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American Chopper: Sr. vs. Jr. Returns Yet Again, December 2010

14 Dec

December 14, 2010

I thought I was done. After the “season finale” in which the gang all went to Sturgis, I thought this show would be gone for awhile. There’s usually a break of a few months between seasons. There I was, taking a nice break from writing about phony-reality television. No American Choppers, no Scrappers (except for the spam some loser from their Facebook page keeps sending) for what I  thought was the long haul. I figured I’d see an ad, read an article, catch a commercial when American Choppers returned but no, this caught me by surprise. How did I know it had returned? It was a suggestion on my TiVo. Thanks. Betrayed by my own TiVo.

At any rate, just because the show came back, there was no real reason for me to write about it. Oh, I was always going to watch. Unlike Scrappers, I do tend to enjoy this show and except for a season or so in the middle, I’ve seen it from the beginning. In all honesty, I get a lot of clicks on the site from the Choppers blogs, but I get a lot of clicks from other things too. However, in this latest show, something caught me eye. Or rather, my ear.

It was Senior.

He didn’t yell. He didn’t insult his son. Though he said some uncomplimentary things about Paulie, they weren’t gratuitous, or simply just “he’s a jerk”-type stuff. And talking about PJD’s debut at Sturgis, he was nearly complimentary

That’s what got me. Senior was reasonable. A reasonable Senior.

Of course, I am an episode behind, so we’ll see how long this lasts.

So here I go.

First, the bikes.

OCC was contracted to build a bike for the Fallen Heroes Foundation, honoring soldiers who died in combat. Remembering the POW/MIA bike, I figured this was right up their alley.

I was wrong.

For some reason, Sr. left the design totally in the hands of the ass-kissing primate, Jason. Jason designed a really cool looking bike. Seriously, it was. It was a true GI Joe bike, desert colors, with ammo draped over it, grenades, claymore mines, and a rifle. It was a really great tribute to war and weapons. I’m sure Duke or Hawk would awesome fighting Cobra on it. I’m not really sure how it was a tribute to fallen soldiers. Everyone gushed about how cool it was, and I agree, it was, but as a tribute it fell flat.

But Jason got to run around with a gun.

PJD was contracted to rebuild and personalize an ATV. Having four wheels and resembling a dune buggy, you may realize that this was not, technically, a motorcycle. To be fair, this is a start-up and Paulie has to take what he can get.

Problem- Paulie knows nothing about ATV’s. Worse, he told the costumer, something called “Blingstar,” that “I don’t really understand quads.” I see a public relations course in his future.

Solution- Odie knows ATV’s. Put him in charge.

Problem- Odie is an inexperienced kid who mumbles when he talks because he doesn’t move his lower jaw, is obsessed with the word “freak” (Seriously- count how many times he said it this episode) and is totally not ready to run a build. When learning that the kid was to be in charge, the buyer, to his credit, didn’t run away, but he did laugh out loud.

Solution- Let Vinnie supervise Odie.

Unfortunately, that is not what happens, so parts don’t arrive on time, guys show up work and have no work to do, and Odie chooses to paint the ATV in unfortunate 1980’s-style neon orange and yellow. It’ll be Hulkamania running wild all over again.

It also inspired no confidence when Odie flipped the quad and landed flat on his face.

PJD has also expanded to the point where Mikey’s blind assistant helps take apart the bikes, and some old guy hangs around in the background.

More on the bike, er, ATV, next week.

The highlight of the show was Senior. He never yelled. He never screamed. I don’t know what got into him, except maybe he finally watched his own show and realized what a goon he looked like.

He gave Paulie credit for building two bikes, gave him credit for actually getting the business up and running, and even back-hand complimented the bikes.

This week he got an invitation to his son’s wedding, and to the surprise of no one, he didn’t go. Say what you will about the guy, and I agree- everything in the family is about 95% his fault, if not more. But this week, he sounded so damn reasonable that even if you didn’t agree with him, you had to admit that he still made a logical point. He said he wanted to go the wedding, but if he did, he would be a distraction, and he was right. He thought it would take away from Paulie’s day, which it might have.  Certainly, a lot of questions would have been asked of Paulie, and who knows what pressure he might have felt.

Personally, I would have gone, but Senior made sense. I didn’t agree, but I could see his point.

Next, Senior reached out to Mikey. After about a dozen emails, they agreed to a sit down in neutral territory to work things out. Senior, calmly and reasonably, explained how he never had a problem with Mikey, how any trouble with Paulie had no bearing on their relationship. Again, damnably reasonable. THIS WASN’T PAUL TEUTUL SR!

