What Deadliest Catch knockoffs do you watch?
I’ve caught a couple of episodes of Ice Road Truckers over the past few weeks… for those who don’t know, its another “hard-scrabble men doing hard-scrabble work” kind of show ala Deadliest Catch (its also done by the same production team) and it airs on the History Channel. It chronicles the daily lives of truckers on Northern Canada’s “ice road”, who haul enormous loads of equipment back and forth between “civilization” and some super-isolated diamond mines up in the frozen north. They call it the “ice road” because its literally made of ice - large stretches of it cross frozen lakes where there’s nothing but a couple of inches of ice holding up 20 ton tractor trailers. The ice actually bends, buckles and cracks as they drive over it - its really incredible. No one’s fallen through the ice yet on camera, but apparently it happens more often than they’d like.
So you can expect that this show would have a lot of the same themes … tough men working long hours with little or no sleep, braving the freezing-cold elements to pull in sizeable amounts of cash. For me it doesn’t have quite the same mystique as Deadliest Catch, though it does have its moments. I guess though, its just a lot less interesting watching some guy drive a truck than it is to watch a team of 5-6 men make bait, wrangle crab pots, and pull up a new haul with no idea if it’ll be empty or full of $5000 worth of crawling-crabby-goodness.
Then, there’s Lobster Wars which - again - is made by the same production company. This one follows a bunch of lobstermen off New England. But whereas there’s real camaraderie amonst the men and boats of Deadliest Catch, it seems like there’s some real bad vibes between these guys. (Hence the eponymous “Wars”). Its a lot of the same themes as Deadliest Catch, but with a lot less danger. Here the problems arise not from mother nature or equipment failure, but from the underhanded tricks of their fellow lobstermen. I’ve only seen a couple of snippets of the show, though, so there may be more to it that I’ve just not seen yet.
So, what do you think? Are either worth watching?
December 6th, 2007 at 11:34 am
Hello…Man i just love your blog, keep the cool posts about What Deadliest Catch knockoffs do you watch? comin..holy Thursday .
December 6th, 2007 at 2:13 pm
Hello webmaster…. i was searching for northern england and i came across your post and it is definitely the most sensible thing i have seen in a long time, and in my opinion you got something good going here, i have to get my friends to subscribe to your post about What Deadliest Catch knockoffs do you watch?.
January 15th, 2008 at 11:02 pm
I am a Deadliest Catch nut and I jones every season waiting for the next season to start….That is why I watch the nockoffs…such as Lobster Wars…..I enjoy it although not near as much as Deadliest Catch but it fills the gaps, which are all too long.
March 23rd, 2008 at 6:23 pm
I agree.Im not the biggest fan about Ice road Truckers.And I barely ever watch Lobster Wars.Its to disgusting.They are horrible.So I usually just watch DEADLIEST CATCH!Lobster Wars sucks.Really they are horrible!Well New England is like that.
March 25th, 2008 at 10:05 pm
Lobster Wars is just a bunch of whining, crying, waterman who, in typical fashion, spend more time telling you how they can’t feed their family than they actually do working.
Deadliest Catch is incredible! The show is very well done and even though the guys aren’t actors, they come across very well on TV. Give me double the deadliest catch and throw loser wars with the, “they’re taking the food off my table” captains, overboard!
April 24th, 2008 at 6:09 am
Capt of the Wizzard didnt want noodles to eat, he needed a spittoon, Jake bought that T.V. , but why(like they have time to watch tv,they bust butt CM style, Hillstrand bros and the truck - “awesome”, that wasnt just for tv,” thats you do me one, and Ill do you better! Im a roughneck, and ex-logger, and I would love for nothing more than to go out for a season and eat a cod heart with edgar, and to not shake hands with Sig untill the job was over. Ive also wrote a poem 4 all the guys, Maybe it will post later - untill then-GOD BLESS THE BEARING SEA FISHERMEN!
April 24th, 2008 at 8:42 pm
The truck was the best. I love the show and I like Ice Road Truckers. Where is the Maverick. Did Rick get fed up with Blake I sure would. I am sure there will be payback for the truck but who knows what . The Bering Sea is giving its all. God Bless the Guys they have a tough job. I look forward to the show and I have every season on DVD and the T-shirts too.
April 28th, 2008 at 8:56 pm
could capt. andy be any more stoned