Deadiest Catch!!

[Coach1310]

I enjoyed the first couple of episodes last night. I will agree the kid on the NW looked and acted a lot different than last year. As far as all of them being "On something." Seems to be a quick judgement. They get tired, but the experienced guys are used to that grind. They may be able to work the deck for 30 straight hours, but would they be able to sit in a truck and drive for 8 hours straight like a truck driver? I think their bodies are well adapted and I am sure some of them are on something, but not all.

I can't believe they dropped a truck in the ocean!!! It was a cool prank, but with all the "tree hugging" type folks out there I can't believe they did it and showed it! I gotta believe that has brought some bad publicity to crab fishing, but maybe not.

Should be a fun year. I like the different personalities on all the boats...

[Sandmannd]

Phil shoulda made him take the TV back or throw it in the ocean. I would beat that punk. Show was good, I would like to be on the brown crab boat. 90 g's for each crew member, dang.

[bassNspear]

it was a awesome show, and its very interesting to see how other boats work against other boats, and how others fish alot different. I like the Northwestern, on how they bust there balls to get everything done.

Just a awesome awesome show

[Wanderer]

Well, I had to read up on the rest of the Deadliest Junkies' opinions.

Took a break from my Honey Do List to watch a recorded episode and have a duck fart. Pretty good - but trouble waiting to happen!

The truck in the sea? Awesome joke, but not a fan of where it wound up.

The T.V.? I think he really bought it on the boats credit without permission, but they might have played up the other crew members reaction. I think Phil's sons have gotten used to being scolded and then get what they wanted anyway. Last year his Greenhorn son got a full share after whining for it. Greenhorns don't get full shares.

Look at Jake's reactions after his Dad yells at him. He doesn't care.

As far as the guys being "on" something. Read "Working on the Edge" by Spike Walker. I read it in 1997. Couldn't put it down. You'll find out some stuff about the 1970's crabbing in there. I'm sure some things have changed since then though.

In 1999 we spent the night in the harbor bar on Kodiak and partied with the fishermen. Yes, we have some stories. Yes, they are similar to some things in the book. So, some things haven't changed.

[bassNspear]

 Originally Posted By: Wanderer

\:

The truck in the sea? Awesome joke, but not a fan of where it wound up;

I thought it was cool how they set the other boat up, but i didnt like how it ended up going down the sea in about 600 fow

[Black_Bay]

The Hillstrands were on KQ yesterday. They really seemed like good guys. As far as the truck joke goes it was just the chassis so at least there wasn't going to be oil leaking out. I'm sure they checked things out to make sure they wouldn't get into trouble. Those crab allotments are too valuable to loose over a joke. As far as the guy on the Northwestern I think he believes he's a real crab fisherman now and is acting cocky. The rest of the crew will put him in his place.

[Sandmannd]

They had to have permission to drop the truck at see. Maybe it will be a reef or something. I know boats that sink turn into that.

[bassNspear]

who do you get permission from to do something like that.

[Sandmannd]

I would assume fish and game or whatever part of the government that monitors that. I know they sink ships off different costs on purpose for reefs. Someone has to approve it though.

[bassNspear]

i was going to say, they just cant go out there and drop stuff in the middle of no where.

[The Grebe]

Seems there is a litttle controversy afoot concerning this program? Controversy or not, wouldn't get me on one of them crab boats in the north sea!

[Double D]

The controversy on my boat would be if my kid took my credit card and bought a tv for his bunk. It looked like he was mounting it by his bed for crying out loud. I guess I would have sent him right back to the Dutch Harbor Best Buy.

DD

[jwhjr]

TV for his bunk??? I thought these guys didn't sleep for days...

[The Grebe]

I read where the editors spliced footage from different seasons to make it more dramatic...it's dramatic enough! One false step and one would be sleeping with the fishes (An old saying we used to have when I was in the mafia). Those crabs would be feasting on the fishermen, instead of the other way around!

