Monday, March 4, 2013

Come Monday...Big Rig Bounty Hunters


“Come Monday…” is a weekly series that will involve a review of, or commentary about,  websites, movies, documentaries, television shows, sports, music, and whatever else may tickle my fancy at the time.  Be assured that these reviews will be generally positive, as in accordance to the Jimmy Buffett song “Come Monday.”  This is subject to change, however.  In fact, I would be most derelict in my duties to neglect going on a rant every once in a while.  For rants promote change, and change can be good—right?  Therefore, since good is generally considered as being a positive force in 99.3% of the parallel universes that I am aware of, even a rant could be considered as being something positive, and a genuine hissy-fit would be even better (so I’m told).


The first thing I would like to say is that [Big Rig Bounty Hunters] is not another [Ice Road Truckers], which is saying a lot.  For one too many camera angles making it look like certain parts of the [Dalton] were practically straight up and down, which would be impossible for a very heavily-loaded big truck to regularly traverse under its own power in the best of conditions—let alone with well over a foot of hard-packed snow and ice covering a dirt road, made me have to refrain from watching anymore episodes for a season or two.  Whereas, it only took one episode of Big Rig Bounty Hunters to make it quite clear to me that the producers of the show have abandoned all pretense of actual reality for the entertainment of those who have no idea just how fake the show really is.

Alas, when I first heard about the show, I was very intrigued.  For truckloads of goods really do get hijacked on a fairly regular basis across the land, and I thought that the show might be about some of the efforts that are actually made to find and recover the stolen loot.

No, it is not.  In fact, only one of the situations presented in the first episode was even plausible.  For it involved tracking down a stolen truck and container trailer with a load of laptop computers around the New Jersey seaport area across the bay from New York city, but the two they had doing the tracking made [Laurel and Hardy] seem like two of the finest detectives to ever get on a case.

Two of the other situations in the first episode involved the recovery of supposedly abandoned big rigs by hired teams, with both of them being laughable.  For the undisputed locations of the unattended rigs were less than 50 miles from the company terminal they were out of, and the recovery of them and their cargos would be something that the terminal manager would have had either one of their local drivers or mechanics do—not pay a premium for an independent contractor.

The fourth situation arguably took the cake.  For it involved a couple of guys out of Houston, Texas scrambling to get a pick-up truck with a loaded cattle trailer off of some train tracks before a freight train ground the cattle into the wrong type of hamburger.

No, I do not feel compelled to point out just what was so fake about that Texas railroad crossing situation.  For if you did not get that a gentle push by the good ol’ boys pick-up was all that was needed to avoid mixing the ground chuck in with the ground round, Big Rig Bounty Hunters just might be your kind of show or at least something to keep you entertained on a slow Thursday night around 9 p.m. Central.

Please Also Visit:
and

34 comments:

  1. There was a day I might venture down this road, but it's not today! Life and well blogging has gotten in the for lots of tv viewing for me. Then they brought reality shows that quite frankly are not what my reality is or wants to be, and I just can't watch them I do have a good friend who watches nothing but reality tv! Good for some!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I also heard that Dirty Jobs will be history, I used to really like that show, and bought a few of the CD's but then what is his name, Mike? Has been in far too many Ford commercials and it drives me nuts! I don't even watch that much TV but he has gotten under my skin, in a not so good way! Please, please take him away!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I have seen a few episodes of ice road truckers but I think I will just pass on looking for this one. I'm not a fan of the reality shows at all

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks for stopping by, my dear Karen!!! Arlynda is a big fan of many reality shows, but she has the right attitude towards them. For she calls them her trash, and she often falls asleep before an episode is over, anyway.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thanks for stopping by, my dear Ann!!! I don't think you have anything to regret by missing out on Big Rig Bounty Hunters. The production of Ice Road Truckers has improved enough to where I can now enjoy watching much of the time, but the reality of it still being an unreality show smacks me in the forehead every once in a while.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I've watched none of those shows...but I do love Jimmy Buffett...come Monday; come any day, and even more so with a margarita or two at the ready!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thanks for stopping by, my dear Lee!!! Oh my, you Aussies really are a carefree bunch, and I must admit that I had my doubts the first time I watched Crocodile Dundee. (Yeah, my wife made me watch it again. Sigh.)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Jumping on crocs is just a regular weekend pastime with us Aussies, Jerry...and if we can get the opportunity, during the week as well!!

    ReplyDelete
  9. You are making me feel really stupid for ever trying to give you a hard time about anything, my dear Lee. So, please accept my sincere apologies and cancel your flight over here to beat me up.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Big Rig Bounty Hunters

    This show is so damn fake & stupid it is a waste of a TV slot. Chase & Space ep 3 - and my last...

    Best line Steve Erwin with 3 teeth "if that guy comes out with something in his hands I'm going go Lethal On Him" - what is he going to tongue him to death ?

    ReplyDelete
  11. Thanks for stopping by, my dear Anonymous!!! LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Fake show I own semis no company hires anyone to drive a semi without a drug test

    ReplyDelete
  13. Thanks for stopping by again(?), my dear Anonymous!!! Yes, Big Rig Bounty Hunters is indeed about as fake as one can get, and I think drug testing has been made a part of the physical to get a medical certificate. Of course, it may have just been that they had their suspicions bout me?

