Is Discovery Channel Calling The Shots?

You would think that shows are are meant to be educational and informative would take a little time to look at their shows. The question here is with all the reality shows on TV now, does the Discovery Franchise have to follow suit? Do they have to build drama into their shows now just to get the ratings?

There have been an abundance of shows premiering on Discovery in the last couple years and to be completely honest; I was a fan, at first. The show I remember really being hooked on was "American Chopper". It took over a good majority of air time and became an overnight success. We all grew with the Teutul's, as they struggled to become one of the biggest customer bike manufactures in the country, which wouldn't have happened without Discovery leading the way.

It seemed, after a while, the show was losing its appeal to the fans, because of the changes in the show and the everyday drama that viewers began to expect, and was doomed to cancelation. Like any once popular show, Discovery's million dollar "American Chopper" wasn't going to go gracefully. Out of the mess was born, "Senior vs. Junior American Chopper". One can't help to think this is just another "marketing strategy to increase show ratings, sales of merchandise on the websites, and boost the fame of the Teutul's, increasing their personal sales."

It seems to me that Discovery never had that much drama on their series, before they were educational, informative, and just entertaining. This seems to be the common theme on all the new shows, from the paranormal right down to the newest hit "Sons of Guns", now into their second season and already packed with drama, which was meant to entertain people about building guns. A "typical" Hollywood love triangle has ensued on the show, and I begin to really wonder if Discovery is aiming for "Soap Opera" instead of portraying their standard of reality shows.

I personally started watching "Sons of Guns", because it was interesting and entertaining. The first season was out of this world with the genuine family togetherness and Will Hayden being the perfect combination of business owner and father figure. At this moment though I am no longer sure this is the case, because of the drama playing out between co-stars Kris Ford and Stephanie Hayden, daughter of Will Hayden. They are now leaving the season finale with Kris Ford waiting for permission to date Stephanie Hayden.

Wasn't this show to be about how this family builds guns, but now we are rooting for a love triangle? As Kris Ford would say, "are you kidding me?" I have a word of advice to the cast of "Sons of Guns," stay true to your original show and leave your personal lives out of it. You will still have your ratings; don't let the big corporate producers run your business and your family. The drama started to pick up in the end of the season last year, which obviously is to build up to bringing the characters back to next seasons show, and it makes you wonder if "every man does have his price." Has Mr. Hayden been bitten by the celebrity fame bug, like the Teutul's?

Discovery has been introducing more "down south" shows and for good reason. They are trying to reach a different audience and Discovery isn't the only one either, which leads me to one of the most ridiculously fake shows on cable, that sadly originated from Discovery.

If you want to be fully entertained, you need to watch truTV's show line up of Discovery rejects. The show that takes the cake, coming from my own home state, is "Hardcore Pawn". This show is the biggest joke on any network. Leave it to the people in the show to make it that obvious, they try so hard being wannabe bad asses that they have become the epitome of making a fool of yourself on the air. Yet, as a statement of society's choice to watch people make idiots of themselves on national TV, it is one of the highest rated shows on the network.What puts the icing on the cake is how badly the father and son act, ranking themselves in one of the dumbest shows in the history of television. I really believe, if these people had an ounce of sense they would see that they are the laughing stock of reality shows. Viewers don't care about what is being sold; it is the drama that plays out, that is what makes it entertaining.

Another great example of these types of shows is The History Channels, "Pawn Stars". Now there is a show that is entertaining, but how long it is going to take before ratings start to drop like it did with "American Chopper" and Cory from "Pawn Stars" leaves the show to compete with his father in a network war to see who can bring the drama to draw in most viewers. It is unfortunate that our society finds it entertaining; making networks millions while sending the wrong message. Why are we really wasting our time with shows like these? It is because that is what this country needs; we need to see how others ruin their lives, so we can forget about how bad ours really are? Have we all become so needy of "Jerry Springer drama" that we need to work these programs into our daily lives?

Let's face it, "Sons of Guns" was about building guns, "American Chopper" was about building customers' Choppers, but we have demanded the drama that has twisted the shows into these displays of national idiocy. We have followed these people through their struggles, becoming a part of their realities, and are now so caught up in their lives that we push the producers to think of new drama. Come on let's drop the drama and keep it REAL.

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