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Until his untimely death in 2010, Captain Phil Harris starred on Discovery Channel’s hit reality show Deadliest Catch which chronicles the harrowing lives of crab fishermen.

Now Captain Harris is the subject of a new biography written by his sons, Jake and Josh Harris, and titled, Captain Phil Harris: The Legendary Crab Fisherman, Our Hero, Our Dad.

I recently spoke with Josh Harris–who continues to star on the show’s Season Nine–about his father, the new book, Deadliest Catch and the “dark side” of reality TV.

The full transcript of our conversation is available here, while I’ve highlighted some of the interview below.

Diane Anderson-Minshall: Tell us a little about this new biography.

Josh Harris: Our father actually started an autobiography prior to his death in 2010. When he passed away, my brother Jake and I wanted to keep a part of him alive by finishing what he originally set out to accomplish…Captain Phil Harris: The Legendary Crab Fisherman, Our Hero, Our Dad is an electrifying tell-all that is sure to keep you on the edge of your seat. We told the old man’s story the way he would have wanted it told. Check it out at Amazon.com.

Diane Anderson-Minshall: What was it like having to share your dad with millions of Deadliest Catch fans?

Josh Harris: Our father was voted least likely to succeed in high school. In fact, his high school, at the time, graduated him early because they didn’t want to deal with him. Since then, until his death in 2010, his main goal was to prove everyone wrong by making something of himself. He worked extremely hard to achieve his well-known status and loved his fans immensely.

Diane Anderson-Minshall: Eight million people watched your father pass away. Is it difficult having such a personal moment air on TV?

Josh Harris: It’s incredibly difficult….Discovery Channel did a really tasteful job airing our father’s passing on the show. They sent us the episode a month before it aired, and it took me a month and half after it aired to finally watch it. I’ve only seen it once.

Diane Anderson-Minshall: There have been a fair number of suicides by current and former reality TV stars. And it seems like being in the public’s eye can be stressful. Has your family felt any of what might be called TV’s dark side?

Josh Harris:I can only speak for myself. We didn’t set out to be actors or reality stars….We were not prepared to deal with this kind of attention, nor did we sign up for it. Yet we accepted it…Others aren’t able to deal with this kind of pressure and choose to take their own life.

Diane Anderson-Minshall: What can fans expect from Deadliest Catch Season 9?

Josh Harris: Fans should expect the same real-life situations crab fishermen go through on a day-to-day basis. When sailing the Bering Sea you can regularly expect hurricane-force winds and four-story waves in a valorous effort to haul in millions of pounds of crab…

Read the full interview here.

Photo cover of Captain Phil Harris: The Legendary Crab Fisherman, Our Hero, Our Dad.

Forty-year-old Mark Balelo, who appeared on A&E’s reality series, Storage Wars was found dead yesterday, Monday, February 11, 2013 of an apparent suicide.

Balelo is hardly the first reality TV personality to commit suicide. In 2009, The Wrap reported on 11 suicides by former reality contestants and stars, and Real Housewives of Beverley Hills husband Russell Armstrong’s 2011 suicide sparked renewed debates about the stress of appearing on reality TV and the need for more mental health support.

The deaths of Armstrong and other former reality stars may have been sparked in part by their experiences on reality shows; and Storage Wars certainly has had its struggles–including recent fraud allegations–but Balelo’s death may have nothing to do with reality TV and instead be related to his alleged drug use, for which he was recently arrested.

What do you think? Is his death connected to the show? Do reality TV personalities have higher rates of suicide or do we just tend to hear more about them?

Photo © A&E.

Start 2013 New Year’s right with a weekend of reality show marathons, special episodes and series premieres. Check out my hour-by-hour guide to reality TV over the New Years holiday.

The weekend offers marathons of Real Housewives, Sister Wives, Chopped and America’s Next Top Model (British Invasion); the season premiere of Dance Moms; new episode of Top Chef and Shahs of Sunset; and the series premiere of Totally T-Boz, Storage Wars: New York and The Sisterhood.

Enjoy the plethora of viewing options and have a happy New Year!

Photo of © Bravo.

Are you one of those people who get’s tired of schmaltzy, made-for-TV Christmas movies that seem to dominate the airwaves at this time of year?

Once again, reality TV has come to the rescue, offering us marathons, specials and even new episodes of some of our favorite shows.

You might think you’d be safe putting on Bravo and throwing away the remote until the presents have been returned to stores on December 26th–but you’d end up regretting it.

While the channel is playing some great Real Housewives marathons (and Shahs of Sunset & Top Chef: Seattle episodes), if you watch all weekend you’ll soon find them repeating some of the episodes over and over and over in a crazy-making infinite loop.

But don’t worry, when Bravo lets you down there’s plenty of other shows to captivate your attention. For example, you could check out Duck Dynasty or watch past episodes of Storage Wars and look for evidence of the alleged plastic surgery (oh yeah, or the supposed fraud).

Check out this hour-by-hour listing so you can plan ahead and schedule your viewing accordingly.

Looking for the much-hyped Honey Boo Boo “Holladay” Specials? TLC won’t be airing them until after the new year.

Coming soon: your guide to what to watch over the New Years weekend.