[bassNspear]

 Originally Posted By: jwhjr

TV for his bunk??? I thought these guys didn't sleep for days...

they do when the time is right

[mrklean]

I think Jake just likes pushing his dads buttons, see how far he can make tick his dad off

[IFallsRon]

'Deadliest Catch' caught in fishy editing

Scene of life-and-death peril in season opener shot on different days

By James Hibberd

Hollywood Reporter

updated 12:48 p.m. CT, Fri., April. 18, 2008

LOS ANGELES - Tuesday's fourth-season premiere of Discovery Channel's "Deadliest Catch" opens during a raging nighttime storm in the Bering Sea. Mammoth waves smash an Alaskan crab fishing boat called the Wizard, sending large swells crashing over its deck. Inside, alarmed crew members discover that their stateroom is flooding with incoming seawater.

The sequence suggests that the fishermen are in danger of sinking as a violent tempest tosses huge waves against the boat.

But here's the not-so-deadliest catch:

The boat flooded in September.

The huge storm waves were from October.

And a producer may have filmed extra footage to help stitch the two events together.

Pages from a production outline obtained by The Hollywood Reporter suggest that producers of the cable network's top-rated series may have strayed from reality while editing the harrowing sequence from the show's record-setting premiere.

The document directs producers of the Emmy-nominated program to patch together a scene of life-and-death peril from different days of filming.

Early draft

Discovery executives described the outline as an early draft that was dismissed by the show's production company. The sequence, however, does match what appeared in Tuesday's episode. The network strongly denies that re-enactment footage is ever used by "Catch," but it acknowledged that material from separate days of filming were combined to produce the scene in question.

From the outline:

"WIZARD ROGUE WAVE: Combine Wizard leak story on 9/26 with the Wizard being hit by a big wave on 10/1 and 10/2. The fiction we are constructing is that the big wave hit the Wizard on their steam up to Dutch — caused a leak in Lenny's stateroom. In reality these were two separate events. In addition to the original source material, (a producer's name redacted by THR) shot re-enactment footage."

Such editing and staging tactics are common on reality shows, but Discovery considers "Catch" a documentary and holds the series to the highest standard.

Discovery president and general manager John Ford said the outline was an early draft that did not rise to the level of network inspection. "It's a rough draft that was rejected," Ford said after speaking to producer Original Prods.

That said, the scene did combine shots from two different days. The exterior shots showing the Wizard being hit by the waves were filmed from another boat while the Wizard was alone during its actual flooding.

"The Wizard was struck by a big wave, and that wave caused the leak you see in the show," Ford said. "The thing we didn't have on camera was the actual wave that struck the Wizard. That was shot at a separate time on the same journey and was an insert edit from the show. We did that for story continuity because we didn't have a boat-to-boat shot."

Despite mixing the footage to create a more dramatic scene, Ford said the story told in the episode remains accurate.

"Everything that you see in the show happened," he said. "Nothing is made up and nothing needs to be made up. The Wizard was struck by a big wave, and that wave caused the leak you see in the show. The show is 100% authentic."

Pickup shots

Also, Ford denied the suggestion that the show uses re-enactment footage, though sometimes "pickup shots" are utilized.

"For certain things, we do pickup shots for continuity," Ford said. "If the camera didn't run properly when the captain was boarding the boat, they have the captain back up and board the boat again."

Pickup shots are very common in unscripted programming of all stripes.

"There's pickup shots in documentaries," said Craig Borders, a reality series director who is co-chair of the Directors Guild of America's reality TV committee. "Interviews can even be considered pickup shots."

At the outset of the current season, Discovery instructed producers to not use any re-enactments, Ford said. "Catch" did use a re-enactment shot once last year, and the scene was put into black and white and was labeled a re-enactment. Ford suggested that the production outline may have been written by a person unfamiliar with all of the show's guidelines, confusing pickup coverage with a re-enactment.

The leak comes a year after the network admitted another reality hit "Man vs. Wild" took liberties with storytelling. Although the "Catch" sequence doesn't compare to the gaffes committed by "Wild," parent company Discovery Networks always has positioned itself as "a nonfiction entertainment" programmer.

