Tag Archives: Odie

American Chopper: Senior vs. Junior: The Settlement

29 Aug

August 29, 2011

When last we saw American Chopper, OCC and PJD built dueling Cadillac bikes and it was left to the fans to vote for the favorite. Was anyone surprised when the vote was about sixteen million to one in favor of Paulie? Probably no one but Paul Sr. who did nothing but talk crap about his son all season.

As of August 27th, the auction has ended and Paulie won 146,916 to 10,413. I don’t know how Senior will spin it but he got his ass kicked. No matter what else happens this week, I expect him to still say that Paulie’s bike sucked. The real winner was the charity getting that the bikes are being auctioned off for. The high bid for Senior’s bike is $51,000 but Paulie has more than doubled him at $113,000. Any way you look at it, Senior got his ass kicked.

This week the commercials have been teasing a possible resolution in the war between father and son. Paulie still has 20% of OCC and Senor wants it back. I just hope we see more of Mikey’s wonderful “art.”

The show began and guess what? They ignored the big cliffhanger. That Cadillac Build-off they hyped all last season? Done and forgotten. Wanted to hear Senior’s reaction to getting smoked? Too bad.

The hype in the show’s tease was “The day everyone has been waiting for has arrived. Senior and Junior finally sit down to settle the lawsuit that has torn the family apart.” So of course, when the show started instead of that it began with OCC and PJD getting new clients. PJD got Fist technologies, who make biometric starters (meaning only those whose fingerprint matches can start them)  and OCC was hired by Hard Rock.

Even worse, at 6 minutes in we got Jason Pohl saying “gee-tar.” He smiled like he made a joke, and bless his little brain, I’m sure to him it was funny.

But it wasn’t that long until Paulie began talking about the settlement and he has one demand, he wants the Black Widow bike. On the one hand I think OCC wouldn’t want to part with it since it was one of the bikes that made their reputation, but one the other hand Senior always says they are so much better nowadays so why would they want a link to the past, especially since it was made mostly by Paulie, whom Senior always says is a lousy designer? Interestingly, Senior said “he wants his… uh our, Black Widow bike” so maybe deep down he knows it was all Junior. And surprisingly, he agreed to let Paulie have it. 

Interestingly, they spent more time than usual on the builds, almost like they did in seasons past. Recently the bikes have taken a back seat to the drama, but since Discovery ignored the drama of the Cadillac Build Off (and pissed off the fans who wanted to see the outcome) maybe they are going back to the bikes. And that’s good because it gives Rick Petko more screen time, and he seems to be the only guy at OCC who knows what to do and better yet, he knocked Jason Pohl’s designs as nice on paper but unrealistic to ride or build, and one thing I can’t get enough of is knocking Monkey Boy. But we all know if it comes down to Rick or Jason, Senior is going with the one who kisses his ass more.

Jason came out to the floor to complain about the bars and the guys changed it based on his word because- well, I really don’t know why. They should really know best what works, right? But they let Jason decide. At least go to Senior. I guess they know how much Senior loves his puppy. That got Rick unhappy. “What goes on paper isn’t necessarily what is going to happen in real life.” That left Jason unhappy.

As for PJD, they are continuing to work without a blueprint or design and Brendon (who has complained about this in the past) still had to ask Paulie what he wanted down with this and how he should do that. But Paulie is still creative and when the biometric starter- a little finger scanner- arrived, he decided to mount it in the gas tank. (Outside, that is, not inside.)

The Hard Rock bike ended up being an all black frame and tank with a chrome seat in the shape of a guitar. The neck stretched over the gas tank and almost up to the bars. It was nice but take that off the bike and it could have been any bike for anyone. For a bike with a Hard Rock theme it could have been better. From the side the guitar was hard to see and while it was nice, it didn’t say Hard Rock. In my opinion it is a nice bike but it missed the theme.

The Fist bike was all red, black, and chrome and looked good. The bio-starter was right in the center of the tank and it looked like a tough bike. Fist doesn’t have the big image like Hard Rock so there were no expectations, just the use of the new technology. (By the way, wasn’t it Senior who bragged about the new technology in their bikes?)

But for anyone who wants proof that Senior is a liar, here it is. Remember when OCC went into foreclosure and Senior and his lawyers blew it off as a business move? Well due to the foreclosure Senior is considering moving back to the old shop where he first started, since he is in financial trouble and he owns that place outright. Too bad the roof collapsed in a storm. But due to the foreclosure (which Senior said was nothing, remember?) he is forced to find a new shop.

And for the record, we are 45 minutes into the show and they still have not gotten to “the day everyone has been waiting for… Senior and Junior finally sit down.”

After a commercial break, Senior unveiled the bike at the NYC Hard Rock Cafe- and thank God the goofy OCC band didn’t play- and then they got to the settlement, with 10 minutes left in the show. Actually, they got to talking about the settlement. Paulie and Mikey talking to each other in Paulie’s kitchen doesn’t really count as a settlement.

And then at 9:51 they went to commercial. But at least it was an American Chopper commercial, showing that everything you expected in this episode will be in next week’s episode. We’ll see. The commercial showed Paulie in the OCC store looking at the Black Widow bike and Senior talking crap about him. Of course.

With five minutes left in the show Senior and his lawyer arrived in the conference room and awaited Paulie. (Insert your own “Paulie is late again” joke here.) The lawyer says it is all a matter of just signing some papers and it is all over. Paulie and his lawyer arrived- with three minutes left in the show- and father and son actually shook hands and half-embraced. With two minutes left Senior signed, then Paulie signed, and it was over. Senior and Junior shook again, both smiled, and it was over. Total and complete boredom and anticlimax.

