Tag Archives: American Chopper

American Chopper: Senior vs. Junior: Rick’s News

5 Mar

March 5, 2012

Last week Discovery had a little fun at your expense. They posted the episode title but not the description. They knew that people would jump to the conclusion that Rick was leaving OCC and moving to PJD. Not me, I don’t see that happening, and if somehow it did, the news would leak out long before the show aired. Anyway, here is the description of tonight’s show.

RICK’S NEWS March 5, 2012
Rick’s news? He’s ENGAGED! Meanwhile, Junior decides to revamp the Black Widow Bike he recently reclaimed from Senior, and OCC works on a two-bike build for John Christner Trucking.

The plot threads tonight: 1- Will Rick invite Paul Sr. and Paulie to his wedding?  2- Paulie takes the OCC logo off the Black Widow bike and puts on a PJD logo. 3- Mikey hires a personal trainer. (Not the first time, IIRC.)

I have not yet seen the show, we are only 3 minutes in. I understand him wanting to remove the OCC logo but I disagree. It was an OCC bike. Why deny history? It was NEVER a PJD build. OK, he doesn’t want to advertise OCC, but at the very least, leave it without a logo.

OCC is hired to build a pair of bikes for John Christner Trucking, one old-fashioned, one modern. PJD will be working on the Black Widow. They had a flashback to season one with Senior talking about the bike. Senior had a fatter face and darker hair. Time has worn on. Anyway, the bike needs an overhaul, the frame needs work, the paint needs to be redone, it just looks like a ten year-old bike.

Over at OCC, Rick is in charge of the old-school bike, and it appears he is even designing it. It goes without saying how smooth the build will go. Rick is building it like Paulie would, on the go, coming up with ideas as he goes along. As the episode goes along, Rick just shows more and more of the skill we’ve seen over the years. Sad that skill and talent are not rewarded at OCC as much as other things. Yes, Rick is paid well (I assume) and has a good job, but why doesn’t he have more say in the builds?

BTW- the bike Jason “drawed?” It had a design problem: unbuildable exhaust pipes.

Rick is getting married and yes, he is inviting everyone to the wedding, OCC, PJD, whoever. Will they fight? Will they get along? Will they all show up?

Mikey goes on the radio show that they always seem to be on, the big guy with the hoarse voice, to plug the weight loss challenge he entered last week. He is 350 pounds! He’s raising money for a leukemia charity and he is getting sponsored, so much per pound lost. If he shaves his beard and cuts his hair there goes 20 pounds, easy. So Mikey now has a personal trainer. He doesn’t seem to have his blind, Dungeons + Dragons-looking sidekick anymore.

His trainer is Carlos Kremer, a buff but not toned looking guy who seemed more interested in mentally motivating Mikey than training him. He claims to be a former marine, but for a tough military man he seemed more interested in asking about his relationship with his father than building Mikey up. At any rate, he gets Mikey lifting weights, so good for him.

“He seems a bit misdirected.” -Carlos on Mikey, and man, is that an understatement. He is a “master motivator and life coach.” Sounds like BS to me, but I am ready to be convinced. If there is one thing Mikey needs, it is a life coach. 

Nub got some screen time, talking about how bad he feels that he has to take off the OCC logo. He called up Shane from OCC, the original painter, to tell him the logo he painted is coming off. On the one hand, I commend Nub for having the loyalty to tell the guy. On the other hand, where is the loyalty to Paulie? If Shane said not to touch it, would Nub have not done the job? And who is Shane (and Nub for that matter) to make the call. Paulie is both the owner of the bike and the guy paying Nub. Do what he says. End of story.

After all the time that has passed, Rick and Vinnie meet up at a diner to catch up and talk about Rick’s upcoming wedding. Vinnie is going to the wedding regardless of who else is or is not. Vinnie again showed himself to be a class act talking about Senior and his mother, who passed away recently.

Paulie, his wife, and his mother sat down to talk about the Helen situation. Bottom line, he feels it should be handled in private. As he pointed out, he didn’t allow discovery to film his wedding and there were no cameras in the courtroom during all the legal drama with his father. He has a point, but does it take a family sit down to get him to tell his father how sorry he is?

I was prepared to write that the show spent more time on the builds, which it did, but I then realized that while they are showing more, nothing is being explained. There is very little on the technical side of things. This show is still not for people who are into the builds. (No news there, I know.)

BTW- remember Odie? The guy Paulie fired for being total turd and who was later hired by Senior because he badmouthed his son? Haven’t seen him in a long time, have we?

PJD unveiled the revamped Black Widow at the Javits Center in NYC and Vinnie pointed out that most of the people who built it ten years ago were standing on stage with one exception: Paul Senior.

Next Week:

THE CALL March 12, 2012
After weeks of silence, Junior calls Senior to give his condolences on Helen’s passing. Then PJD starts a charity build for the March of Dimes while OCC finishes a two-bike build for John Christner Trucking.

From the commercial: Paulie calls Senior.

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The Celebrity Apprentice: Week Three

4 Mar

March 4, 2012

Victoria Gotti got whacked last week and I am glad. I could not stand her. That makes two wins in a row for the men, but they inured Dee Snider’s finger and it looks like this week it may turn into a serious injury. This week’s challenge has to do with Ivanka’s fashion line and it may be that the women can get a win this week.

