Tag Archives: Mike Ammirati

American Chopper: Senior vs. Junior: Silent Treatment

17 Oct

October 17. 2011

Great, an episode about everyone’s least favorite guy on the show, Jason Pohl. Unless he gets shot out of a cannon or tossed into a volcano I’m not looking forward to this. That guy is insufferable.

Discovery is promoing that “Jason does the unthinkable.” Does he quit? Does he kiss Senior on the lips? I have no clue. I do not go on the net and look for information, I just take it as they air it. However, I do see the searches that lead to this site and since last week’s show there have been a lot of searches for “Jason pushes bike off lift.” So does he push a bike off the lift this week? Let’s find out.

In the first minute, Paulie says he has no plans to make amends with his father. No kidding.

Also in the first minute, Jason pushes a bike off the lift. BUT, he pushes a bike that was being torn apart, and as a joke. Or was it? The clip seemed like it wasn’t serious, but let’s wait and see it in context. OK, end of suspense. Jason is not getting fired.

DeKalb, a corn company that is celebrating its 100 year anniversary, is hiring PJD to build a bike and it will later be auctioned off for the American Red Cross. Yes, another corn company. A scientific corn company. A high-tech scientific corn company. The bike is going to be a sort of old-fashioned design with a skinny backwheel and a wood-style paint job, like farm crates. Paulie must have said “farmer” a dozen times in relation to the bike design.

OCC is working for Cell Buckle, who makes cellphone holders for bikes or cars or whatever. It is a piece of plastic. Later on Mike tried to sell it as a cool product, but it is a piece of palstic.

The Cell Buckle guys did just what Senior needs to make him happy- complained about his son. “Very greedy.” They thought JOe was arrogant and Paulie asked for too much money. Maybe yes, maybe no. They don’t have a huge business, it is a startup. But again, nice product or not, it is a piece of plastic.

Meanwhile, a group of Hawaiian fans (whom Mikey claimed were distant Hawaiian royalty) visited PJD and of course, they had to stick their noses in the Teutul’s business and ask Paulie about his relationship with Senior. I get that fans feel invested in the show and feel entitled to ask those questions since everything with the Teutuls is public, but does Paulie really need random people off the street asking him about his relationship with his father?

Back at OCC, Rick is building a fender on his own- not going by Jason’s plans- because, once again, Jason’s lack of bike knowledge made his plans unworkable, at least in part. When will this guy actually stop and learn what he needs to know to dow his job? OK, maybe he can be creative (and I would debate some of his designs) but if he didn’t kiss so much Senior ass he’d have been gone. How many times does he have to make a bad set of plans before there are repercussions?

“How do you like this bike?” -Senior to Rick
“Eh, it’s all right… It’s very generic.”- Rick
“I’m not unveiling that bike unless its hot.”- Senior
“I was a little taken aback. I take complaints personally. I try to adjust to make them like it.”-Jason

And then Jason started screaming and yelling like Senior on steroids and shoved the bike off the lift. “We’re starting over!”

And then he flipped out for real. He threw stuff around the office, screamed at Rick, and honest to goodness threw a temper tantrum. Screaming and yelling, throwing parts around like a gorilla, going seriously insane. I was sure he was fooling around at first, and senior stood back and smiled at Jason, but it quickly got serious and scary.

“You’re acting like Mikey!”-Senior to Jason

“He needs to get punched in the head. Let’s build some real bikes like we used too.”-Rick.

Rick went on to say that he’s not happy making bikes based on drawings and he liked the way things were done better when Paulie was around. And he was serious, he wanted to punch Jason in the head. He was steamed. Jason was throwing stuff all over the shop and made a wreck of the place. Remember when Paulie was fired and he stormed out? Same thing.

Senior’s response? “I’ll wait for him to calm down and talk to him.”

Even Mike was pissed. There was a lot of work in that bike and not all of it was getting trashed.

As for what happened to Jason? Nothing. Senior laughed and shook his hand. Hey, no biggie.

Here it is, simply. Senior NEEDS TO STOP LISTENING TO JASON, who knows nothing about building bikes and designs bikes that, with some exceptions, kind of look the same, and START LISTENING TO RICK, who is fixing Jason’s bad designs and telling Senior for weeks now that he isn’t happy with the way things are going there. Who is more important? Jason or Rick? One is a professional who knows how to make a motorcycle and the other is an illustrator. One draws unbuildable bikes and one builds bikes. HEY SENIOR- PAY ATTENTION TO WHAT RICK HAS TO SAY.

But I have to admit, this episode lived up to the hype. I only wish Jason got fired.

And back at PJD…
“Hey, we talk to Rick lately?”- Paulie
“He’s ticked off. Jason pushed a bike off the lift.”- Vinnie
“That’s enough to get him fired.”-Vinnie
“With all the fights and arguments I never had the nerve to kick a bike over.”- Paulie.
“Hopefully Ricker can come down here and…say hi to us.”-Paulie.

The PJD guys- Paulie, Vinnie, and Mikey, brought up an interesting point. Over at PJD there has been no fighting and no stress. Over at OCC Rick is getting pissed and Jason is blowing up. What does that tell you?

NEXT WEEK:

American Chopper: Senior vs. Junior
Communication Breakdown
Mikey and Senior both say they want to  meet up, but go back and forth about the conditions they will meet under. OCC  uses every last minute to complete their bike for US Biker Law. PJD unveils their bike for Dekalb.