Honestly, it was an average show. Last season ended with drama, this one started with none at all.

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American Chopper Sr. vs. Jr.: Don’t Let The Door Hit You On Your Way Out.

9 Feb

February 9, 2011

Yes everyone, Odie was fired. That was the big story this week but there were some little things that I found more interesting. I’ll get to them in due time, but let’s start with the annoying kid who doesn’t know his place.

Even the show’s  announcer seems to hate him. At the top of the show, he said that after he gets fired from PJD, “Odie crawls back to OCC.” That’s giving him too much credit.

Odie’s problems began this week with him donning Paulie’s hat and sunglasses and walking around making fun of Paulie. Remember the last guy who did that? Jason Pohl. What a role model.

Later, Odie and Vinnie walked in with some parts for the Universal Insurance bike and Odie wasted no time ragging on the handlebars. I usually don’t criticize Vinnie, but I fully expected him to say something to Odie. He’s not a boss, he’s not an owner, but if PJD is a team and Paulie is the owner and manager, then Vinnie should be the captain of the team. He has the experience, he runs his own shop, he is the most professional, he is closest to Paulie. I’m not blaming him at all for Odie’s mouth, I’m not giving Odie a pass, but I still say Vinnie should have said something. It probably wouldn’t have done any good, but I think he should have stepped in. Just my opinion.

Odie’s screw-ups weren’t limited to his fresh mouth. He put parts on backwards (and blamed Paulie for making them wrong) pried pieces apart like a caveman and scratched them, and still had the nerve to tell Paulie (who had the patience of a saint with him) “I’ll go home right now. I couldn’t care less.” I hope he didn’t think that was a threat because he did Paulie a big favor. “Get out of my fucking shop right now,” Paulie said with surprising calm.

Odie had the balls/stupidity to call back a little later, hinting he was going to OCC. Like he’d actually be an asset there and Paulie would miss him.

Odie then went up the road to OCC where Senior welcomed him with open arms. He sat back and believed every word Odie said to him. I hope Senior watches his own show so he can see the real Odie, how Odie lied to his face and is just a terrible person in general. At any rate, if anyone has anything bad to say about Paulie he’s a friend of Senior and, not only did Senior hire him back but he (say it with me, I’ve typed it often enough over the weeks) badmouthed Paulie to him. Senior is such a classless louse.

So what did Odie say to Senior?
– He said that he quit. No he didn’t, Paulie threw him out.
– He said that Paulie “never appreciates anything I do for him.” Like what? Showing up late? Messing up the paint on the parts he works on? Mocking him? Glaring at Cody?
– He said that Paulie is always up against a deadline, which is true, but how is that any different than OCC?
– He said they work 20 hour days. Not him. Just last week he made a big deal of leaving at four in the afternoon.

So what did Senior say to Odie?
You’re hired.

Speaking of guys with less than sterling characters, remember Robb? He was the painter last week who designed a bike an then cried like a baby and threw a tantrum when some changes were made. In a small piece of poetic justice, he screwed up the paint on the Bic bike this week and had to redo it. Oh, so sorry.

And as for the bikes, all of them looked great, and that makes two weeks in a row I’ve said that. Even the bike Monkey Boy made for OCC looked good. It was simple and sleek with clean lines and a great color scheme.

PJD gave away a bike to one lucky insurance agent. The guy who won the raffle looked like he has never in his life been on a bike and probably never will be.

The less dramatic but more interesting part of the show cam when a group of kids from a technical school visited OCC. One of them asked Senior what he thinks of Paulie’s bikes. Senior didn’t answer but had this to say about Paulie: “His gift is designing. I don’t think his gift is building. The mechanics do all the work.” OK, he complimented his son’s design skill but he couldn’t leave it at that. He had to say that Paulie isn’t a builder. He’s talking to a group of kids and still he had to take a shot a Paulie.

The same student then asked “what would you say your specialty is?”
“Yelling at people.”

Paulie, to an extent, echoed what Senior said when he told the kids at his shop “You can’t manufacture creativity. That’s what makes us a little different.” The kids saw it too. One of them told the camera that it seems to be more technical at OCC and more creative at PJD. Frankly, that is what should make Jr. and Sr. a good team- they each bring different strengths to the table. Ironically that is what also drove them apart.

Then it got weird. As the kids were leaving OCC Senior asked one of them to give to Paulie a picture of them together. “That particular picture meant something to me so hopefully he’ll take it in the same way.” Interesting that he said it in the past tense. Not “it means something to me,” but “it meant something to me.” Small but meaningful difference.

Paulie had no idea how to take it and was just confused.

As for the rest of the show, Senior refused to shave his mustache for charity and OCC played hockey. Senior was in goal and that pleased Rick. He wanted an excuse to plow into him. Senior was not too mobile but actually not bad, making a lot of stops. Jason acted like a jerk on the ice and I waited to see someone slam him into the boards head first but sadly no one did.

PJD went to Florida to unveil the Universal Insurance bikes and Paulie took the crew to Discovery Cove to swim with the fish, er, dolphins. Seeing Mikey in a wetsuit was quit a sight.

This seems to be the last episode (Of the season? Series?) since Discovery doesn’t have a new one listed on their site. There was a lot of hype during the commercials for Nic Cage’s new film, Drive Angry. It looked awful.

Discovery left it hanging if it was the season finale or not. If it was you’d expect some hype. Some weeks back they were advertising the final episodes but their count didn’t match the number of shows aired. It seems like they added one or two. Will the show be back? Will OCC be foreclosed upon? Will Sr. and his sons reconcile? We’ll have to wait and see.

But my guess is no, they won’t reconcile.

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