Deadliest Catch Greenhorn

Sig Hansen, Captain of the Northwestern crab-catcher vessel.

Source: Streeter Lecka/Getty Images

I was in college when True Hollywood Story debuted, and it couldn't have come at a better time. I doubt I ever watched a new episode the first time it aired, but my friends and I lived for the weekend marathons, a seemingly endless string of episode after episode, each following that similar arc... Talented child pushed too hard, adulthood negotiated in the limelight, disaster, and recovery. There was something of a narcotic in that smooth narration that soothed the lingering effects of the previous night's outing while simultaneously putting fears about tomorrow's deadlines at bay. Which handily brings me to yesterday. While I had a quiet Saturday night nursing my sick boyfriend, Sunday morning I awoke full of anxiety about the week ahead... Tomorrow I board a plane headed for Des Moines, Iowa and caucus night, after which all the campaigns and media (and I) will beat a hasty path to New Hampshire for the primary. Exciting, for sure, and a tremendous opportunity. But it will also be my first field production gig, and the butterflies in my stomach feel more like wasps... Wasps with teeth. Anyway, someone heard my distress call, and not long after I flipped on the TV yesterday to figure out if the Redskins played at 1pm or 4pm, I wandered onto the Discovery channel and innocently took my first hit of a new drug... Deadliest Catch. Now I know it's not a new show, and I have actually seen bits of it before, but Sunday the timing was right, and I'm sorry for the pun but I have to say it... I was hooked*. On a day of packing and cleaning house before my big trip, I lucked into my old friend in a new form -- a marathon of drama, high stakes, below-freezing temps, and even prison... But all on the Bering Sea instead of Kentwood. I seriously watched all day, till midnight, taking time out only to watch Washington own Dallas (but switching back during every timeout to check in on the crews of the Northwestern, the Cornelia Marie, and the rest). It is absolutely riveting. These fishermen literally risk life and limb every day, and the insane risks they take for big payoffs (tens of thousands of dollars for a month of work) really put my own life and little ol' trip to Iowa in perspective. What's more, with the writers' strike lumbering on, it's great to find a new television obsession... if I've got to watch reality TV, at least it's really good reality TV.

* and besides, they don't use hooks, they use huge traps.

Sarah Handel

Tags: Deadliest Catch | Discovery | True Hollywood Story | reality TV