THE TASK: Design a living window display for Ivanka Trump’s fashion line
MEN’S PROJECT MANAGER: George Takei (As Adam Carolla repeatedly said, “because he is gay.”)
WOMEN’S PROJECT MANAGER: Dayana Mendoza

Each team had two windows to design. Aubrey took off with a design on the women’s side and sort of took over. George for the men seemed to be just a drop lost and right away Clay started losing faith. Adam seemed at the start to be pushing him a little because George didn’t have much drive. Dee had to leave early for a doctor’s appointment to check the finger he hurt on the last task. Does that make him weak? A target? It is all about the game.

Each team split in two, one group to get supplies and one to work on the display. For the men, Adam took over but for some reason he didn’t call George to check on anything. Aubrey was running the women’s site and not making any friends. It was probably a mistake not staying on site.

Trump’s assistant Amanda got some lines this week. She also works for Ivanka on the clothing line.

“That ladies think they have a theme but I have no idea what it is yet.” – Don Junior. give them credit for one thing, though. When they needed help, they called Ivanka direct. It later came back to hurt the men that they did not.

The gay issue was front and center on the men’s team. Adam first picked Clay, then endorsed George, because they were gay. But later on Arsenio spotted that as a negative. As he said, if the gay teammates only looked at how men dress, they should step back and let Arsenio, who notices women, take over. (If you have an issue with that, feel free to comment but remember that it was Arsenio and Adam, not me.) Adam continued his (correct, in my book) criticism of George and if they lose, it is obvious he will be the main target. George didn’t even go over to the display to check it out. His group did their thing and he called it a day.

At the doctor, Dee learns that he needs surgery. And he needs it fast or the bone will naturally set in a very bad way. It appeared, and it could be simply due to the editing, that he had it right then and there. He returned later that day with his arm and hand in a full cast.

For the men’s team, and I got a laugh out of this, there was a snag with the pieces fabricated by Paul Senior’s “people.” They were designed incorrectly. I have no idea if he sent it out to OCC or a contractor, that is how Adam described them, his “people.” (Later on George told Ivanka it was OCC and Paul confirmed it in the boardroom.) So yes, Paul Teutul’s design was wrong. I hope Jason had a hand in it. Anyway, it was funny seeing Adam Carolla and Lou Ferrigno show Paul Sr. how to fabricate a sign.

Funny line: Paul Sr. to Lou Ferringo: “Why you gotta be so big?”

It isn’t smooth sailing for the women either; their pictures are not ready. So Aubrey just jumped in and took charge. If they lose, it is Aubrey and Dayana in the boardroom.

“George didn’t make himself useful in any way.” -Clay, describing how everyone else pitched in to help get the models ready.
“George gave away so much authority that he had no purpose anymore.” -Clay.

The unveiling came and the men’s windows? BORING. The displays were bare and there was nothing going on in them. Clay and some models were in a very bare office setting. George, presenting to Ivanka, could barely speak, mixing up Clay and Arsenio, stuttering, and generally being unable to explain anything. Arsenio was in the other window, a boring bare red carpet with Arsenio and some models. Visually there was zero to hold your attention. Not a single member of the men’s team looked happy. They knew they had a dog.

The women’s windows looked more interesting. The models were doing things, the design of the set was interesting, and while it wasn’t impressive either, it was light years ahead of the men, at least in my opinion.

If the women lose, who will Dayana bring back? She couldn’t say. Who would Aubrey bring back? She tried to pass, but when pressed, she said she’d want Lisa and Patricia on her team. Patricia had great words for Lisa too.

It wasn’t the same on the men’s team. As they went to commercial at 10:25, Clay’s words about George were brought up. Clay defended them and even Arsenio, in defending George, was kid of lukewarm. It was clear Arsenio was hedging his words. He said, in effect that if he did a bad job, it was on George for not supervising him.

THE WINNER: The Women. Given that the woman’s team were, as it was put a few times, the exact demographic the line was designed for, and it contained professional models and actresses, this was no surprise.

Arsenio got knocked for the clothing, Lou and Adam got knocked for the fabrication, and George took hits for not being closely involved. Lou said he would fire Arsenio, Paul, who got nothing but praise for his sign, said he would fire George for not supervising and lack of communication. (I hope the American Chopper viewers appreciate that.) Clay of course blamed George: “He was not always present in what happened.” Penn, after explaining that he had little to add to the task, didn’t pick anyone to go, and Dee was given a pass. Arsenio, who would you fire? If it came down to the clothes, it should be him. Bad move. Who would Adam fire? George, because everyone did good so it rests on the project manager’s shoulders. Penn reluctantly agreed.

GOING TO THE BOARDROOM: George, Arsenio, and surprisingly, Lou, who George claimed misunderstood directions. I have to wonder, what directions?

George said that another team member asked Lou to step back, and it had to be Adam, who felt that Lou was horning in on his job. Lou once again defended himself very well. I really want to see him as the p.m. soon. As the boardroom went on, it sounded more and more like even George expected to be fired. He was making his goodbyes before the decision was made.

YOU’RE FIRED: George Takei

NEXT WEEK: A Buick presentation, and the commercial promises two firings.

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