Take This Job and … Air It

As Recession Drags, Viewers Get to Work Watching Vocation-Themed Reality Fare

By Janice Rhoshalle Littlejohn -- Multichannel News, 7/19/2010 12:01:00 AM

Even in a down economy, America is hard at work — on cable networks.

At a time when the U.S. unemployment rate stands at 9.5% — its highest level since August of 1983 — cable networks have found breakthrough hits in shows about people just doing their jobs.

From traffic-enforcement workers to bridal shop owners and police women on the beat, to real-life sagas of flight attendants, pest controllers, wildlife rescuers, oil drillers, gold diggers and auctioneers, cable’s reality programming has mined a vast array of jobs that keep America working — and viewers watching.

“As we suffer through this recession, the importance of jobs in American life is sort of being considered in these reality shows, certainly what work means to the average American,” said Ron Simon, curator of the Paley Center for Media in New York. “Something that is not seen all that much now becomes that much more important, and it’s dealt with tangentially, but it’s obviously something that touches some deep emotions.”

The curiosity of the unemployed or those switching careeers doesn’t fully explain the popularity of shows such as Discovery Channel’s Deadliest Catch, History’s Pawn Stars, A&E Network’s Parking Wars or TLC’s Cake Boss, too.

Each show has been a success, spawning like-minded series that sometimes take a similar theme: Cake Boss shares the airwaves these days with TLC’s D.C. Cupcakes, not to be confused with Food Network’s Cupcake Wars. Elsewhere, History rival TruTV will add Hardcore Pawn to its lineup this August.

“Viewers are just drawn to compelling, true stories about other people,” said Andy Dehnart, editor of the reality-TV site realityblurred. com and visiting assistant journalism professor at Stetson University in DeLand, Fla.“That includes jobs that we never knew existed like those profiled in Discovery’s Dirty Jobs; ones that are harrowing, like Animal Planet’s Whale Wars; or those involving strong characters, as on Bravo’s Flipping Out.”

Considering the most popular shows in the genre can pull in more than 2 million viewers, it’s no surprise that programmers are working hard to get shows about work on the air.

A plethora of shows featuring cops and cake bakers and pawnshop owners runs the risk of making the genre seem overworked.

“Especially now, because there’s so much of it out there,” said Horizon Media senior vice president and director of research Brad Adgate.

“I think what’s going on is the cable networks are now trying to get as many viewers as they can, regardless of whether or not it fits with their brand or not, and I do think you want to want to distinguish yourself somewhat,” he said. “How different are the workrelated shows on TLC than what you would see on Food Network?

“Cake Boss could easily run on the Food Network and it would still do big numbers,” Adgate said. “We saw that with Project Runway when it moved from Bravo to Lifetime.”

GETTING JOB DONE
Tiffany, a three-year Philadelphia Parking Enforcement Officer, is on a mission: Issue 30 citations before the end of her shift. To get the job done, she relies on the aid of the” ticket genie,” the electronic device she says has a sixth sense for helping her locate parking perpetrators.

“I don’t think other ticket writers refer to their device as a ‘ticket genie’ — maybe if they did, they would [write] more tickets,” she said, sliding another violation notice under a windshield wiper during an episode of Parking Wars. That show takes viewers behind the scenes with the officers of the Philadelphia Parking Authority and Detroit’s Municipal Parking Department as they confront citizens whose vehicles have been ticketed, booted or towed.

Parking Wars begins its fourth season on A&E later this year, along with seventh-season hit series Dog the Bounty Hunter, second-year Billy the Exterminator and new series Teach: Tony Danza, in which the former star of Taxi and Who’s the Boss tackles the teaching profession. The Squad: Prison Police (premiering Aug. 5) is set in the Tennessee prison system.

One of A&E’s first shows in this genre, 2003’s Take This Job, only survived a season, senior vice president of programming Robert Sharenow recalled.

“But from that show, we discovered Dog the Bounty Hunter; we did a show called Family Plots, about a real family-run mortuary; and The King of Cars, which was about a used car salesman who was featured on Take This Job; and Parking Wars,” he said.

In each case, the shows were “driven by the personality of the person doing that job,” he said. “There is also something magical and unique about documenting the job itself — they’re very unusual jobs that you wouldn’t want to do yourself, and yet you’re really drawn into seeing what it’s really like.”

Viewers can live vicariously as modern-day farmers, as in Planet Green’s The Fabulous Beekman Boys, or by shopping around the world, like Anthropologie buyer-atlarge Keith Johnson on Sundance Channel’s Man Shops Globe.

Or they could watch Ric and Lincoln O’Barry rescue dolphins on Animal Planet’s Blood Dolphins (August); or aspire to become a pastry chef, like Buddy Valastro of TLC’s Cake Boss.

What works about workplace shows is they appeal to a number of basic human needs, said TruTV executive vice president and general manager Marc Juris.

“There’s a curiosity, a thirst for knowledge about something you didn’t know, a little bit of voyeurism and an element of accepting your own status,” he said. “If you look at a show where people have really difficult, challenging or menial jobs it makes you feel better about yourself. If it’s a person with a great job, then there’s the aspirational factor.”

