Alaskan TV Shows

[JoePa]

There are several shows on TV that attempt to show how people live up in the north country - living in remote areas and pretty much living off the land - to name a few - Alaska The Last Frontier - Life Below Zero - Yukon Men - Alaska Railroad - and others - I enjoy watching them even when I realize that a lot of the stuff is staged - what I can't get over is the amount of fish that some of these people catch to feed their sledge dogs - or how much animals and fish they catch to maintain their life style - the one thing you got to admit is that these people are tough individuals - just living with all that cold weather, snow and winter darkness makes you wonder why they want to do it -

In the Yukon Men series there is this fat guy who keeps ing about the way others are not working hard enough but he is so fat he can't hardly bend over and do anything - then in the Alaska .... series they keep worrying about not having enough meat for the winter so they got to shoot deer and bear otherwise they might starve in spite of the fact that they have over a hundred cows -

There are a number of reality shows on TV these days that I enjoy watching - another one is the incredible Doctor Pol - he's a vet that takes care of small and large animals and it seems is always yanking calves out of pregnant cows with a chain or has his arm up to his shoulder up some cows butt -

If you haven't seen any of these shows I would suggest you have a look if you can get them - you do learn a lot from them -

[sawbill]

I don't know how much of these Alaska type shows are edited or scripted to depict traditional bush life but I don't think any of these yahoos should be living north of Dallas Tx. I find them so bad I can't watch any of them.
Even with these logging shows, most of the guys working there should be fired after their first day on the job because of safety violations.
The only reality show that seems to have any reality or credibility is Highway Through Hell.

There! I got that off my chest.

[trimmer21]

I particularily like "Alaska:The Last Frontier" with the Kilcher family. They still live the "modern" farm lifestyle which has evolved from the homesteading days of their Grandparents. The entire family seem to have a lot more "irons in the fire" than the producers let on. They may not be filthy "rich",but,they're all damn good and dirty. It should be mentioned that Atz Sr. and Bonnie Kilcher's daughter is rock star Jewel and Atz Lee and his wife Jane are music writers/composers,producers and musicians in their own right. They all seem to have a skill-set for the construction trades that rival the best tradesmen,too.
Alaskan Bush People looks to me like complete BS,either that or they can rival the wildest Appalachian Ozark Uncle Dad and Aunt Mom backwoods people in America. The whole bunch seem right off the wall.

[Roper]

There is one show about trappers. (Not Trappers Inc - that show is great.) Its the other show with a young couple that trap and carry their 9 month old baby with them on the trap line. That show is so stupid and phoney. Producers must think the viewing public are morons. Every time I try to watch it my intelligence is insulted and I turn it off in 2 minutes.

[chris1395]

I particularily like "Alaska:The Last Frontier" with the Kilcher family. They still live the "modern" farm lifestyle which has evolved from the homesteading days of their Grandparents. The entire family seem to have a lot more "irons in the fire" than the producers let on. They may not be "rich",but,they're all damn good and dirty. It should be mentioned that Atz Sr. and Bonnie Kilcher's daughter is rock star Jewel and Atz Lee and his wife Jane are music writers/composers,producers and musicians in their own right. They all seem to have a skill-set for the construction trades that rival the best tradesmen,too.
Alaskan Bush People looks to me like complete BS,either that or they can rival the wildest Appalachian Ozark Uncle Dad and Aunt Mom backwoods people in America. The whole bunch seen right off the wall.

Atz Sr. and Jewel sing the opening theme song to the show.

[LeakyBoots]

couple that trap and carry their 9 month old baby with them on the trap line. That show is so stupid and phoney

That was beyond ridiculous. I believe the guys fell through the ice and the baby saved him, right?

[Hunter John]

I enjoy the Kilcher's as they seem quite intelligent and very capable but those Alaska bush people ????WTF. That family tree resembles a stump if you ask me.

[bowj]

there are way too many of them nowadays. but some of them I cannot take my eyes off of, like Alaska: the last frontier, life below zero, Yukon men and live free or die. I also LOVE gold rush, but not really the same type of show.

