The Deadliest Catch

The family and I have a show that we enjoy watching and to my dismay it is actually a "reality" show of sorts. Generally speaking I do not like such shows. It turns out that I have a very different definition of the word "reality" than what is portrayed by the genre. But I digress...

The show in question is called "The Deadliest Catch" and it is about fishing on the Bering sea. There is something about the show that I can't put my finger on...something that doesn't let me look away. It might be the narration of Mike Rowe. That guy has the best vocals in the business. He really is a great story teller.

I guess the thing that sucks me in more than anything is that this show captures men doing one of the most difficult, back breaking, sleep deprived, dangerous jobs on the planet. And I get to grab a beer, recline in my Lazy-boy and watch them do it.

Most jobs, when I look at them, I think "yeah, I could do that". Doctor? Well, I don't really have any interest in that, and I'd have to go to school, but yeah...I think I could do it. Lawyer? Sure. Construction Worker? absolutely.

But fisherman in the Bering Sea? No way. Not only do I not have the desire to do it...I don't believe I'm actually capable of doing it.

Thinking on it a bit, the only thing I could possibly compare it to is the job I did for what turned out to be quite possibly the worst week of my life.

Back when I was in the Army, in about June or July of 1996, my unit deployed to the National Training Center (NTC) in Fort Irwin, California for a huge training exercise. The details are a little fuzzy in my head, but I remember boarding an aircraft on McChord AFB and flying down to meet the equipment and vehicles we had shipped by rail a week or so before.

We got there and unloaded the vehicles, and that was pretty difficult work, but we were getting 'three hots and a cot', even eating at the mess facility (rather than the 'portable' mess facility that we carried with us). In Army terms, this was the life of luxury on a field deployment.

Boy, how that was about to change...

At the time we deployed I was a team leader of a small three person team that set up what was essentially a repeater unit. My unit took the data in from a RAU, which was basically a self contained cell tower mounted on the back of a humvee, and relayed that data via UHF over to a telephone switch. This is so the good guys (us) could make phone calls from the gigantic cell phones that they had at the time.

Anyway, after a couple days, we got our orders to deploy, and the actual exercise was about to begin. The exercise itself was scheduled to last about a week. We were fighting against the local OpFor (opposing force), who trained constantly against every unit that travelled to the NTC every couple weeks. These guys trained all the time, we trained once a year. They were going to mop the floor with us. But they'd evaluate our tactics and execution, and the officers in charge would all figure out whose fault it was for losing and yell at them. Or something. I'm not sure.

What I was sure of, is that if I (or my team) made any mistakes, we were going to hear about it. And, more importantly, the higher up schmuckity schmucks were going to hear about it and make my life miserable.

So we had to be perfect. When we finally deployed, we were all kinds of pumped up. We got to our assigned location, erected our mast (radio antenna dammit, you have a dirty mind), setup our camoflage, and dug in our defensive positions (foxholes, air attack shelters, etc). It was perfect.

This all took about 4-5 hours to complete. Once we got it setup, we had less than 30 minutes rest before we were ordered to move to a new location. So we all collectively let off a string of profanity, broke camp, filled in the defensive positions, and moved to a new location...where we proceeded to setup, dig in, etc, etc, etc.

This time we didn't even get fully setup before we were told to move. This would be a recurring pattern over the entire week. Not once, in the entire week, did we stay in a single position for more than 5 hours. I was up for 20 hours, get 2 hours rest, then be up for 20 more. Several times the spot where we would deploy to seemed eerily familiar and we'd realize that we were digging up the same foxholes we had filled in a few hours earlier.

The stupid thing was that we had to setup a tent, despite never getting a chance to sleep in it. There is nothing more demoralizing than being up for 20-30 hours straight, and setting up a tent, complete with sleeping bags rolled out, despite the fact that you knew you would not get a chance to sleep in it.

