Car Shows on TV

[coolwelder62]

What happened to all the car show's.It seems like when they started putting in all the BS and Drama in them they went a away.When Overhualin started it was OK,but then it got really bad.When American HotRod first started they really showed alot of nice fabrication work,then the Dumb A$$- BS and Drama took over.Rides started out really good,then it got Boring.After the 1st. week American chopper sucked the big one.Who was in charge of all these shows.It's clear they are not car guy's,or ever were car guy's.Speed has turned into the nascar channel.how about more super car V8's2 guys garage is good,HotRod TV needs new show's.It would be nice to see some show's W/ a lot of tech,Fab,Welding,Paint & body work.Power Block is OK.But it kinda seems like a Big infomercial.But it's all we have so I watch.I get all the BS & Drama I want when I turn on the evening news.

[GregWeld]

Man Scott you hit the nail on the head with the first blow!

I quit watching ANY of these shows... they're either a bunch of stupid ass drama... or they're infomercials.

The only way to get advertising dollars is to do the infomercials.... and NOBODY wants to watch the idiots do stupid stuff on the old Boyd Coddington show. That was an embarrassment to hot rodding.

I think the problem is - building a car is too long - drawn out - and there's too much down time to make a TV show. The crews it takes to film and edit etc would be twiddling their thumbs far too many days to make doing these shows worthy of the investment.

When you calculate the amount of man hours in the super fast 7 day builds Foose was doing - it was like 2000 hours of labor.... and frankly the builds looked it. A giant bunch of poo.... and uninteresting TV. I'd have rather watched a guy get his car done in normal time and had the car be worthy of the effort.

[Track Junky]

I've watched a few of those but never religiously because they bored the hell out of me. You cant deny The Australian Super Car series racing is exciting. I was bummed that they didn't show any Australian F1 series racing this season where the production Lambo's, Ferraries, Masseratie's, Vettes, Porches, Jaguar's, etc. raced. They are even more exciting to watch then the Super Car series.(If you can imagine that)

The last NASCAR championship race is today. Tony Stewart and Carl Edwards are seperated by 4 points in the Chase lead so I will watch that today but NASCAR definitely needs more road courses.

Nothing beats the builds on this site. If you guys started filming your builds but waited till completion to the point where they were driven hard to air it that would be exciting.

Hopefully some TV people will read this thread and agree to put something together.

[rwhite692]

It's funny how, when "reality" shows (of all types) first came on the scene, the networks and the production companies loved these shows because of the comparatively very low production costs compared with traditional TV shows (no expensive actors, drastically less writing, etc). You just have 2-3 camera guys just shoot anything and everything that happens, and then you mash it up in post-production. And in the case of car-themed shows like Overhaulin', spending 100K or so on parts and labor to build the car is way cheap, compared to the cost of producing any conventional TV show.

Now, with so much "reality" based programming, that "cheap" level of production cost, has become the new "normal". So suddenly, doing a show in the format of Rides, American Hot Rod, Etc. is too time consuming / too expensive.

[GeoffP]

I'd love to see some of our sponsor shops get together once in a while and do a video podcast how-to! A beginners's how-to on welding sheet metal would be a great start!

[GaRys69]

I'd love to see some of our sponsor shops get together once in a while
and do a video podcast how-to!
A beginners's how-to on welding sheet metal would be a great start!

I'd pay to watch those.

[MattO]

I loved 'Rides'

I felt it gave me an insight and perspective to both the builders, owners, and cars, that no magazine ever really could.

I never really watched anything else. I caught a couple episodes of Overhaulin, then watched a bit more once Arc Audio started sponsoring the stereo (the owner is a friend of mine), but that too faded from interest.

I wish I could watch more shows like on the Powerblock, but I'm never up early enough.

[chevguy]

Yup, another person in total agreement. My pick for the lowest form of automotive(I use this term very loosely) show would be monster garage. What a tosser. I actually quite enjoyed wrecks to riches, not so much the quality of build but the show in general. In racing terms in oz we have a series called the muscle car masters which is all 60's and 70's circuit racing cars(both American and Australian) which is great to watch.

[GregWeld]

Actually -- in giving the OP some thought - the ONLY automotive show I watch at all is the BBC version of Top Gear. The American version is a complete dud.

[Gordz32]

X2 on the BBC Top Gear