Alaska: the last frontier is a great show with a warm family tone to it. but sometimes the stuff is so staged it is very obvious. and this past season they tend to show a lot of things over and over again even on different episodes and they show the one dramatic event at the start of the show and throughout as a preview, and than maybe touch on it for a minute at the end of the episode, kind of annoying.
theres one glaring staged event where they were all scared about a grizzly while they were fishing, they made a huge deal out of it, and ran away from it, meanwhile they have a shot of it eating a filleted salmon. also, the fact that they make it like they are in a life or death struggle everyday for food is a downright lie, they live driving distance from homer Alaska (which they edit out of panoramic shots), have livestock, and heavy equipment.

Yukon men and live free or die are pretty good, but staged even more than ALF. live free or die is cool because they are really basic homesteaders. Yukon men is just a remote town, following a few townspeople. I bet their neighbours really hate them for bringing so much attention to their small community.

Life below zero is one of my favorites. it seems the most real, and follows a bunch of people that live remotely near the arctic circle in Alaska and Canada. my favorite is Sue Aikens, she is a bad chick running a remote outpost camp way north of the arctic circle. before the show she got attacked by a young grizzly bear that injured her severely, she got found 10 days later. she had major injuries and a long recovery, than she went back and hunted and killed the bear!! a few other interesting characters on that show as well.

gold rush isn't really outdoors, but it is Alaska/Yukon related. they follow a couple of crews of rookie gold minors. its also very staged, but its nice to see some hardworking guys trying to make it and all their struggles. in my next life I would become a gold miner and run excavators all day up in Alaska. a guy can dream cant he!!

Alaskan bush people, boonies, and a few others are just garbage shows that insult the viewer by even being on tv.

just my thoughts.

[Roper]

I think Life Below Zero is the most realistic.
Like bowj said - that woman Sue Aikens is one tough girl. I saw one episode where she was waving goodbye to her supply plane and she said that is the last person I will see for 6 months. I really wonder why a person would want to live in that cold desolate environment. I can understand a person wanting to be alone, but not there.

[Northhunter]

Seen at least a little bit of all the ones listed.. with the exception of Life Below Zero I don't watch too much.. too contrived for me. The Browns (Alaskan Bush People) should join the circus. They would have to act less. At the end of season 1(?) there was a big dramatic "shots fired!" night scene cliffhanger. The reality..they had neighbours through the woods, a pizza joint down the road, and the dramatic "shots fired!" deal? A disgruntled local was tired of the filming helicopter circling overhead and started firing fireworks at it.. so they moved set.

I too thaught Life Below Zero was the best of them all, then I saw "The Last Alaskans" on National Geographic. It's 10x the show, IMO. There is no voiceover or overly dramatic narrative. Just some tough as nails camera men/women (the cabins are not to be used for commercial use, so they stay in tents) that do some amazing work. The only talking/narrative done is by the residents.. giving insight to what's being filmed, and a lot of their thaughts/reflections on life in general. One couple lost a daughter out there. Presumably drowned in the river she was named after (she was 2). She was never found. They still live there.
Another gentleman opened his cabin to find a bear ransacked a couple years worth of dried food. He didn't get any moose or caribou for the winter and later wrecked his plane, which was his ticket to trapping outlying lakes. There was no hollywood voiceover going "Timmy must get a moose in the next couple days, or he will surely succomb to the frigid winter conditions" etc, Just the man's humble reflection on it all. It's refreshing.

Excellent series.. they aired all 6 or 8 episodes back around christmas. Got picked up for a 2nd filming, although I don't think that was the intent with the 1st one. No idea when it will be on next, but it's the Alaska show for people who don't like Alaska shows.

Another one I enjoyed, although filmed on Vancouver Island was Alone. Honourable mention to it.. even if half the guys were hippie mental cases, downright dumb, or just panzies. The right guys made it to the final 2, anyway.