For a second I was sure that was a repeat but it isn’t, PJD is still working on the DeKalb corn bike. So one more time we get to see Mikey jerk his father around. Wonderful. And again, Mikey tries to get Senior to go to a therapist. Are they sure this isn’t a rerun?

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American Chopper: Senior vs. Junior: Mikey’s Decision

3 Oct

October 3, 2011

Last week, after Senior uncharacteristically low-key and slightly on the humble side (seriously, by Paul Teutul Senior standards, that is) reached out to Mikey, he was given the run around by his son as usual. So it all comes to a head this week, as The Discovery Channel leads us to believe, so we’ll see what Mikey’s Decision is tonight.

PROGRAMMING NOTE: Next week’s show is described this way on The Discovery Channel site:

Mikey’s Favorite Moments
From PJD’s first big unveil to bow  fishing in Louisiana, Mikey recalls his favorite American Chopper memories.  Relive the scary encounter between Junior and a lion in South Africa, as well as some touching family moments.

Yep, it is a clip show. So is the season over? I don’t know. But I can’t wait to see Paulie vs. the lion! Oh, and those “touching family moments.” How ironic is that?

But on to tonight. The builds continue on the Beck’s Hybrid corn and Cepheid bikes, but that’s not really why most viewers tune in anymore. I can’t say I’m crazy about the PJD Cepheid bike, but that’s because they are following the color scheme of the Cepheid components and they are going for a “clinical” look. (Paulie must have said that word a dozen times this week. Or at least it felt like that.) I think they are succeeding, but the bike isn’t to my taste. Not a bad bike, just not to my liking. Nub has been playing a bigger part at PJD these last few weeks, and that is a good thing considering how vital the paint jobs are to their bikes.

OCC, you may recall, is building a reverse trike, meaning that the two wheels are in the front and one in the back. They are also doing work with fiberglass, which they haven’t done in the shop before. Like Paulie’s bike, they are doing a nice job but it isn’t my type. If you’ve read these posts before you know I am not a motorcycle guy but I do appreciate the way they look and how they are built but these don’t do it for me, though I do see and appreciate all the work and tech going into it. It isn’t an insult to either team that I don’t like the bikes.

Skeeter, the grey-haired old man, is helping out on the hybrid bike and while he seems to know his stuff, he also seems to just repeat what Mike says. He comes across a sort of long-haired parrot. Nice guy though.

As the show opened, Senior again reached out to Mikey and asked to commission a painting- a Mikey Teutul original! He must really be desperate. Once again, the ball is in Mikey’s court. Mikey went to think it over in his studio and we were treated to him creating more art, and I’ve said it before, he’s about as talented as an entire kindergarten class. Hey, that’s a compliment- he’s not as talented as one kindergartener, it takes a whole Kindergarten class to equal him. Anyway (sorry about that) he said that his father didn’t want to discuss anything of substance and decided that he won’t see him. How does he know what his father will discuss? It doesn’t matter. He simply doesn’t want to- or is scared to- see his father and instead of admitting it he is making up reasons to put it on his father’s shoulders. Oh sure, Mikey could meet him anywhere and anytime, Senior will be there, but in Mikey’s mind it is all his father’s fault they won’t meet. I don’t often give Senior the benefit of the doubt, but he isn’t wrong here. And if Mikey goes to a meeting and Senior won’t discuss certain things or refuses to consider change, or whatever Mikey wants, then he’ll have a legitimate reason to moan. But right now Mikey is playing possum.

Later, Mikey asked Vinnie for advice on the Senior situation. Vinnie kind of pointed Mikey in the direction of getting together and Mikey, who goes however the wind blows, seems to move a drop in that direction. (But he also says he is going to take his time with it “that’s for certain.” How much longer is he going to wait?)  And good for Vinnie, who hates Senior, for putting that aside and telling Mikey the importance of having a family.

So Mikey emailed his father and decided it was too awkward to make a painting for Senior and said he “has a fear of his father because of all the chaos.” Finally! And I swear, I wrote that a few paragraphs back before Mikey said it, I swear. And the upshot is that he decided to keep the lines of communication open (email) but keep his father at arm’s length, which is just a cop-out.

Mikey’s Decision? He punted.

But at 9:48, any little sympathy I had for Senior was lost when he sat down with Jason for advice and explained the whole thing. To Jason! And what did Jason do? Giggled and laughed. Go back and see for yourself. Jason’s advice? Hire a private detective to follow Mikey so Senior can “accidentally” bump into his son. I wish a two by four would bump into Jason’s head.

Interestingly, Senior and the guys at OCC are responding in a back door way to what the fans who write in here and elsewhere say. Fans say that a lot is fake on the show, but no, everything is real. Steve (claimed he) sat at a ballgame and some fans asked him about the show. Senior claims that they have a negative public perception (true) and they have to move past it for business reasons (also true.)

“If he (Paulie) called me up today and said fuck it, let’s go fishing, I would. But there’ll be no talk about when I smacked him with the paddle whan he was seven years old. The only time he ever got hit in his life. I’m not going there no more.” Nice.

Senior keeps talking about “doing restaurants.” An OCC theme restaurant? What do you think about that?

And last week’s tease of Rick going to PJD? Not a whisper.

Next week’s show, which they claim is “all new,” is a clip show focusing on Mikey and is followed by the premiere of American Guns. You guys are on your own with that show.

An “all new” clip show. Well, technically, but…

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