Diggers

I enjoy this show for the artifacts they find. But sometimes I have to change channel. I can't stand seeing two grown men act like stupid drunk monkeys. All that screaming is so annoying, and not at all necessary. They need to grow up while they still have some viewer's. Screaming for the other one to come running over to see what they have found. That is very poor acting and also annoying. How many of those items have already been dug up then buried again to make it seem like they just found it. Items don't seem to be very crusted for so many years having been buried.

I remember when "metal detecting" was portrayed as a hobby for losers, done by sidekicks in lesser comedies. It's usually some half-witted asocial kid, roaming the beaches after the summer, searching the sand for jewelry misplaced by tourists using an army surplus metal detector. Quite surprisingly, the hobby has made it into prime time documentary television. Not so surprisingly, the protagonists retain the said mentality.

"Diggers" is a pseudo-reality show aired on National Geographic. It features two losers roaming the countryside and people's yards with their metal detectors, in search of valuables they hope to sell. Just to mask the banality of it all, they've been set to search for items of "historical" value. Hence, the show is set in the region of the thirteen colonies where such items are most likely to be found.

The pair doesn't seem very bright to begin with, judging by the way they look, talk and behave. But when they start hollering and leaping up and down the lawn, like two monkeys unleashed, whenever they find something, they really look like they belong to an asylum. And they do it way too often to bear. It's somewhat understandable, though, seeing that there appears to be a large collectors market for all things antique, and there'll be paycheck for the both. However, it would be better that all the celebratory scenes were left on the editing room floor. And, mind you, there isn't any comical intent in their demeanor - they really mean it.

Unfortunately, there isn't anything better to fill that half hour's worth of an episode with. All they ever find is bullets, army badges and parts of cannonballs, basically. One gets the sense that the market is slowly but surely being saturated with these kind of findings, so their commercial value is not particularly impressive. Without a proper historical context, which is rarely given in the show, nothing they find has a real historical value either. Compare this show to BBC's "Time Team" where professional archaeologists systematically dig out items on a designated site, piecing the whole story together into something rewarding for the viewer. No such thing here at "Diggers'".

Having said that, the show's general fault in my mind isn't the superficiality or the gold digging aspect of it. I actually like watching shows where something forgotten or abandoned is given the new value. I cannot have enough of numerous "container battles" or "storage hunters". This show is basically a flip show but with metal detecting instead of auctioneering. No, the show's fault is having two complete retards run it. They are woefully hopeless, bar-lowering pair of human beings. There used to be a standard, perhaps unwritten, of who is fit enough to host a TV show. Not anymore, I guess.

I don't watch TV ordinarily but on a recent trip overseas I got a little bit hooked on the National Geographic Channel as they have some really cool, interesting and entertaining shows.

Diggers is not one of them...

On the plus side I guess the guys are VERY enthusiastic and they do visit some interesting locations.

On the down side, the show is boringly monotonous and the endless 'Diggers jargon' soon grates like crazy as there is not much in their dictionary. How many times can a viewer possibly be expected to suffer phrases like 'I see round in the hole' in any 30 minute period, no matter how enthusiastically delivered? By the end of the first show I watched I was ready to smash the TV the next time I heard another one of the 'Diggers dictionary' phrases. The enthusiasm starts to grate too when the guys go off when they discover something 'awesome' - rolling on the ground, running through the forest or whatever. They remind me of 8 year old kids let loose from school for the first time in months... Oh and just about everything they seem to find is awesome. Hint: it usually isn't.

This is a fine example of exactly why reality TV is killing the medium. Pure rubbish of the highest (or should that be lowest?) order.

Diggers is something that most folks will watch and a few will study for tips and suggestions. First I love the camera work. They take full advantage of their locations natural beauty..There is some good info for the metal detectorist. A little more explanation on "that sounds good" would really help those not so familiar with metal detectors. Energy and enthusiasm will got a long way and boy does Digger have it! After about 20 minutes it grates on you like listen to canned laughter. I have learned to turn it out and enjoy the digs and finds as best as I can. Please keep in mind that they have very sweet places to search and they only show a few digs per episode, in the real World you dig much more often. Diggers does a good job of promoting cooperation with land owners and basic metal detecting etiquette. Newbys just understand they are showing you the good stuff but they are digging caps/tabs/trash & foil too, you are not alone! Just watch Diggers and enjoy it for what it is.

Let me say first that I'm a avid metal detectorist and would love a show like this if it wasn't so cheesy. 1 year before the show Diggers, I recorded a metal detecting hunt with a professional videographer and sent a treatment to NatGeo TV, A&E and Discovery. At the time, there was no show like it on TV. I never heard back from any of the said networks. Nothing ventured, nothing gained I guess. Thought a treasure hunting/metal detecting show would make for some interesting TV. I'm not nor have I ever been a conspiracy theorist, but I'd bet they liked the idea and ripped it off. Guess I wasn't zany enough for them so they needed a couple overly fake zealous detectorists finding pre-buried crap to make the show entertaining.

This show does nothing to champion this awesome hobby but manages to perpetuate the image that detectorists are an odd, eccentric bunch of nut jobs - not to mention it's a 60 minute advertising for Garrett metal detectors. No doubt the single reason they're suddenly so dominant in the industry.