    ReplyDelete
  14. The toothless brothers are employees of Voyager Express.The abandoned truck was and is the regular truck "Animal" drives everyday.Irwin's truck was used by the "rogue" driver.Irwin claims he was special forces...Maybe he was "special",but he was no force..It's all a fake.I worked there and seen the lie first handed.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Thanks for stopping by again, my dear Anonymous!!! Yes, I can believe all of that. Whoa, it sure should take some big brass ones to show him recovering his own truck, but when everything else about the show is also as ridiculous...

    By the way, since you were out there a-truckin' all over the place, you might enjoy the 14th through 17th crumbs of The Crackerhead Chronicles, which is an abbreviated account of my life so far. Oh, and even though I do not mention it in the book, the Grizzly Rose on the north side of Denver was one of my all-time favorite honky-tonks.

    http://fishhawkdroppings.blogspot.com/2009/11/crackerhead-chronicles-fourteenth-crumb.html

    http://fishhawkdroppings.blogspot.com/2009/11/crackerhead-chronicles-fifteenth-crumb.html

    http://fishhawkdroppings.blogspot.com/2009/11/crackerhead-chronicles-sixteenth-crumb.html

    http://fishhawkdroppings.blogspot.com/2009/11/crackerhead-chronicles-seventeenth.html

    ReplyDelete
  16. I don't think anyone with an IQ above double digits would doubt 'some' fabricated dramatic aspects of such a show as the truck 'Bounty Hunters'.......that being said I AM in the freight business and there's no doubt whatsoever that the theft of trucks & entire loads is on the rise nationwide.....it stands to reason (IMHO) that any theft victim would prefer to have a 'private entity for hire' recover their stolen property if at all possible as opposed to having Law Enforcement recover same and impound the evidence for prosecution purposes - THEREFORE at least the premise of the show is viable and likely (again IMHO)

    ReplyDelete
  17. Thanks for stopping by, my dear Katfish!!! Yes, it makes perfect sense that freight companies would have private contractors to go where official law enforcement either legally can't or won't on account of budget issues. This is one of things that I hoped the show would be legitimately about, but as I mentioned in this article, the two New Jersey "detectives" were plumb laughable--especially the line delivered by the ex-cop, who insisted that he never has never had any dealings with criminal types (other than to arrest them) when confidential informants are usually the key to cracking many (if not most) cases. Of course, that might be a good reason for why he is now an ex-cop.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Some of the fun in watching Big Rig Bounty Hunters is spotting the really fake parts. We really enjoy the pair located in Dayton,Ohio. Being from Dayton it amused us to see a picture of the Cleveland skyline used. They did use some things from Dayton including local teacher and actor Alan Jones as a towing company owner.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Thanks for stopping by, my dear Anonymous!!! Yes, I can see where that could be fun. Alas, I suppose I really should lighten up some, but it does make me mad to know that the vast majority of the viewers have no idea just how fake a show it (and far too many like it) truly are.

    ReplyDelete
  20. I cannot attest to all of the stories, but my company was a part of the filming I can tell you that the stories that we were a part of are based on some fact. Notice I said some. You are 100% right, the tractor they recovered in the first episode was just miles (less than 50 in reality) from our terminal. We would NEVER pay a hunter to get our trucks. We did send our own driver (not Animal or Steve) to recover the truck. Animal and Steve really do drive for my company, full time. The truth was very boring. A driver decided he was done driving, took a load back to his home town (600 miles from the terminal) and left it in our secured parking lot out there. We sent the team drivers we have out to recover the truck and brin git back. But that doesn't make for good TV does it?????

    ReplyDelete
  21. Thanks for stopping by, my dear Stacy!!! Be assured that I greatly appreciate you confirming my suspicions. For it has been around 13 years since I was last out over-the-road, and I had to leave some room in my mind for the possibility that things are done differently these days.

    Alas, it really is a very sorry situation when drivers do not have the decency to just take the truck back to where they should after they have had enough. Of course, it also works both ways, and when Scheduled Truckways closed its doors for business in 1989, they did so without any prior notice. Adding great insult to injury, they just cut off the funds to all fuel cards, which left drivers stranded all over the place because of not having enough fuel to make it back to Rogers, Arkansas.

