Animal Planet, The History Channel, Discovery Channel and (not my grandmother’s) National Geographic Channel are investing millions of dollars in highlighting and glorifying the backwoods realities of Redneck life.
Beyond (the assumed) tiny production costs (the whacky characters write their own lines), what is the fascination? Perhaps these shows will convince America’s youth that there is a great deal of potential in family dentistry as a potential career path.
Check out these prime examples:
Moonshiners
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Think the days of bootleggers, backwoods stills and "white lightning" are over? Not a chance! It's a multi-million dollar industry. But perhaps more importantly to the moonshiners, it's a tradition dating back hundreds of years, passed down to them from their forefathers. It's part of their history and culture. While this practice is surprisingly alive and well, it's not always legal.
Discovery Channel's all-new series MOONSHINERS tells the story of those who brew their shine - often in the woods near their homes using camouflaged equipment - and the local authorities who try to keep them honest. Viewers will witness practices rarely, if ever, seen on television including the sacred rite of passage for a moonshiner - firing up the still for the first time. They will also meet legends, including notorious moonshiner Marvin "Popcorn" Sutton.
Amish Mafia
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When you think of the Amish, buggies, bonnets, peace and simplicity come to mind. In the historic Amish settlement of Lancaster, protection and "peace" can come at a price.
Lebanon Levi is the Amish insider who holds the power and serves as protector of the community for a price. He exists above the law and occupies the role of police, judge and jury. Levi's team engages in a life outside of Amish and non-Amish community codes as he quietly exerts his influence and control. Levi's brand of order is precise as he seeks to keep outside forces from infiltrating the Amish community, while keeping the principles and morality within the community in check.
Levi's team is lean and fearless. Alvin is Levi's right hand man and nobody gets to Levi without going through Alvin first. A lifelong friend, Alvin is at first glance an average passive Amish community member. However, he has a dark side, a past, and most importantly, Levi's complete trust. Alvin will protect Levi at any cost
Amish Out of Order
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It takes a lot to leave the only life you’ve ever known—for one you’ve been told will lead you straight to hell.
Rocket City Rednecks
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Rocket City Rednecks is led by Travis Taylor and his team of redneck geniuses. In his younger years, Travis started out cleaning chicken coops, but for the past two decades he’s been a research scientist with the Department of Defense and NASA. Sometimes big science moves too slow for Travis, so come the weekends he “gits” together with his father, brother-in-law, nephew and best friend to combine a little hillbilly ingenuity with advanced engineering and physics to tackle real-world scenarios. With their thick accents and distinctive vocabulary, the tight-knit group brings their own unique style of southern charm to science and technology.
Mudcats
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No Rod. No Reel. No Problem. Deep in the heart of America, an age-old tradition has given way to a fierce competition of brains, brawn, and guts: Oklahoma’s Okie Hand Fishing Invitational. For 10 weeks, five grabbling teams hunt for colossal flathead catfish using only their bare hands. With bragging rights, a $2,000 weekly prize, and a $10,000 grand prize on the line, it's an all-out battle to bring home the bacon—or in this case, fish.
Pawn Stars
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Long before banks, ATMS and check-cashing services, there were pawn shops. Pawning was the leading form of consumer credit in the United States until the 1950s, and pawn shops are still helping everyday people make ends meet. Pawn Stars takes you inside the colorful world of the pawn business. At the Gold & Silver Pawn Shop on the outskirts of Las Vegas, three generations of the Harrison family--grandfather Richard, son Rick and grandson Corey--jointly run the family business, and there's clashing and camaraderie every step of the way. The three men use their sharp eyes and skills to assess the value of items from the commonplace to the truly historic, including a 16th-century samurai sword, a Super Bowl ring, a Picasso painting and a 17th-century stay of execution. It's up to them to determine what's real and what's fake, as they reveal the often surprising answer to the questions on everyone's mind, "What's the story behind it"? and "What's it worth?"
But wait, there’s more pawn shop hijinks and dimwitted awkwardness!
Cajun Pawn Stars
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People have been visiting their local consignment shops for thousands of years. In fact, up until the 1950s, pawn shops served as the primary form of consumer credit in the United States. In Cajun Pawn Stars, which puts a southern spin on History’s hit series Pawn Stars, a cast of quirky characters continues this age-old tradition. At the famed Silver Dollar Pawn & Jewelry Center in Alexandria, Louisiana, an eclectic array of historical merchandise is on display, with items ranging from vintage cars to firearms to livestock.
