MovieChat Forums > American Chopper: The Series (2002) Discussion > Remember when this show was cool?

Remember when this show was cool?

posted 11 years ago by rmontro
4 replies | jump to latest

I was looking at the 6.4 rating on the front page and I was thinking about back when this show first came out. It was a fascinating look on how bikes were built, and people bought into it. And yes, there was drama between Senior and Junior. But people thought it was cool. Which led to all the merchandising and such.

It wasn't until later that it jumped the shark. People point to when Senior fired Junior. But I think the problem started when they all got rich, they expanded, and it seemed like there came a time when the prinicipal characters (Senior and Junior) were barely involved with building the bikes anymore.

[–] starvb083 10 years ago

Yes I watched this show from it's very early days when the bikes they built were original and interesting. I was hooked but after 2 or 3 years the staff began to change, new faces came in and it took on the identity of just another reality show where the 'stars' conversations and differences are clearly scipted for the cameras.
Prior to this I'd always felt that American Chopper was a genuine 'fly on the wall' type production and they were just filming the family and staff as they carry on their day to day activities with no regard for the presence of the tv crew.
A few months ago I recorded a few episodes of Snr vs Jnr just to see how much the people, the business and the programme format had changed. I found it just about watchable but it was sad to see the separation of the different elements of the family. Mikey was still very likeable but seemed to have lost his sense of humour. Paulie's croaky voice indicated the amount of stress he was under from trying to design and build outstanding bikes whilst having to run and develop his own business venture at the same time. I thought it was good to see the loyalty shown to Paul Jnr by Vinny and by Rick to Snr though. I often wonder what happened to people like Cody and the young paintwork guy (Jason?)
The last episode I watched was the one where Snr refuses to go to Paulie's wedding and Mikey fails to turn up for the lunch meeting with Snr - That was the final straw for me, I couldn't watch any more.
I don't mind admitting that I found the very first episodes of American Chopper so compelling that I probably cared too much for and actually liked the Teutel family. To see that they'd all gone their own ways was a shock but I suppose the series would have ended in around 2005/6 if radical changes weren't happening within the family.
My solution was to go out and buy the dvd box set of the original series (Black Widow, Fire Bike etc) and I watch them periodically as a reminder of what a fantastic programme American Chopper was during the initial episodes.

[–] Gandolph_Lundgren 10 years ago

I often wonder what happened to people like Cody and the young paintwork guy (Jason?)

Cody worked for a while at Vinnie's company V-Force Customs. He doesn't work for V-Force Customs anymore, he now works for Paulie's company Paul Jr. Designs. Vinnie does some work for Paul Jr. Designs but he has his own company DiMartino Motorsports (I think V-Force Customs are gone).

The paintwork guy Justin Barnes was not a OCC employee, he has his own paintwork company that OCC outsourced to. He filed legal action against OCC alleging that his original designs were used on merchandise without his permission or appropriate compensation. I don't know what the outcome of that case was but obviously he does not do any work for OCC anymore.

[–] starvb083 10 years ago

Thanks for replying to clear that up - I called the young paintwork guy Jason but I'm glad you realised that I of course meant Justin!

[–] 10 years ago

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