It was the hardest I've ever worked, and from that week forward, I resolved I now hated camping, and would never again sleep in a tent by choice (to my wife's chagrin I assure you). I also made the decision to never again be in a job where I had to work outdoors. (Did I mention it was June...and that Fort Irwin sits only a couple miles away from DEATH VALLEY?

Shortly after the NTC I finally got out of the Army, but the memory of that field exercise will literally haunt me forever. And when I watch the Deadliest Catch...it looks even more difficult than what I did that week.

But I can't stop watching the show. That hard work is tough to look away from.

I need a new lazyboy though...this one is starting to get slightly uncomfortable...a little lumpy. :)

Smallville, Season 4 Review

I got a chance to watch Season 4 this week, and I'm really impressed. The show sucked me in even more than I was before, if that is even possible.

Season three ended on a cliffhanger of sorts, and season 4 opens up with miss Lois Lane herself. She is searching for Chloe's killer, who may (or may not) have got herself blown up at the end of season 2. As the story progresses throughout the Season, the characters of others on the show start to get explored, and there is a real sense of progress.

My wife, who had not been into the previous seasons, actually sat in for the latter episodes in season 4, and I think I've got her hooked now as well.

I liked Lana's storyline, right up until Jason turned out to be a bad guy. That was crappy I think. But possibly the best addition to the season had to be Lois Lane (played brilliantly by Erica Durance). She played it extremely well, and the writing was outstanding. She easily gets my pick the best Lois Lane ever captured on TV or Film (sorry Margot Kidder).

Best casting for this season though goes to Michael Ironside as General Sam Lane. Anybody who has ever read the comics or any fictional accounts of Superman could easily imagine Michael Ironside as Sam Lane. I know I will hear his voice whenever I read anything about him in the future.

All in all, great season. I cannot wait till I get Season 5. I will be very disappointed if I don't get it for my birthday. :)

Smallville

I have not yet written about Smallville, but it is currently one of my favorite shows that I never watched.

I meant to watch it when it first came on...I really did. I saw the previews, but never bothered to set my DVR...and I missed it. When Season 2 rolled around, I just let it go...too hard to catch up. I always meant to go back to it.

Fast forward quite a ways and Smallville is in it's eighth season...and now I'm really behind. So, on a whim...I ordered the first season on Netflix.

I was hooked. I have always liked comic book heroes, and Superman is still my clear sentimental favorite. Growing up and watching the 1980's Superman movies (Superman and Superman II...to hell with 3 and 4...they don't exist.), they captured my imagination as a young, somewhat powerless child. Later on in High School (or maybe after High School...I forget) I read "The Death and Life of Superman" by Roger Stern. It is a novelization of one of the most popular comic book story arcs of all time in the Superman franchise, and I absolutely loved it.

I loved the book because it really captured the humanity of Superman. It fascinates me to no end that you can inject drama into a story with the hero being the most powerful creature on Earth. Drama doesn't exist unless there is some possibility of failure.

In the book, they did that by straight up killing him, and they did it without using kryptonite, which btw...is usually how Superman stories wind up going, and it usually sucks.

The book presented the indestructible superhero of my youth as somewhat...mortal. It hooked me in and there were moments (Superman's funeral where the Justice League were carrying Superman's coffin to his tomb) that actually got me a little choked up...and yes, I felt like an uber-nerd when it happened.

When I went to get a tattoo in one of my less lucid moments of youth, I wound up getting a tattoo of a lip print...but it wasn't my first choice. I really wanted a superman emblem tattoo'd on my shoulder, but I chickened out a little bit and went for a mark that was more easily covered. I always intended to go back for it later, but fast-forward about 10 years, and my wife's little brother got the same Tat on his shoulder. So now I can't really ever go there without being a copycat. :)

When the first disk of Smallville arrived in the mail I was a little nervous to put it in. If it was too cheesy ('Lois and Clark' anyone?), I probably couldn't have handled it. The legend of Superman really holds a special place in my heart, and I don't think I could have seen it ruined again (I'm looking at you Superman IV).