    ReplyDelete
  22. I am just watching some big rig bounty hunters re-runs. there was one thing that bothered me above all else. thats the part where the two guys are recovering a truck who's load is "a matter of national security". they are being followed, and after loosing the tail, it finds them again. If this had any seed in reality, there are two possible ways this should have gone down: 1)it could have been the fbi tailing them to make sure they made it back safely (i have been told by real truckers that the fbi follows ciggarette trucks). 2) if it was someone up to know good, and they really were scare, how the hell did they not call the police??!! no one with that kind of job would be on the road without a cell phone.

    one other comment...the cattle on the tracks bit. no one is that stupid that they wouldnt call the emergancy number on the sign next to the track...or 911. and once they did call the emergancy number, how the hell was 45 minites not enough time to get the truck off the track? with that much time, they could have fixed the truck.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Thanks for stopping by, my dear Anonymous!!! One of the coolest "truck driver's stories" I ever heard just might have been actually true. It was told to me by grizzled veteran, who had driven as a team with his wife for Tri-State (out of Joplin, Missouri) years before. The story was that they were one of seven different Tri-State trucks that had been dispatched to pick up a load from a military installation somewhere out west. As was standard practice much of the time, they were instructed to park their trucks in a designated area and then leave them unattended for a couple of hours. During those two hours, someone on the base would drive their truck to the warehouse with their load and bring it back to the designated area loaded and sealed up tight. The drivers were not told what they were hauling, but they were told where it was to be delivered. As it turned out, all seven of the trucks were headed for military installations in different parts of the country. When they took off, he said that it felt like they did not have anything in the trailer. Oh, and he could not tell if they had an escort, which he thought was strange with such an apparently top-secret load. Several months later, he said that they found out that only one of the trucks actually had a load, which was nothing more than the master blueprints for the Apache helicopter. All of the other trucks were meant as decoys. Yeah, it sounds rather far-fetched, but it still keeps me entertained.

    ReplyDelete
  24. In every episode of Big Rig Bounty Hunters the bounty is always from the same trucking companies for each team... I.e ..voyger express for the vets ..any for the texans an kings tranport for the jersey boys ..if the have that many trucks being hijacked from them same companies the they obviously a trucking business is not for them

    ReplyDelete
  25. Thanks for stopping by, my dear Anonymous!!! Well, I would think that they would at least make it to where no load was ever left unattended from pick up to delivery. This is the way it regularly is for most high security loads of weapons and currency--regardless of whether they have been any hijack attempts in the past or not.

    ReplyDelete
  26. I loved this whole discussion about Big Rig Bounty Hunters and I have finally found a way to vent my frustrations. I am from a small town in Ohio, actually went to school with the two guys who were featured from Ohio (The so called Ex Cons). Its a joke, their a joke and the show is a sham, it couldn't of been cancelled any sooner. Sean and Vince are nothing but small town drug dealers and hot heads who have been in and out of trouble since grade school and show no signs of letting up on causing havoc in our small town. As for the jobs they did, seriously, within an hour from home AND recovering a truck due to National Security...The town was proud that we might be featured in reality show, only to be represented by....I will be nice! I will never look at reality tv the same way again!

    ReplyDelete
  27. Thanks for stopping by, my dear Anonymous!!! The very sad reality about "reality shows" is that they are generally scripted at best and actually directed much of the time. The distinction between them and regular TV shows is that they supposedly employ real people, but as you (and many of the rest here) can attest to, many of their regular people are really nothing more than amateur actors and actresses.

    Duck Dynasty is the only one that I can tolerate at this time--despite how obviously contrived it usually is. For at least the cast of character really who they claim to be, and much of the stuff they come up with is very believable.

    ReplyDelete
  28. This show was just advertised to begin showing in Europe on the UK channel; The History Channel... Surprised it made it all the way over the Atlantic after reading this blog post on how fake and poor it is, Just shows Discovery Nat Geo & History and there other affiliated 'factual' programming channels have all but ran out of wild animals & Historical topics to cover that they have to resort to showing programming like this and others, Looking forward to hearing what the next 'reality' tv show is, Someone in HQ is brainstorming the next American Chopper or Deadliest Catch when the reality is they should just show repeats of successful shows!

    ReplyDelete
  29. Thanks for stopping by, my dear Anonymous!!! Far too many shows are being aired these days that make no sense to me. In all fairness, if I was still staying drunk most of the time, I might feel differently. Sigh.

    ReplyDelete
  30. I know that the show has a lot of fake moments, reason being is that I saw my cousin on the show in one episode in a staged incident. I saw the episode and said, damn, that is my cousin, there is no way it is not. Sure enough, I contacted my cousin and she said it was a staged incident. I will not tell you what episode or if my cousin is a male or female. Actually two of my cousins were in different episodes but I did not see one of my cousins in another episode. So yes there is a lot of staging going on in this show. Enough said, and I know this for a fact, 110%, because I am related to two of the show participants . I cannot tell you more than what I just said, it is all fact, period!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  31. Thanks for stopping by, my dear Paul!!! Oh, I can understand where much of what is filmed would have to be staged to a great extent with a show like this, but could they at least make it more realistic? I mean, come on, with most of the viewers not knowing the difference, why not produce a show that is not so AWFULLY fake?

    ReplyDelete
  32. How about the episode where a truck is stuck under a bridge in the middle of the city yet its location is unknown. And by gosh the bounty hunters find it before the local police do.

    I guess none of these trucks have GPS either

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for stopping by, my dear Anonymous!!! The only GPS I ever had was a sticker on the dashboard that said, YOU ARE HERE!

      Delete

Since the Blogger spam filter has been found sorely lacking lately, I will start moderating comments. Be assured that I am only interested in deleting spam. So, if you feel a need to take me to task over something—even anonymously, go ahead and let 'er rip, and I will publish it as soon as I can.