"area man" (hurrburgring)
12/05/2014 at 09:58 • Filed to: None
2
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"area man" (hurrburgring)
12/05/2014 at 09:58 • Filed to: None | 2
| 22 |
Apologies if this has been posted before, but I believe I have found the only show worth watching on the History Channel (no offense TGUSA fans, just got tired of Tanner winning all the time). Submitted for consideration: !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! .
The show follows five teams of two in what is essentially a multi-stage off-road rally across Alaska, from the Pacific to the Arctic Ocean. As you can see from the pictures, this is no professional endeavor - these are astonishingly regular, crazy people driving in their personal off-roaders, the newest of which is a 20-year-old 4Runner. There's also another late-80s 4Runner (with the 4-banger), an old Land Cruiser, a Defender, and a crazy homebuilt "Super Jeep." Perhaps most importantly, there's not a single automatic transmission in sight. A lot of great shifting action to be had here, folks.
Each episode is a single stage that's divided into two parts with an overnight rest, and since it was filmed this summer the sun never fully sets, which is kind of crazy. Unlike a traditional rally there's no set course, although the start and finish points are set up so there's only a few viable paths to choose from. In the pilot, the stage consisted of a few river crossings, some mud flats, sand dunes, and an overgrown logging road. Not especially challenging stuff, although there were a few features that gave the teams trouble. They've been cruising along the floor of a glacial valley close to the Pacific so I imagine things will get tougher as they head inland.
The show is not perfect - there's some stupid drama, of course, but overall I really enjoyed watching these crazy Alaskans go nuts in a surprisingly authentic setting. One of the guys casually mentions that another is a crazy black helicopter conspiracy theorist, another uses "people on forums" to back up his argument in a screaming match, and half of them are chain smoking the whole ride. It also really helps they're driving their own rigs. Anyway, that's my two cents.
RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
> area man
12/05/2014 at 10:04 |
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I only saw the preview for this, but it made me wonder about the competence of the 4runner team. They appeared to be under the impression a river was as good as a road regardless of depth, going upstream...
My citroen won't start
> area man
12/05/2014 at 10:07 |
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The only problem with History Channel is that I don't really trust their drama anymore, it all seems so scripted and over exaggerated.
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area man
> RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
12/05/2014 at 10:10 |
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Which 4Runner?
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RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
> area man
12/05/2014 at 10:11 |
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The newer one.
Chris_K_F drives an FR-Slow
> My citroen won't start
12/05/2014 at 10:12 |
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The "History" Channel has gone the way of The "Learning" Channel.
The titles of these two channels and their content are an excellent example of what's wrong with U.S. pop-culture.
That being said, I'm all about a show like this and am definitely going to check it out.
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area man
> My citroen won't start
12/05/2014 at 10:13 |
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Well that's the thing, it's not really about the drama here. The teams are rarely close together out on the trail, so it's mostly just shots of the pairs working together to tackle obstacles. They GoPro'd the hell out of their rigs. Any additional "drama" in this situation just takes the form of breakdowns, of which there were several. I guess there could be more interpersonal shit coming, but the pilot was pretty refreshing.
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area man
> RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
12/05/2014 at 10:16 |
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Ah yeah. They're clearly not the most experienced, but the other teams seem to have their shit together - although the other 4Runner overheated in the first five minutes and later they had to mix their coolant with glacial runoff to stretch it because it was losing so much.
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My citroen won't start
> Chris_K_F drives an FR-Slow
12/05/2014 at 10:19 |
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I am as well, I love the plot and the car lineup.
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My citroen won't start
> area man
12/05/2014 at 10:20 |
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I was definitely going to check it out, but now I'm even more interested. I wonder if they'll bring this to the South American History Channel.
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Chris_K_F drives an FR-Slow
> My citroen won't start
12/05/2014 at 10:24 |
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They need to bring South American racing to the History Channel. They have some awesome rallies down there! One of which has a GT86 rally car running in it. <3
Luc - The Acadian Oppo
> area man
12/05/2014 at 10:25 |
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I watched it yesterday it wasn't bad but I was so distracted the whole time.
This guy has the worst mullet I have ever seen and it was like a really bad accident I could not look away and enjoy the show.
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area man
> Luc - The Acadian Oppo
12/05/2014 at 10:28 |
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It's terrible. I loved when he bounced out of his seat and smacked his head on the ceiling.
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Luc - The Acadian Oppo
> area man
12/05/2014 at 10:30 |
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seatbelts are over rated they say.
Andrew P. Collins
> My citroen won't start
12/05/2014 at 10:48 |
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I would posit that "reality" TV has to be scripted and exaggerated.
If anyone made a "totally-straight" TV show about driving trucks over trails, fishing for crabs, taking a vacation in New Jersey... it'd be your aunt's home movies and nobody would watch because it'd be boring.
MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner
> area man
12/05/2014 at 12:07 |
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holy crap I had no idea this was a thing
I will be watching it all now.
HammerheadFistpunch
> area man
12/05/2014 at 12:09 |
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DAT 55!
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area man
> HammerheadFistpunch
12/05/2014 at 12:10 |
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It's been pretty unstoppable so far
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HammerheadFistpunch
> area man
12/05/2014 at 12:13 |
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Dude driving it looks like a dick though.
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area man
> HammerheadFistpunch
12/05/2014 at 12:31 |
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the big mulleted guy? He's the navigator/helper, the driver actually seems pretty cool.
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HammerheadFistpunch
> area man
12/05/2014 at 12:33 |
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yeah, mullet man is the guy im not too keen on.
BigBlock440
> area man
12/05/2014 at 14:07 |
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Thanks for letting me know this exists. I don't watch TV much so I guess I missed the previews for it, definitely going to watch it.
Trinity89
> HammerheadFistpunch
12/29/2014 at 02:38 |
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One episode was enough for me... Just a bunch of alaskans with fewer brain cells than I have fingernails and two dorky old city slickers who don't know how to drive... Actually none of them do might as well put a woman behind the wheel of everyone. They wouldn't be any worse.