourager les autres. He’s one hardass captain.
Sig is a real slavedriver. He’s got a crew of tough old salts, and they were practically begging him to let up last season. So he lets them get maybe 4 hours of sleep, then it’s back to another 18 hour shift, and Sig is kicking himself for being a big softie. The scary thing about it was Sig’s attitude, basically that he tells them to fish, and they fish, like they’re just robots you turn on and let loose on the deck.
I think they put up with it because his crew fairly consistently makes some of the best money. But yeah, he’s tough on them. Those guys looked completely exhausted, I felt bad for them.
That’s part of what makes the show good, though. Seeing each guy’s take on money-making, dealing with workers, etc.
It’s still business, and Sig – right or wrong – has his own take on how to do it. Especially in a business like this, if guys didn’t want to come back, they have a choice.
I thought the Cornelia guy was pretty tough on his kid last year.