Tuesday's episode was the highest-rated premiere in the network's history and was seen by 3.5 million viewers. The show also is the flagship entry in Original Prods. line of gritty blue-collar reality shows, including History's "Ice Road Truckers" and "Ax Men." The genre has become so popular on basic cable that NBC this month announced two Original Prods. shows set to air in summer 2009: "Shark Taggers" and "America's Toughest Jobs."

Original Prods. declined repeated requests for comment.

Nominated for seven primetime Emmy Awards, "Catch" often is praised for its realism. Noting that Bering Sea fisherman have died while filming the show, the New York Times last week declared that "of all the reality shows, 'Deadliest Catch' is by far the realest."

With that in mind, the lines between reality programming, documentaries and docudramas are increasingly difficult to distinguish. And for many filmmakers, where those lines are remains uncharted territory.

Whatever the case, the inherent danger faced by the boat's crew is undeniable. Viewers have embraced the series because it offers a brand of man-vs.-nature escapism not found in scripted productions.

Last year, "Catch" fans on a Discovery Channel message board thread debated whether one scene was staged. The consensus: never on this show.

"I suppose we're a country that's been desensitized to 'thrills' because Hollywood spews them out so rapidly and easily," one viewer wrote on the board. "That's why I'm so hooked on 'Deadliest Catch.' It's so refreshing to see 'real life' that contains more thrills and chills than even Hollywood can imagine."

[mrklean]

Good article but i think someone is just trying to stir the reality pot. Not every single boat has camera people on it so if one does that got hit by a big wave like that but the other one was damaged i think they should be able to use footage. As long as camera people and producers dont try to put drama or anything in the show, which i think if they tried the crew would laugh in their face and tell them to get out of their way, i still love the show.

[hanson]

Seams like a big deal made out of nothing to me.

They made it pretty obvious in the show that the boat was hit by a big wave on the way up to Dutch Harbor. The show doesn't typically include footage of the boats traveling up there, just in port & fishing up there.

Guess I wouldn't have expected them to film the specific wave that hit the Wizard somewhere between Oregon and Alaska. I mean how many hours can you roll the cameras?

Foreshadowing indicates that something will happen to the boat as they didn't properly fix the hole when they had the chance, they went out crabbing instead.

I don't know... if this was seriously an honest to God documentary, the Cornelia Marie wouldn't have dropped that truck in the ocean, or any of the boats wouldn't be playing games with the other boats. I can't believe those "pranks" would really happen if this wasn't on film for an audience. These guys are working for a living under some of the most dangerous working conditions known to man (or at least thats what we are lead to believe). There is no time or place for fooling around in those conditions IMO.

[Farley]

I think they would still do some of that stuff, the truck was a little much though. Like when that Blake kid didnt know where to fish so he radios Phil, and Phil gives him a good spot and tells the kid not to repeat it to anyone. Phil overhears him telling another capitan over the radio exact locations of Phil's spot so Phil went over there and welded the doors shut on one of Blakes cages. I wonder if maybee Phil toned that one down for the cameras, so he wouldnt get in trouble for doing something else like kicking his arse. We are talking about a million dollar spot, I would be furious. Most of those pranks like the flour in the bag, are ones they've learned from guys before them and before Deadliest Catch.

[mrklean]

Very well said, pranks have been going on before DC, and before the discovery channel became popular. Its just some fun in a very unfun place.

[hanson]

New episode last night!

A new show 'The Alaska Experiment' that was on afterwards looks like it should be fun to watch as well.

Both of these shows are real fun to watch in HD, the picture and scenery is just incredible!

[Weed Shark]

I know a guy was in Alaska this past year, chartered a halibut boat. The charter captain lets a crab vessel in front of him, explaining how that captain once radioed him. The message was something to this effect, "Go ahead and cross in front of me, but if you stall, I'm splitting your boat open like a tin can."

He looked at the ship with binocs. It was the Time Bandit. He mentioned, it definately looked more like a pleasure cruise, not business. LOL

[Central Bassman]

'The Alaska Experiment' will be a good show, I feel sorry for the guy that is out there with his two daughters. It will be a long three mouths for that guy LOL

[bassNspear]

isnt that a fact. I can imagine being out there in something like that.