But I put it in and....it wasn't bad. A little cheesy, but not so much that I couldn't handle it. Season 1 was really filled with 'freak of the week' stories. The episodes really didn't do a lot of character exploration, and one episode didn't really mesh with the others. In fact, I'd say you could probably watch that season out of order and likely not miss much. But, I liked the actors and the stories weren't bad. Plus, later through the Season the larger story arc started to come through a bit more.

By the time I got to the Season finale, I really wanted to know what was coming next. I practically begged Shana to pick up Season 2 the next time she went out.

Season 2 really hooked me to the show though. There were pieces I hated (wtf Chloe...wtf...), and pieces I loved (Christopher Reeve as Clark's pseudo-mentor!!!), but overall it was a great season. The producers had somewhat abandoned the 'freak of the week' stories and really focused in on building larger story arc's that spanned multiple episodes, which improved the show significantly. Smallville really didn't have a lot of detectable 'cheesiness' factor in it. The show was maturing and it was going from 'good' to 'great'. It wasn't completely there yet, but it was moving in the right direction. Whenever I watched, I couldn't wait to see the next episode. Always a hallmark of a great show.

Season 2 ended (expectedly) with a cliffhanger. Clark was off in Metropolis under the influence of Red Kryponite, Lex was involved in a plane crash and it wasn't known where he was.

I begged, pleaded, and made deals with the wife to get season 3, but to no avail...she was adamant that I would have to wait since I had a birthday coming up. I hate her so much sometimes.... Finally though, she caved and I got Season 3 and 4 from Amazon. They arrived on Saturday.

I spend the rest of this weekend in Smallville polishing off Season 3. And I have to say that Season 3 is the best season yet.

Chloe turned off her stupid 'lovesick' crap from season 2 and really turned into a dynamic character. She was given everything she ever wanted by the devil (Lionel Luthor), and the price of it was just to turn on her friends. She made a few difficult decisions and finally came around and did the right thing. Even though it wound up costing her at the end of the season. Great character development...I loved her story, and she really stole the show for me.

My only real gripe in season 3 was between Clark and Lana. I almost want to scream at the TV: "Just tell her you fucking dolt!", but alas, Clark just plays it dumb and finally loses her. It isn't a surprising story, and when she gets on a plane at the end of the season I couldn't help but hope she stays in Paris for a while. Somehow I think she will be back in Season 4, and it is really too bad. Seriously though, if Lana doesn't come back from Paris with another dude, I may scream at the TV. You can't keep a 'I kinda love him, but we just can't be together' vibe up. Lana needs to have another boyfriend and Clark needs to move on. Either that or they need to just bone and get it over with.

Tonight I start up Season four and I can't wait. The series is really starting to get good. The only thing I'm not looking forward to is having to beg for seasons five and six. Luckily, I have a birthday coming up. :)

After that, just need 7 and 8 and I'm caught up. Hello Father's Day!

TV Show cancellations

The end of television's Spring season is fast approaching and with march toward the season finale episodes comes the inevitable rumors as to the demise of many popular series.

My kids are sad that the Knight Rider remake likely will not be renewed...but really....did anyone expect any different?

Heroes is reportedly going to be renewed, but their poor showing in the ratings over the Season (despite the show actually seeming to get better, at least when compared to Season-2) leaves it's fate still up in the air.

Dollhouse was reportedly ok, but I'm now hearing that while it's initial run was for 13 episodes, the network has cut the 13th episode from the air schedule, and there will now be only 12. For those keeping score at home, this does not bode well for a second season. Why do they start good shows on a terrible night? Friday night is NOT the night for good TV programs. Friday night is where mediocre programs should be put until they die.

The worst is Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles. I was just really getting into this show, and it sounds like the plug is being pulled. It's ratings are in the toliet, despite being one of the most popular online shows on Hulu.

The Networks does see a lot of monetization opportunity from online viewership though, so they will cut a pretty decent series. TSCC was doomed when it was put in the deadend slot on Fridays. Damn you Fox. You kill these shows and produce filth. You disgust me.