Discovery channel and fishing programs

[carpstar]

I'm the only angler in my family but my parents,brothers and sisters all enjoyed PFA because of the chemistry betweeb Bob & Chris,the scenery,wildlife & the passion that was shown for this great sport.

[Steve Walker]

On the other hand, it was responsible for an old friend of mine taking up fishing, and now he can't understand why we don't experience the misty dawns, glorious sunsets and magical wildlife that Chris & Bob always seemed to.

 

For the angling romantic, the rose-tinted lenses of memory filter out the grey days. Your friend just doesn't have enough good days yet to pass through the filter.

[Martin Salisbury]

I was involved in filming a pilot for Discovery last winter that was forwarded to them in spring and I understand that it is not going ahead as they are cutting back on their angling programmes. However, it may actually be that there are more production companies trying for the same size cake so they are all getting a smaller piece?

[BoozleBear]

IF YOU ARE CONCERNED FISHING WILL BE CANCELLED BY DISCOVERY REAL TIME - READ ON.

 

I work in advertising and deal with the guys who sell for discovery. They are sticking to the stalwarts such as Matt Hayes and John Wilson and will only go with ideas that are really likely to work and get high viewing figures for them.

 

They won't ditch fishing as they pretty much 'own' that property on satellite and cable and would be fools to give the opoortunity to somebody else. And they will still run the old stuff as they don't have enough inventory programming wise not to!

 

Most advertisers don't actually give a toss as a small channel like Real Time doesn't make much of a difference to their schedules and isn't worth worrying about.

 

Having said that, 2.5 million adults watch fishing shows on Real Time in the space of 3 months, so they aren't doing that badly.

 

Plus, they only have so many episodes of Hugh Fairly Whitering they can put out in its place.

 

Cheers,

 

Simon

 

PS - I know they won't be cancelling the strands next year as I am talking with them at the moment about a possible sponsorship deal for one of my clients. There would be no point them doing that if it was going to be ditched.

Edited November 10, 2006 by BoozleBear

[Newt]

please...no american fishing programmes.....

You are so right. I especially dislike that bit they are doing now with filming the tourneys where they show all that nasty underwater footage of the venue, the lure in action, and the fish taking the lure. Really boring stuff as is watching those bass boats running along at 60-80 mph from one location to the other.

 

I was forced to watch one several years ago where a large tourney was being held on one of the great lakes during some nasty weather and the sight of anglers trying to stand and cast to structure while the waves at 5-7 feet were bouncing the boat around was boring as was the site of them catching under those conditions.

 

For real quality angling programs, you really cannot beat several anglers fishing from a nice manicured swim on a small lake somewhere. Static fishing with baits to catch named fish where the weights in the lake are well known is positively gripping television and the 3rd or 4th time watching the same program adds to the fun.

[Tim Kelly]

When I was over last I watched a series called somethibg like "Montauk Guides" which was about a group of 4 or 5 striper guides out of Montauk and followed them through a summer. It was pretty good and would appeal to a non fishing audience too, the asppeal was a bit like "American Chopper" as the personalities were as important as what they were doing.

I used to quite enjoy the "Walkers Cay Cronicles" too when they were on over here. A right old hippy, but it had some charm about it. Joe Bucher does some good programs about fishing in the northwoods which are a bit more advertisingy but I'd be suprised if they couldn't be edited a bit.

I also watched (a bit ) of the coverage for the bassmasters final in 2005. Now that was tear jerkingly awful telly! It wouldn't be hard to pick some good ones to show here. I've spent just a few weeks in the states over the past few years and have seen some suitable programs (and a lot of crap) but if it were my job to find new material for discovery I'm sure it wouldn't be hard to fill the schedule up!

[MJB]

Sky channel 444 (All in Sport) has the lovely Cindy Garrison on "In Search of Flywater". Sod the fishing, lets have more Cindy!

[*Ant*]

Did anyone else enjoy Reel Wars? I thought it was great due to the mix of fishing, survival and scenery.

[Ken L]

We have a new Mat & Mick program and a new Paul Young program so they're not cutting back to much.

Some carefully chosen US or Canadian programming would go down well though as would some English language programming from South Africa.

There are years worth of Rex Hunt shows in the can and much as I like them, I can't keep on watching the last two years worth of shows forever.

[*Ant*]

Did anyone else enjoy Reel Wars? I thought it was great due to the mix of fishing, survival and scenery.

 

Seems it was just MrMatthew and me then.

 

No wonder they didn't make a second series.