On-the-job series also connect to what are perceived as core American values.

The struggles and triumphs of the Texas oil riggers on TruTV’s Black Gold (returning in August) appeal to the idea of the brave and conquering American hero. Pawnbrokers who haggle and deal for goods with patrons in TruTV’s Hardcore Pawn (late summer) or the micro-managing schemes of self-made millionaire of Willie Degel in the network’s America’s Toughest Boss (working title) align with “our principal beliefs in an honest day’s work for an honest day’s pay,” Juris said. “It’s the ideal of the American dream.”

While much of TruTV’s jobseries lineup features prominent male leads or characters, the channel’s viewing among 18- to-34-year-old women is up 20% since its January 2008 rebranding from Court TV. Both men and women are drawn to shows like the popular seventh-season carreclamation series Operation Repo and Full Throttle Saloon, which follows the happenings at the world’s largest biker bar. Overall, TruTV’s viewing among adults 18 to 34 is up 39% since the rebrand and up 60% with men 18 to 34, according to the network.

“We find that there is a psychographic, rather than a demographic, who likes these kinds of shows,” Juris said, adding that development a refl ection of the new world order. “It’s not unusual to see a female firefighter or a female police officer. Things are becoming more equal. I think that has allowed for more diversity of interests to flourish and for people to explore that in media.”

Said David McKillop, History senior vice president of programming and development: “People are social animals, and people love people. But our shows aren’t just about a job, but about people doing jobs that are rooted in our brand, that are rooted in history.”

History and Discovery, in particular, have mined gold from the job genre, with History’s breakout shows Pawn Stars and American Pickers staking places among cable’s top top unscripted series, behind Discovery’s Deadliest Catch (which has an extra draw this year from fans watching how the show handles the death of a main character, Capt. Phil Harris).

History’s newest entry in the genre, Chasing Mummies, follows noted Egyptologist Dr. Zahi Hawass on archaeological explorations, while mainstays Ice Road Truckers and Ax Men depict more traditional acts of strength and skill. “Especially in Ice Road Truckers, where you get these guys up there in that truck in these very harsh conditions,” McKillop said. “It’s the classic confrontation of man versus nature.”

High-octane jobs have their own built-in drama that makes for great television.

For the tornado hunters of Storm Chasers, it’s those “ ‘holy crap!’ moments,” Discovery Channel general manager Clark Bunting said. Deadliest Catch (Tuesdays, 9 p.m. ET), which follows crab fishermen in Alaska, offers “the complexity of what it is to be a captain and, in a way, what it means to be a modern-day cowboy and family man — and a lot of people admire that.”

GOOD FOR BUSINESS
While the show has spawned fan fests such as CatchCon, consumers can’t shop for Deadliest Catch crab legs. But Cake Boss fans can — and do — line up around the block at Carlo’s City Hall Bake Shop in Hoboken, N.J., where star Buddy Valastro is head pastry chef. He’s said to serve 85 customers per hour — all eager to see and taste the mouth-watering art he makes on the show.

“What we really love about Buddy, and a lot of our shows that you see in the workplace, is what he does is extremely visual,” says Nancy Daniels, TLC senior vice president of production and development. “In every episode, you’re seeing many different creations that he comes up with, and it’s really fun to watch that process, and it has really blossomed into being a family show at the same time.”

TLC’s latest family-and-sweets show, D.C. Cupcakes, follows sisters/ business partners Sophie LaMontagne and Katherine Kallins as they face the challenges of running — and expanding — their Georgetown Cupcake business into a national franchise. The six-episode series could certainly bring some welcome attention to their venture.

American Chopper’s Paul Teutul Jr.’s business could get a boost when his show returns Aug. 12.

“Paul Jr. and Sr. are completely on the outs, which is unfortunate,” Daniels said. “But Junior is opening up his own shop right down the street from Senior. It really will be a Junior vs. Senior scenario.”

TV exposure led Jeff Lewis from Bravo’s Flipping Out to a new career. After two seasons, Lewis stopped flipping houses and started designing interiors because people responded favorably to his aesthetic on the show.

“Typically, the people we put on our shows weren’t looking to be on TV,” said Andy Cohen, Bravo’s senior vice president of original programming and development. “But I think they ultimately did it because they recognized that it is a great opportunity to brand them and brand their businesses.”

Celebrity can be a doubleedged sword for some business owners, said Marjorie Kaplan, president and general manager of Animal Planet.

After the first six episodes of Pit Boss, about a group of little people with a big love for rescuing pit bulls, owner Shorty Rossi became inundated with requests for help.

“He was a little overwhelmed and has had to rethink how he’s doing things — but so far, I think the impact has largely been a positive one,” Kaplan said.

In the case of the Sea Shepherd Conservation team of Whale Wars — dubbed activists and heroes by some, and eco-pirates by others — “they tend to be something of a lightning rod, and lightning is striking all around them,” Kaplan said. “Some of it, they would say, is in support of what they do and some of it is not. When you become famous, or your job becomes famous, you attract a lot more attention, both positive and negative.”