Has anyone watched this show? It was eagerly awaited in the "Patch". I love it. It show some real old school "Roughnecking". A lot of companies now days don't allow alot of the practices you see on that show. I was wondering how it was being recieved outside the industry. It seems like it is getting good reviews. You can check out the website here: http://www.trutv.com/shows/black_gold/index.html Wednesday's at 10 EST.
So no ones watched this show? I may be biased but I think it is way better than the crab fisherman, ice road truckers, or the loggers. Wednesday night is the season finale. Re-run of last weeks show is on Tuesday night. There is a pretty good discussion board for the show too. http://boards.trutv.com/forumdisplay.php?f=28 I'll be watching for the DVD to come out. Hopefully they'll have a second season. Check it out if you remember. Wed. 10 EST, 9CST on TruTV (used to be Court TV)
Most of those shows are hard to take because they make them so over-the-top dramatic. Man I get tired of hearing how every move could be their last! I liked the logging one but Black Gold is my favorite so far. That driller on the Viking rig is the one I'd like to work for if I had to do that kind of work.
Yeah it's dramatised for sure. A lot of the industry folks on the discussion board are gripeing about it. But I am one of the dissenters. It's entertainment so they have to hype it up. The danger is what makes it exciting. They say that Crab fishing is the most dangerous job but it depends on how you calculate danger. The IADC (the premier oil industry association) ranks the oil business as the 3rd most dangerous job. They rate it not by the number of accidents but the percentage that result in permanent injury or death. They have coal mining and logging as 1 and 2. It crept up to the number one spot during the boom days of the 70's. I am afraid it is heading that way again. I have heard of at least a dozen fatalities in just the last two years. The show on Wed will show the most dramatic accident. The one they show on the promos all the time. I have had the exact same thing happen to me when I was roughnecking. And I knew a guy who got killed in the same way. BTW the driller on the Viking rig, Wayne, is my favorite one too. He is the most like I was when I was drilling. He'll chew his men out when they need it, but he is just as quick to praise them when they do good. If your men respect you they will go that extra mile for you. When you have thier lives in your hand you had better prove yourself worthy or you won't be there long. Respect on these rigs is earned by actions not words or titles.
At first I liked Gerald too but man he was hard on the guys and it cost him his job. You have to be hard sometimes but damn you have to keep the guys coming back to work also. I've been fascinated as to what goes into drilling and all the problems they run into. Like when Gerald called for a drill bit change and it turned out not to be as worn as he thought. Oops!
