The guy who does it is always at the same level of intensity, whether he’s describing the trip to the fishing hole or landing the big one. Otherwise, the show has big, scary fish, exotic locales, and fishing. What it needs is Babe Winkelman, who’s willing to eat the fish, too.
My kids love this show. I like the River Monster guy. Maybe add an amazonian fishing babe to the mix to round things out a bit…
I have this fear/fascination with large fish. Thus this is my most hated/totally favorite show. 
I liked the one where he caught a large African fish, and his poor local guides could not f-ing believe he was going to toss it back. The fish had the good grace to die of natural causes, sparing him an awkward conversation and possibly an international incident. He gave it to the village to eat.
I liked the one about how some moron introduced pacu, a “vegetarian” relative of the piranha from Brazil, into a river in Papua New Guinea, where it promptly ate all the vegetation and branched out into biting off male genitalia. See, you don’t tell Babe that detail and get him out there in his innertube rig with his junk hanging in the stream…
Great TV!
I love River Monsters, but I think the episodes could be cut to 15 minutes and we wouldn’t miss a thing.
Will not debate your point, but will contribute my own opinion by saying Jeremy Wade is a brilliant and entertaining person who actually makes fishing look interesting. (Okay, so he’s going well beyond the 14lb fish I’ve caught, but still…) I love how it starts as a goal to catch a particular fish, but what it really becomes is a history lesson in not only the fish but the area. I love the learning aspect of it, whether he catches the fish or not.
Having read his book, I’m also drawn in by little details of his life that seemed to be entwined with fishing- the permanent heart problem he has after being struck in the chest by his first attempt at catching an arapaima, and his obsessive-compulsiveness that often threatens to bring filming to a halt. (No, Jeremy, you don’t need to re-knot the braid AGAIN., etc.) I just have a big ol’ crush on the man.
Sign me up with the group crushing on Jeremy. In our dreams, us Beatas would love to go fishing with him and tag along for the research on these monsters. Of course, in real life, no way would I be out there fishing in the dark knowing there are snakes or crocodiles around.
When I saw the title, I wondered if he’d been eaten.
If he’s so OCD why doesn’t he talk more about his tackle?
I’m a 50 year old male who grew up in New York City, and as of a year ago, I’d hardly ever gone fishing in my life. But around that time, my 7 year old son got hooked on “River Monsters,” which quickly became his favorite show.
Naturally, he wanted to go fishing, and I started taking him regularly. We’ve had a blast, and I owe it all to Jeremy Wade.
Jeremy is my boy’s hero- don’t diss him!
I don’t know if this is meant to be some sort of double entendre or a genuine question. Either way, it’s gone over my head.
A proper OCD would spend as much time talking about just what fishing tackle he was using, and why, as he would casting into a “dry” fishing hole because that was the last one he cast into.
Or he would if he were me.
Aspbergers would just talk about their tackle and why anybody who used anything else was an idiot and never get around to fishing. 
ETA: Like most fishing hosts, Babe would talk about his tackle because it was supplied by his sponsors. 
the thread OP made me think of someone getting eaten. or like in harry potter, “…is retiring so that he can enjoy his remaining limbs…”