American Chopper Cancelled...

[madinmaryland]

After 10 years and 233 episodes on the air, American Chopper is finally getting dragged out behind the shed, and put out of its misery on December 11th, 2012. It has been a long road with the Teutul family, as for the past decade we have watched the Oedipal struggle between Paul Jr. and Paul Sr., with man-child Mikey trapped in the middle, serving as the only adult in the group.

Things started out well enough, with the folks at Orange County Choppers making some interesting customs, and exposing a mainstream TV audience to the world of motorcycles…albeit in the same lowest-common denominator way that is typically found on WWF’s Monday Night RAW.

Like all good Hollywood dreams, the money started to trickle in for “theme” bikes on the show. Turning what should have been an exposé of mechanical craftsmanship into a marketing/PR circle-jerk with the Teutul family’s severe anger-management issues as the sideshow distraction.

Somewhere within the plot lines of Paul Sr.’s bicep size, and his battle with son on who can more perfectly fit the description of narcissism in the DSM-IV, bikes were made…but really we just showed up to see how many chairs could be thrown across the room in a single episode, or how often Paul Jr. could act like a spoiled brat.

http://www.asphaltandrubber.com/news/american-chopper-cancelled/

It did jump the shark a few years back.

[Wounded Bear]

1. I watched a few episodes....

cool bikes, of course, but couldn't stand the drama.

I never did like "reality TV" much. Never seemed to be very real to me. They had a nice run.

[bluedigger]

2. I watched some in the first few years.

I lost interest though, for the reasons given in the article. I always thought Mikey was the most interesting of the crew. Maybe he'll get a spin off.

[InsultComicDog]

3. I gotta admit I used to like that show

although it got less enjoyable more recently.

[nolabear]

4. Donald Trump kills yet another career.

First Meatloaf, and now this.

[tonekat]

5. At first, I could watch it

but it quickly grew tiresome, with all the increased drama.

[A Simple Game]

6. That certainly took a lot longer than it should have. n/t

[jmowreader]

7. Are you sure OSHA didn't shut them down?

At least once per episode someone MIG welded a piece onto one of their ugly ass motorcycles (I get an opinion too, and I never liked anything they did) with no helmet, gloves or jacket. Better: half the time someone else was holding the piece being welded with bare hands, and of course no helmet. Fortunately they send out their paint; I can just imagine what that would be like...Paul Teufel probably never read an MSDS in his life and when you're dealing with urethane that's bad.

I guess I'll have to buy the videos to play "How Many Violations Can You Catch?"