Pêcheurs d'or

FIRST IMPRESSION (seasons 1 and 2)

Yes I'm hooked on this latest reality offering. BSG is a must see if you enjoy seeing a disparate group of quirky characters struggle to get rich quick. Many are up to their eyeballs in debt and need a mini El Dorado to put them back on their financial feet. Most people contemplate panning or digging for their gold. Not this group of adventurers. They all go out to sea on dinky little barges and dive for their gold. Sucking up the booty from the sea floor using industrial strength vacuum hoses. All except the Pomrenkes who mine from a massive barge using a dredge to scoop up gold bearing silt.

I love the contrasts of characters in this show. The aforementioned Pomrenkes exhibit the classic father and son schism that makes for good drama. Zeke lusts after Emily to no avail. Emily has aspirations to be an opera singer. Yeah right! And Sarah Palin had aspirations of being president. Emily's dad is a complex character who drives his boss Vern crazy. And then there's Scott, an anti hero if ever there was one. I was amazed to see him return for a second series. Not only that, he had 'friends' working on his boat. Although I don't know how long they'll last as friends.

All in all it's a very entertaining show. I doubt whether any of them will become rich but they are on an interesting journey.

LATEST IMPRESSION (seas0ons 3 and 4)

Sadly BSG has now become a farcical soap opera. Little time is now spent focusing on gold dredging. Season 4 is more about the antics of featured 'personalities' such as Brad Kelly, Shawn Pomrenke and Emily Reidel. I find none of these people particularly appealing and personally question the authenticity of this show. Some say it's scripted and I wouldn't be surprised if that was revealed to be the case. Call me cynical but I smell a rat. I now find this show hard to watch and sincerely hope the producers return the focus of the program to gold digging adventurers trying to make it big.

Season 15 Has this show finally jumped the shark with a pathetic fist fight taking place on the pier? I just laughed at what I saw.

If you also feel jaded by this version of 'reality' then you could do a lot worse than watching Yukon Gold, a show without the gimmicks that BSG feels is necessary to chase the ratings.

I really enjoyed this show. With all shows like this, drama is scripted in. For the most part, this show is realistic. The characters are rough, tough, high tempered individuals all looking to get that gold fix. The directors took time to share the stories (whether they were real or fake) of the characters. One of the better shows on gold mining I've seen. I also really enjoyed the camera angles that took you into the ocean right with the characters. If you want to learn about how gold dredging works, this is a great informative, but dramatized show. I would definitely recommend watching this, but don't expect it to be the best show in the world because it's definitely not.

The Kelly's have no clue how to run a successful business , karma will get you every time , grifters. They need to be barred from doing business in nome I can't believe they have not been run out of town by now most communities in this country would not put up with them you can spot their grift fro a mile away they think they are gonna fake it til they make it but ain't gonna happen , it's like watching the tax and wily coyote chase each other trying to get gold in the process , @#$& &$#@ man old man get it together boys and leave the pomeenkes alone you can't steal there knowledge and expertise that is earned through sweat equity boys.

It's a group of ragtag group of miners who are trying to find gold off shores off Nome, Alaska. There are the Pomrenkes father and son team who has a massive dredge. Scott Meisterheim is a perpetually angry drunk. Zeke Tenhoff is an obsessed driven young guy. Steve Riedel is the flake with her opera singer daughter Emily who is an amateur in this whole thing. While Vernon Adkison is an old guy who spends more money than he makes.

What I love about this show is two folds. I love the amateur and in many case experimental jerry-rigged equipment. There is no standard equipment for this type of work, and there's more duct tape than reasonably safe boats should have. I find the home grown science absolutely fascinating. The other is the distressed relationships of these people. There are some crazy personalities in this show. The only drawback like all 'reality' show is any faking. I can see some fudging going on especially with the money being discussed. The fact that so many of them do so badly seems to point to limited padding of the results. As for the dysfunctional relationship, the death of one of the divers also point to limited faking. It doesn't mean that something isn't being faked. 'Reality' isn't always reality nowadays.

I started watching this from season one and have watched every episode. This was a very entertaining show until the last 2 seasons where it has just become silly, childish and at times just stupid. I now fast forward through the side interviews and other silly activities. Zeke and crew have lost their mind. The beavis and butthead "laugh" highlighted by the shows staff is one I fast forward through. The Steve Riedel episodes, Chris Kelly secrets to mining,,,,,, and others have all made this show really stupid. Now season 13 episode 9 started out with Disney type characters.

PLEASE get back to the scripting that made this show really good and not the kiddy antics now seen.