Tag Archives: Sr. vs. Jr.

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?

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.