 |
|
|
 |
 |
|
American Chopper. It draws "as many as four million viewers" a week, making it among the top 10 cable shows, and it is fueling "a growing trend in gear-head programming," reports Ann Oldenburg in USA Today. It stars a lovably dysfunctional family -- meet the Teutuls -- who seem to attract as many viewers who tune in to watch them yell at each other as those who enjoy watching them build hot motorbikes. It is American Chopper, airing Mondays at 10 on Discovery Channel, and, though positioned as yet another reality show, it seems to be defying conventional wisdom about what the people want on television.
"Choppers were never supposed to appeal to pop culture," comments Tom Zimberoff, author of Art of the Chopper. "They were counterculture's affront to the mainstream life." Says Clark Bunting of Discovery Channel: "There was this myth that if you did auto programming it was downmarket. We have some of the most affluent audience in the history of the network. It's not downmarket in the least." For purists, that's exactly the problem. Warren Fuller of choppersrule.com is not exactly impressed: "I'd rather watch a guy building a motorcycle than other programming, but does this really represent the motorcycle and chopper community? I got rooms full of guys who say no."
Adds Bill Dodge of Jesse James' West Coast Choppers: "They get way too much play for cake decorators." Sounds like a rumble waiting to happen. While it's true that the bikes built on American Chopper may be expensive and maybe even a bit frou-frou (how about that Christmas bike, complete with antlers?), Paul Teutul, Sr. (a.k.a. Senior) suggests that maybe that's the whole point: "I think the thing that's different about us is that our demographics are next to none. The audience we draw is everybody, not just motorcycle enthusiasts ... You don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure out it's working." And another thing, he says is that at least his show is pulling kids "off the computer and into the garage to do something creative."
The Nerd Network. "Its three 24-hour-a-day channels attract 34 million viewers a week," writes John H. Fund in The Wall Street Journal. "It has a satellite radio service along with 10 websites and, this month a new book ... One out of five Americans" tune in "at least once or twice a week" and everything is produced "on an annual budget of $40 million, less than the cost of airing a single TV sitcom." This is C-SPAN -- launched back in 1979 with a staff of just four people by a fellow named Brian Lamb, "the former editor of a media newsletter," who "was frustrated by the sound-bite coverage of government on the broadcast networks."
Today, on its 25th anniversary, C-SPAN, www.c-span.org, has a staff of 280 people, and if there's one thing folks of every political stripe seem to agree upon, it's that C-SPAN is dispassionately and earnestly detached and orderly in its coverage. Bob Schieffer of CBS News says C-SPAN is "almost like a public utility," and that "turning off C-SPAN would be like turning off the water or electricity." Dick Army, the former House Majority Leader says, "C-SPAN brings more sunshine into government than anything in Washington." Actually, C-SPAN also brought Mr. Armey into government. Legend has it he decided to run for Congress after watching lawmakers debate on the channel and concluding that they sounded like "a bunch of darned fools."
Might even say that C-SPAN created the reality TV concept, one score and five years ago, what with its cinema verite coverage of campaigns and Capitol Hill deliberations. Say what you will, its amazing success is credited overwhelmingly to Brian Lamb, whom Mr. Fund describes as being like "Chris Matthews on valium -- i.e., without the opinionated delivery and interruptions." The heck? Mr. Matthews should be honored by the comparison, for sure, and in fact has said that Mr. Lamb "deserves a presidential medal of Freedom." Hopefully, as Mr. Fund notes, Brian Lamb's baby won't get squeezed of the air when the FCC rules on whether to require cable systems to air two local broadcast channels, up from the current requirement of just one. That would be maybe just a little too much reality to bear.
Tim Manners, editor
|
If you would like to comment on "Cool News of the Day" please fill out this form and press "send." Thanks!
|
|
|
|
|