For whatever, reason, Mikey decided not to go. He also decided not to tell his father so his father showed up at the diner, waited around for half an hour, tried to call his son, and then left. If I didn’t know better, I’d feel sorry for him.

By the way, this week we also saw Mikey’s new art studio, in which I’m pretty sure he hung up some drop cloths and called it art. And blink and you missed it, there was a “Free Rick” poster there too.

So bottom line, Mikey will have nothing to do with his father unless he patches things up with the rest of the family, which isn’t really fair to his father.

Nor is it fair to us, the viewers.

I don’t know what happened this week, I have no idea what they slipped into Senior’s coffee, I don’t care if he’s in therapy, next week he better scream and yell, blow up a mannequin of his son, take an axe to an old car, anything but be calm and reasonable.

Or this show may have to focus on making bikes again.

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The Age of (Bleep)ing Innocence

7 Dec

December 7, 2010

In an earlier blog about the Rex Morgan M.D. comic strip, I touched upon what can be considered appropriate or inappropriate in the Sunday newspaper comics section. This particular run of Rex Morgan was about the news of the mayor’s prostate health leaking onto the internet and I wondered who would want to read that between Beetle Bailey and Hagar the Horrible? While I didn’t find the strip particularly appropriate for the funnies page, I didn;t find it offensive in the least. “Inappropriate” does not automatically equal “offensive.”

The Sunday comics are perhaps one of the last remaining pieces of true Americana. For decades, newspapers in most American cities have come wrapped inside a full-color section of various comic strips. These are true family reading. Over the decades, some strips have left us, (Flash Gordon by Alex Raymond, Terry and the Pirates by Milt Caniff, Peanuts by Charles Schulz) while others, like Popeye, have remained under different creators, and newer strips, like Rhymes with Orange, have brought us into the new century. The Sunday comics section is an American institution. Millions of adults read the comics over breakfast, while millions of children’s first reading experiences have been inside those panels. This is the last place to expect to find anything offensive.

However, two of the most famous comic strips have been just that.

Blondie and Popeye.

In 1992, Popeye, written by the soon-to-be-fired Bobby London, did a run of strips in which Olive Oyl got an unwanted doll and was thinking about sending it back to the manufacturer. She was overheard by a religious figure who thought she was talking about a real baby and considering an abortion. BTW, the religious figures were not too positively written. (More information and scans can be found here.)

Once again, we’ve come up with the issue of appropriate. Was it? First, I’ll say that they were enjoyable and pretty well written. I wasn’t crazy about the art, but chalk that up to taste. As to appropriateness, well, while I really do think comics can tackle tough issues, much like Rex Morgan discussing prostate health over breakfast, I’m not sure this was the place to do it. Was it offensive? No, but if it had gone on much longer the religious characters may have become offensive. there is already a hint of it in the lines about them being out of a job without Satan.

On the other hand, that brings us to a humble single strip of Blondie, from May of 2004, concerning a Little League Baseball game. Here is that best copy I can find.

Did you catch it? Middle panel. I don’t care to repeat it.

In the context of the strip, was it appropriate? Well, while it may be heard all the time at ball games, that doesn’t mean you have to put it in a comic strip aimed at the whole family. In the larger context of the Sunday newspaper, was it appropriate? No. New York Post aside, papers do have better standards. (And as you’ll see, not every paper ran that word.) I am not a knee-jerk think of the children type of person, but this strip is aimed at children. If the woman using the vulgar word got a comeuppance, or was shown in a negative light, or suffered some consequence due to her language, there would be a valuable lesson there. In the strip above, she simply became more interesting to Herb and Dagwood. In fact, she gets to deliver the punchline of the strip.

Was it offensive? I may be in the minority, but I say yes. Without getting graphic, we all know what the term really refers to. I wonder how many kids asked their parents what it meant after reading that strip. I’d like to have heard that conversation. Of course, many of you may just chalk that up to my personal opinion, and after reading the following column, you may be right.

So according to the statistics above, about  75% of the respondents don’t seem to find it very offensive. I know that words change meaning over time, and what was offensive yesterday may not be offensive today, and what is not offensive today may be offensive tomorrow, but admit it- how many of you raised your eyebrows when you read that?

People don’t name their children Adolph anymore. The word “faggot” has a clean and inoffensive meaning in England. Language is wonderful in that it evolves and grows.

But I don’t want to see the word “scumbag” in my comics section.

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