Review: Dirty Jobs with Mike Rowe
Dirty Jobs on the Discovery Channel is What Reality TV Should Be
It's no secret that reality TV isn't truly real--much is staged and acted. So it's ironic but not surprising that because Dirty Jobs with Mike Rowe on the Discovery Channel doesn't hide the cameras, it's one of the most real shows on television; indeed, it's actually more a documentary than reality television. In addition to the lack of pretense, three key elements make excellent television.
Manure, Sewage, and Bologna
First and foremost, the show films real jobs. In fact, one of the great attributes of the show is that most of the filming involves Mike Rowe, the host, working side-by-side with the men and women who actually do the hard work. Management is rarely shown on camera--unless they're part of the actual labor force. Instead, the show films and talks with the hourly wage-earners who spend 8 to 10 hours a day shoveling chicken manure, scraping out sewage tanks, or stuffing bologna.
And one of the great delights of this show is that Rowe allows these workers to highlight the pride that they have in a job well done--here, that phrase is not a cliche. And it doesn't matter whether the job is cleaning cloth diapers, milking spider venom, or cleaning a garbage truck. It doesn't seem surprising that many people are happy to admit they've held these jobs for 20 or 30 years.
Mike Rowe Doesn't Need the Last--or Best--Laugh
It's hard to imagine the show having any host but Mike Rowe (who is also the producer). He tries everything, but without false bravado--the scenes of him at a Texas snake farm where he descends into a rattlesnake pit and wrestles an alligator are hilarious, partially because of his obvious fear.
Mike has a strong sense of self that now only allows him to attempt these jobs, but also turn be self-deprecating when he can't weld, sex a turkey accurately, or drops a wrench while repairing a diaper dryer. One of the real delights of the show is that it is edited to highlight the real humor, usually dry or understated, that many workers bring to their jobs. Rowe is never reluctant to allow the real workers either the best laugh or a laugh at his expense.
Sheep's Testicles, Barsky, the La Brea Tar Pits, and Milking Tarantulas
The respect for real workers has been consistent through the show's five seasons; however, the show has actually improved over the years due to several factors;
- Dirty Jobs has learned to respect its viewers as well as its "actors." The first seasons tried to protect the viewer from some of the scenes that could truly be uncomfortable or embarrassing; when collecting semen from a horse, the horse's anatomy was shadowed out. In recent seasons, there are no longer any fuzzy camera shots. A very memorable scene has Mike Rowe bite the testicles off a sheep. (NOTE: The show now carries a caution that some scenes may be too graphic for some viewers.)
- Rowe is no longer the only star of the team; the film crew is receiving more credit. And that's only fair. Someone has to film Rowe crawling in the sewer with the rats crawling over his lap, covered in asbesto fiber when repairing the attic of an old house, or standing in a pack of maggots. The camera crew goes everywhere that Rowe does--usually before him. Because of this new emphasis, we've learned a lot about the crew--Barsky, Doug, Dave, et. al.; all of whom bring their own brand of humor to the show. Instead of highlighting the non-reality of the show, adding the crew to the show actually heightens the viewer's feeling of participation.
- Having filmed the dirty jobs that most people think of as messy, smelly jobs--septic tank cleaner, sewer inspector. manure shoveler, road kill collector--the show now encourages viewer recommendations. While there are obviously many who want the exposure for marketing purposes, opening the show to a variety of suggestions has allowed the show to air the unglamorous side of glamorous places--many tourists visit the La Brea tar pits; few realize that the tar continuously seeps in and someone has to go down and clean it out regularly.
- The show has broadened the concept of "dirt," Some of the jobs--collecting spider venom--are not classically dirty, but they highlight jobs that would still disgust many people or make their skin crawl.
There's no better way to end this review than with the introduction MIke Rowe uses at the beginning of every show, "I explore the country looking for people who aren't afraid to get dirty...hard working men and women who earn an honest living doing the kinds of jobs that make civilized life possible for the rest of us...Now get ready to get dirty." Anyone's who's ready to join in and get dirty won't regret it.
Mike Rowe of Dirty Jobs
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