Will Mountain Men be back for Season Two on the History Channel?
History Channel’s Mountain Men were at it again last night.
Eating kale from his garden patch, Eustace heard a shot somewhere up in his Turtle Island Preserve, and went into action—superhero action, even.
“I’ll fight for truth and justice,” he said, like a mountain man Superman. “It’s what I’ve always lived for.”
Sorry—it was hard not to laugh at that one. Okay, he didn’t push it to “and the American way.”
But, whoever wrote that line was laughing, too, as they wrote it, one would hope, and having a little fun, wondering if anyone would catch it.
The more episodes of this show that air, the more one has to hope that it was meant to be a spoof of real mountain men; otherwise, it is simply a colossal failure.
As a spoof, it’s a great show; as an attempt to really capture the life of the modern-day mountain man, well, each week, Huliq readers have spoken to that one loud and clear:
Rusty: This is just what it is, TV. “Misfire” is just what it is too.
Anonymous: Having lived, hunted, and fished in the wilderness of Montana, and actually worked with cut nails, lived in a house only lit by candle and kerosene, I can attest that some of the aspects of the show are authentic.
But like much of the reality TV that we are subjected to, it’s tailored to entertain us rather than enrich us.
Anonymous: This show should really be called “3 Idiots Spread Across America.”
GVN: I hear that Hee-Haw song playing in my head during this show “Gloom, despair, agony on me, deep dark depression incessant misery, if it weren’t for bad luck I’d have no luck at all, gloom despair and agony on me.”
I know that reality shows are anything but reality but these bad luck moments seem to happen way too much to be believable.
Daveburrell: A good concept, hurt by fake recreations and fake mountain men.
Ellie, Tom’s dog, is the most realistic part of this show, and it seems even she was likely drawn into the fakeness of it all last night.
For whatever reason, instead of simply picking up the antlers he said he saw while out previously, Tom’s friend Tim offered to take him out searching for antlers Tom needed to finish some project he was working on for additional income (Tim did, after all, indicate that, “This time of year, Tom and Nancy are really pushing to get their product. I mean, they are in business.
This is what they do for a living.” So, one would assume that he would know that they could use whatever antlers he saw laying around, and would just pick them up and take them back with him.
But, apparently not.). And, while out antler hunting Ellie came charging back to Tim and Tom—after once again worrying Tom that she was lost—with the antlers Tom needed.
Now, Ellie is adorable—she is a beautiful dog, and seems as sweet and loving as they come.
But, let’s face it: Ellie has a hard time finding herself, bless her little doggy heart, much less anything else.
So, it is hard to believe that she just took off on her own and brought back antlers.
No, a better bet is that somewhere off-camera, she was given antlers, and encouraged to run back happily to Tom and Tim, which she did, no problem.
But, did she scavenge them up herself? Probably not.
The next Mountain Men episode is the season finale, and if anyone was not laughing as they watched the teaser, and cheering on Eustace “Superman” Conway as he rode into town on his horse to defend Turtle Island, well, they are taking this show too seriously.
It’s not what most viewers had hoped for—not a realistic portrayal of contemporary mountain men. But, hey, it’s funny.
Will Mountain Men be back for Season Two?
Stay tuned.
The season finale Mountain Men airs on the History Channel next Thursday, July 19, at 9/8c.
