Axmen... Okay I Guess I Do Watch Reality TV

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Okay I know that in the past I have been a little harsh on reality TV and those who watch it regularly and just as in the past I must admit that there is another reality show that I watch. I never really realized that the show Axmen was considered a reality show, I guess I never really thought of it much. My attention was drawn to Axmen this week when one of my friends and Blog reader Mark R. pointed out that the daughter of one of the individuals featured in a past season was killed by the family Rottweiler. The girl was the 4 year old daughter of Jesse Browning Jr.

Browning Jr. was not included in this season’s cast. In past seasons he has been extremely volatile and basically acts like somewhat of an ass to his employees. He is prone to tirades and fits and comes really close to crying when put in stressful situations. I remember that he used to take a great deal of his angst out on the camera crew. He was always screaming at them and telling them to take the camera out of his face and then walking off in a tantrum that most five year olds would be envious of.

The problem with Jesse was that NOTHING was ever his fault, he was the foreman on the job and ultimately responsible for everything but every time there was a setback or a problem which could have been addressed either by a little preventative maintenance on equipment or better communication between himself and his crew. It seems that Jesse Jr. was never proactive in trying to run the crew and his leadership was primarily reactive in nature. It was decided that this year Jesse Jr. would remain behind a desk at the offices of J.M. Browning Logging. Jesse Sr. is a little more calm and responsible and is very proactive when it comes to running his people and his company.

This blog really has little to do with the loss of Jesse’s daughter and I am certain that she was a good little kid who just made the mistake of playing with their family dog. Only 4 months earlier the same beast attacked another family member but I guess as long as no one loses a hand everything is okay. Those of you who watch the show understand that little jab, and for it I apologize but it was something that just kind of popped into the messed up noggin of mine. For those of you who are not familiar with the show, the patriarch of the Browning clan, Jesse Sr., is missing most of his left hand which I think he lost in a chainsaw accident.

I have to say that I used to really enjoy Axmen when it first came on. I think that to a certain degree it was somewhat representative of the day to day life of a logger in the Pacific Northwest. But now in this second or third season the show has been reduced to basically an extension of WWE with stages arguments and confrontations. They have gotten rid of Dwayne Dethlefs and his son. The Dethlefs were two of the more colorful characters especially the father Dwayne who was a crusty old man who was one of the best loggers on the mountain but he just had a few problems with authority and was not afraid to express them.

Last season the show introduced two new aspects of logging, helicopter logging and aqua logging, to the show. Chopper logging is about as exciting as watching paint dry. The individuals who have taken up aqua logging which consists of retrieving cured wood from bottom of rivers are a confused and dysfunctional father and son combo who are either the best actors on the planet or really get so frustrated at each other that their blood pressures are probably well into the 300’s.

They are pretty funny to watch for about 15 minutes but then one grows weary of their antics.

Last season also introduced a new logging crew by the name of Rygaard Logging. Gabe Rygaard and his old man are basically the two biggest assholes known to humanity. I really wish just one time that fat bastard Gabe or his arrogant old man would try to talk to me the way they do to their employees. I would beat the hell out of one or both of those bastards. I have decided that Gabe has fallen into the WWE trap as he is not able to pull it off well as an acting stint. This year Gabe is just off the charts and I am certain that all of his swagger and bolstering are purely WWE antics. This is proven when he drives to an employee’s home and starts slamming the patio furniture around in a fit reminiscent of the kid who allegedly had his World of Warcraft account cancelled…but I think that was fake to a certain extent as well.

When all is said and done I will probably continue to watch Axmen unless they just show too much helilogging. I guess I do watch UNreality TV afterall….but I will never stoop to the Bachelor or Dog Whisperer or Project Runway.

Bob “I Wish Dwayne would beat the hell out of the Rygaards” Bobman