Froged in Fire - The Kid

[Bob La Londe]

I rather enjoyed the latest Forged in Fire Episode. I was rooting for the kid a little when he took the time to shape his tongs for the job, but I was really rooting for him when he stopped to help another smith with the welder when it was messed up.

[Glug]

I was rooting for the kid a little when he took the time to shape his tongs for the job, but I was really rooting for him when he

So-called "Reality TV" does not generate a sufficient audience unless there is drama and conflict to hook the viewer. Almost always it is intentional and carefully planned.

Just some guys making knives against a timer or cooking food? That isn't nearly enough.

Producers of those programs will often conduct surveys to confirm exactly what drama or subplot will generate the most response in their target demographic/product.

When I see the finches at the feeder squabble? At least that is real

[BCRider]

I remember back to one of the earlier builder reality shows, Orange County Choppers. For the first season or two it was about the bikes. And just construction and scheduling headaches was enough to keep the audience going. But then some bit of personal issue was injected and the audience response was triggered. Pretty soon the bikes themselves were lowly bit players in the family squabbling. It was pretty pathetic and had nothing to do with reality at all any longer.

I guess there's a really good reason why all the longest running and most faithfully followed TV shows are soap operas.....

[old mart]

It's such a shame that artificial drama has to be invented by the film director in many of these shows, it appeals to some, but I just see through their added fiction.

[Bob La Londe]

I'm still waiting for the "Arm Chair Warriors Edition" of Forged in Fire. That one I'd try out for. LOL.

[reggie_obe]

So-called "Reality TV" does not generate a sufficient audience unless there is drama and conflict to hook the viewer. Almost always it is intentional and carefully planned.

Issues like the problem with the welder, aren't false drama on FiF. I have a friend who is on set every day for every episode, if it was contrived or one smith sabotaging another he would see it.

[JRouche]

I rather enjoyed the latest Forged in Fire Episode. I was rooting for the kid a little when he took the time to shape his tongs for the job, but I was really rooting for him when he stopped to help another smith with the welder when it was messed up.

I am in full agreement with you. I just watched that one. JR

[elf]

From the subject, I was expecting a grilled frog leg recipe.

[danlb]

We watched the one with the kid last night. He was 19 years old with 10 years experience making knives. I noticed that all of the contestants had only made knives for a few years, except for him. I smugly told my wife that I did not expect much from him, since self taught "kids" often learned some real bad habits.

He proved me wrong, but that's not hard to do. He used good techniques and appeared quite mature and competent. As Bob mentioned, his willingness to stop and help another contestant with a MIG welder was a class touch. I liked his finished sword too.

There is virtually no squabbling on the show, BTW. They often help each other when it's obvious that someone is stumbling. It seems that the canister Damascus trips up more people than anything else. The idea of waiting for the coating to dry escapes most folks.


Dan ( yeah, we watch the show weekly)

[mattthemuppet]

I'm still waiting for the "Arm Chair Warriors Edition" of Forged in Fire. That one I'd try out for. LOL.

that made me laugh

[danlb]

I'm still waiting for the "Arm Chair Warriors Edition" of Forged in Fire. That one I'd try out for. LOL.

Yeah, I'm an arm chair bladesmith. I've never made one but every episode I find my self talking to the contestants, chiding them for beating on steel that was not up to forging temperatures or drilling on a hardened tang. If you watch them weld, almost none of them use a proper stickout of the MIG wire. Yesterday the guy who was helped took the torch back and proceeded to weld with an inch or two of wire sticking out of the nozzle.

But honestly, most of them do MUCH better than I could do without some practice/training.
Dan

[Mcgyver]

It was pretty pathetic and had nothing to do with reality at all any longer.
..

that whole OCC thing, start to finish, was just pathetic imo.

I get the general public needs these sorts of human dramas overlaid, but I also believe a great deal of TV is written for the 10 year mind, so I usually have low expectations.

On cooking, Ramsay for example has done a number of really good course type cooking shows, him cooking and giving instruction. Great stuff and he comes across like a regular guy. I like those a lot as they're good quality how-to's..... whereas I have just zero interest in his competition or restaurant inspection/overhaul shows. imo that is crap, but obviously that is not a view shared by the majority

[lynnl]

Forged in Fire is the biggest farce among all the so called reality shows! That was always pretty apparent to me, especially after I saw one of the tests to narrow the field of contestants.

That martial arts guy, in supposedly a test to see how effective the blades were in slicing thru a pig carcass, took one contestant's blade and, with his usual phony dramatization, swung at the pig, and at the last second twisted the blade so as to slap the side of the blade rather than the blade edge, against the carcass. I reversed the playback several times, to be sure, and it was plain as day. You could plainly see the indentation left by the broad side of the blade.
Thees blade weel not cut!

[danlb]

Which episode was that Lynnl? I'd like to check that out.

Dan

[BCRider]

that whole OCC thing, start to finish, was just pathetic imo.

I get the general public needs these sorts of human dramas overlaid, but I also believe a great deal of TV is written for the 10 year mind, so I usually have low expectations.

On cooking, Ramsay for example has done a number of really good course type cooking shows, him cooking and giving instruction. Great stuff and he comes across like a regular guy. I like those a lot as they're good quality how-to's..... whereas I have just zero interest in his competition or restaurant inspection/overhaul shows. imo that is crap, but obviously that is not a view shared by the majority

Ramsay has a YT channel and does "how to" spots there too. And yeah, they are really good. And for a lot of them he keeps things fairly simple. Done a few of those and I can vouch for how yummy they are.