Jimmie “Big Daddy” DeRamus, a longtime collector who’s as savvy as they come, established Silver Dollar over 25 years ago. His close-knit staff includes his brother, his daughter and others who might as well be family. Together they operate a 20,000-square-foot shop filled with so many rare pieces it’s been dubbed the “museum for sale”; it’s even a frequent destination for school field trips and tour bus excursions. At Silver Dollar, the unique family dynamic and never-ending stream of colorful locals make for a fascinating shopping and viewing experience as Big Daddy and his crew appraise, pawn and trade the Cajun way.
Call of the Wildman
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Dive deep into the backwoods of wild Kentucky with legendary woodsman Ernie Brown Jr. — aka "Turtleman" — as he takes on some of the most outlandish and outrageous nuisance calls these woods have to offer — including raccoons, skunks, snakes, venomous spiders and possums.
Ernie is a charming animal lover with an unbelievable Bluegrass lifestyle, and for the past three decades, he's been diving into Kentucky's murkiest ponds in search of feisty snapping turtles capable of biting through bone.
Accompanied by his canine companion Lolly and armed with country wits as sharp as the steel blade he carries, aptly named "Thunder," Turtleman has the uncanny ability to catch monster snapping turtles with his bare hands and return them into the wild unscathed.
Each week, Turtleman receives calls from dozens of businesses and home owners stuck with unwanted and potentially deadly pests. No job is too tough or dangerous for Turtleman, and his years of bonding with wild animals allow him to use his animal instincts to save them.
Gator Boys
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GATOR BOYS follows the death-defying exploits of Paul Bedard and Jimmy Riffle, two extraordinary alligator trappers who risk injury and death to hand-capture nuisance alligators that have invaded the back yards, swimming pools, garages and bedrooms of Florida Everglades residents.
It takes serious skill to do what the GATOR BOYS do. Paul is known for his commanding personality and unmatched expertise, capturing any-sized gator underwater with his bare hands. And Jimmy has been gator wrestling since he was 11-years-old, giving him the unmatched ability to handle nearly any dangerous reptile with ease.
Hillbilly Handfishin'
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Welcome to the wild sport of noodling! Watch thrill-thirsty city slickers head to Oklahoma to submerge themselves in murky waters to catch catfish with their bare hands and feet. It's a trip of a lifetime for fish-out-of-water, adventure-seeking city slickers who want nothing more than to surprise themselves -- and maybe gross themselves out -- by doing things they'd never thought they'd do. Led by Oklahoma hand-fishermen and self-proclaimed hillbillies Skipper Bivins and Trent Jackson, city folk get a taste of the redneck lifestyle by going through the paces of noodling catfish with no fishing rods and no hooks. The only lures are fingers and toes -- which, by the way, can be just as attractive to the snakes, beavers, muskrats and snapping turtles that take over abandoned catfish holes as homes of their own. The experience might be uncomfortable, completely foreign and downright terrifying, but it promises to alter the lives and positively affect each newly crowned noodler long after the last morsel of deep-fried fish is gone.
Finding Bigfoot
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Animal Planet's hit series FINDING BIGFOOT returns with all-new episodes, investigating compelling evidence that may prove the existence of the elusive creature. This season, investigations take the team farther across the globe and further into sasquatch history than they've ever traveled.
For the first time, the intrepid cast of investigators -- Bigfoot Field Research Organization (BFRO) president Matt Moneymaker, researchers James "Bobo" Fay and Cliff Barackman, and skeptical scientist Ranae Holland - expand their search in North America and beyond to investigate the sasquatch phenomenon known as "yowies" in Australia and the "orang-pendek" of Indonesia. By examining photos and videos of the creature, speaking to local witnesses, using new technology and luring the mysterious beast with the team's signature sasquatch calls, the group uncovers startling evidence of the mysterious and highly intelligent enigma that has eluded capture for centuries and fascinated man for just as long.
Infested!
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Roaches! Rats! And bats! Oh my! Is your skin crawling? It will you tune in to INFESTED! This show unearths the real-life horror stories of ordinary people plagued by extraordinary infestations inside their homes.
Check your local listings and if you are watching TV from the comfort of your bed, remember to distinguish your corn cob pipe before zzzzzzzzz-ing out!
Yee Haw! – Doug.
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Posted by: Grinder | 02/14/2013 at 06:16 AM