There are many car shows in TV Land and most car guys are well aware of them, depending upon their cable choices.
The guys at MyStarCollectorCar.com are also well aware of the TV cars shows and wanted to assess the ones we have in our cable channel package.
It turns out we had plenty to say about the shows we showcased in Part 1 so we added Part 2. This installment will cover the strengths and weaknesses of a few more of TV’s car show lineup.
The main focus for car guy viewers is to be blown away by the talent of the builders in the TV show. The main focus of the TV producers is to take these builders out of their field of expertise and force them into a cheesy TV script.
FantomWorks is one of the newer kids on the car guy block and does some very interesting builds every week. The strength of the show is the quality of the work and the diverse projects featured in each episode.
Fans of restoration projects will like the way these guys tackle a challenge and breathe life back into a worn-out old ride. The host/owner on FantomWorks is a former Green Beret and combat pilot named Dan Short.
Short’s personal toolbox lacks a complete set of people skills but he sets high standards for his work and delivers quality work to his customers. He has a volatile personality that gets in the way during some episodes but viewers are treated to some unusual rides that step out of the typical mold for TV car shows.
One weakness is the show includes a requisite amount of TV-scripted problems and viewers are forced to witness fish-out-of-water moments when talented shop guys become untalented actors. The only question left unanswered in every episode is who pays when Dan Short inevitably dynamites the brakes and flat-spots the tires.
Another popular car guy TV show is Wheeler Dealers and it stars two British blokes named Edd China and Mike Brewer. These guys work both sides of the Big Pond (Atlantic Ocean) in England and the USA to bring viewers some interesting projects every week.
We assume their growing popularity in North America made them move some of their episodes to a California shop where they could purchase and re-furbish old rides that are more familiar to North American car guys.
The strength of Wheeler Dealers is ability to walk viewers through the repair process on each vehicle. Edd even discloses the amount of time and degree of repair difficulty behind each issue on the weekly project ride in his own articulate fashion.
The weakness of Wheeler Dealers is that it has begun to fall into a typical TV car show trap where the viewers are forced to endure contrived conflict and highly unnecessary side issues that are generated by non-car guy TV producers. These days Mike and Edd spend more time on extraneous distractions and less time on the actual build process.
Consequently viewers are deprived of extra time to watch the legendary Edd China tackle mechanical problems and educate his viewers along the way.
We will have to add another installment to our TV car show series because we have too much ground to cover in this department.
Jim Sutherland
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