Deadliest Catch

This 10-part series came out about a year after "America's Deadliest Season." It is interesting how the profession is presented in so many different perspectives - from the captains, the crews, and the greenhorns (rookies). Of particular interest are the traditions and superstitions of the various crews. You will be drawn in and will find yourself so concerned about a ship that has gone down or about an injured deckhand, that you almost have to keep watching just to find out how things turn out. You will find yourself rooting for your favorite boat as the crab counts come in.

Once again, we get to follow the dangerous lives of fishermen hunting for Alaskan Crab. You get to see a first-hand account of several boats journeying hundreds of miles from the beautiful Aleutian Islands into the unpredictably treacherous waters of the Bering Sea. These brave men demonstrate unbelievable endurance as they fish non-stop (day and night). They fish "derby style," which means every boat is competing to catch as much as possible in a fixed amount of time. They hope to earn up to a year's worth of salary in one week in what some call America's last great Gold Rush.

This series has the potential to appeal to a broad audience - whether the taste is for action, adventure, sport, drama, documentary, or reality. My friends and family (or even myself) could not understand why a series about crab fishing would be so intriguing, yet anyone who has ever been around while an episode was on always ended up planted on the couch until it ended.

Is this a documentary? Is this reality TV? I don't know, but I do know to call it addictive. What these men go through to put seafood on our plate is amazing. This is especially true during Opie season -- fishing on the Bering Sea, always one of the most dangerous waterways in the world, but doing it in January. Crabbing in 40-50 foot waves, temperatures near or below zero, winds 30 MPH+, ice on the deck, swinging 800 pound pots, to say nothing of the nasty claw-wielding crabs. These guys deserve our gratitude for risking it all to put the seafood we love on our table. Our entire family has Tuesdays as must-see-TV. We couldn't wait to buy the season 1 DVDs and now we are looking forward to season 2 being available soon. This is one of the best shows on one of the best networks on TV. Thank you Discovery Channel.

Deadliest catch is based on the real life drama aboard a series of crabfishing boats in Alaska, i never knew how they got onto my plate till iI watched an episode of this show, the crewmen are amazing at doing their job, it is full of what will happen next?, and the action, and the beating the crew gets by storms and the occasional greenhorn pranks keep me hooked to this show all put together expertly narrated by Mike Rowe. My only problem i have is phil who you cannot understande because he is always swearing all you can hear are beeps(sort of like ozzy osbourne) But he is one hell of a captain, Whether it is grinding through ice with a ship that wasn't built for doing that kind of work or rescuing people overboard all the ships deserve our respect for their labor to catch these crabs nearly without fear of drowning or dying some awful death.

We used to really like this show and have watched it for many years. But season 15 sucks. They've ruined it. Crappy music playing in spots over the action. And those awful "Oprah for Fisherman" sections where all they do is sit around and blah, blah, blah.

The show has gone from one of our favorites to one that we may just stop recording. We have not made it through the end of the last few episodes and don't even really look forward to it anymore the way we used to.

I don't know if it's a new director or producer. But once we delete the recording, which will be very soon, there will be no going back.

"Deadliest Catch" is the latest offering from the Discovery Channel, and a welcome diversion from their seemingly non-stop "Monster" car or bike building shows. "Catch" follows the crews of several crab boats as they and the rest of the fleet rush to catch as many crab as possible in the ever-shortening Alaskan crab season. The show gives you an in-depth view of the trouble the crew faces doing everyday tasks, like baiting and dropping crab pots, and how these tasks are made harder by the unforgiving Bering Sea. We see everyone from the "greenhorns" (rookies) to the "old salts" and the danger they face every day. As evidence of this, as Discovery was filming one boat sank and another lost a crewman overboard, totaling six deaths in the first episode of the Opilio season. Next time you sit down at Red Lobster and wonder why Alaskan Crab Legs are so much, tune in to Discovery and see why they are worth every penny.