Photo © Bravo

A&E and the producers of the channel’s hit reality show, Storage Wars are being sued for wrongful termination and fraud.

Bringing the lawsuit is former Storage Wars star Dave Hester (pictured), who was portrayed as the show’s ‘villain’ for three seasons; but now claims the real villains are the show’s production team.

Hester claims that nearly every element of the show is staged–including the contents of storage units and the outcome of auctions.

(More bizarrely, he also insists that the show also paid for female stars to undergo plastic surgery so they could increase their sex appeal.)

Setting aside the question of cast boob jobs, Hester’s allegations aren’t entirely new, and Storage Wars is hardly the first reality show accused of rigging the outcome. (See “New Allegations of Reality Show Rigging.”)

But, Hester maintains the manipulation on Storage Wars has risen to a criminal level.

Is he right?

I’ve written an in-depth analysis of the case but the quick version is:

1. All reality TV is intentionally deceptive.
2. But no court is likely to rule that every reality TV show is committing fraud by deceiving its audience.
3. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t draw lines in the sand and punish shows that go too far.

What is too far? I’m not sure I know.

What do you think?

If Hester is right about the alleged manipulation do you think it was  different from what other reality shows do? Do you think it was/should be illegal?

I think, as reality TV viewers, we need to have these kinds of conversations. We need to turn a critical eye to the genre we love and be willing to acknowledge its flaws.

I look forward to your comments–and to watching the drama of this lawsuit unfold.

(Maybe even more than I look forward to A&E’s new show, Storage Wars: New York which premieres in January.)

Photo © A&E.

Project Los Angeles, a new Bravo reality show, is seeking cast members who are all that and a bag of chips, or as the casting call puts it, “the most beautiful, confident, elite heartthrobs…instantly adored, superhot, proto-superstar[s].”

This is why I will probably never be on a reality TV show.

First, as a writer/editor I object to people–even TV show recruiters–randomly combining words like “super” and “hot” or making up words like “proto-superstar.”

Second, there seems to be nothing more to this show than the cast members’ beauty and “superhottness.” Maybe I’m in a minority here, but I still value what people do more than what they look like.

Third, while I’m all for self promotion, I don’t understand how anyone can (at least straight faced), call themselves an “instantly adored, elite heartthrob.” (Not just a heartthrob, an elite heartthrob…wait, what is an elite heartthrob?)

When does “confident” become “egotistical?” Or is there no such thing as being overly full of oneself in the reality TV world? Maybe its only those who assert a superstar status that fails to come across on screen that we will call out for arrogance. Otherwise, maybe they are just telling the truth.

Okay, I admit it, I’m envious. What must their childhoods have been like that they grew up able to think so highly of themselves? Where did they get their overconfidence and how can I get a shot of it?

If you are one of those lucky enough to be beautiful, “superhot” and an elite heartthrob and you live in Los Angeles County, are at least 21-years-old,  are willing to answer invasive personal questions and sign up four of your friends to be on the show with you,  Project Los Angeles may just be for you. Find out more and link to the application form here.

For reality viewers, before you discount Project LA, don’t forget it is from Bravo, the network who also turned Real Housewives into must-see TV. Check in with me in 12 months, the show currently known as Project Los Angeles may just have become my favorite guilty pleasure.

Or not.

This weekend relax with some reality TV marathons.

Once upon a time, Thanksgiving was a holiday about giving thanks and stocking up before facing another brutal winter. Now it’s all about family dysfunction, overeating, insane shopping habits and football–it’s enough to exhaust anyone.

So when you’re ready to recharge your batteries, turn on the TV and settle into a reality TV marathon. You can escape your own life for awhile and instead watch some Real Housewives melt down, consume some Top Chef culinary creativity, catch up on shows or sample one you’ve never seen before–say Breaking Amish or Shahs of Sunset.

Or watch Oxygen’s marathon of America’s Next Top Model, hosted by former Top Model judge Nigel Barker (unceremoniously discarded when the show was revamped, Barker will soon return as host of Oxygen’s new modeling competition, The Face). Added bonus–a sneak peak of The Face during the Top Model marathon!

Check out the weekend’s line up of reality TV shows and series marathons in my guide to Thanksgiving 2012 Reality TV.

Give thanks, don’t get caught in any Black Friday stampedes and enjoy your holiday!

Photo © Bravo.

Redneck baby beauty queen Honey Boo Boo and spoiled socialite Kim Ksardashian haven’t had a lot in  common–until now: they’re both featured in the new comic book series, 15 minutes, which profiles reality TV stars.

Keeping up With the Kardashians‘ Kim Kardashian graced the first issue of the graphic biography series by Bluewater Productions, while Honey Boo Boo is the subject of the second edition, which dropped November 14th.

Explaining the decision to feature the controversial pageant queen and star of Here Comes Honey Boo Boo, 15 Minutes‘ publisher Darren G. Davis said, “Clearly this one was meant to be fun for people and not to educate society.”

Meanwhile, artist Michael Troy–apparently not worried about offending Americans and reality fans–says, “I jumped at the chance to put my spin on spoon fed America’s latest reality obsession.”

Read more about the new 15 Minutes series and see images of the first two covers.

Photo © Bluewater.

NBC is seeking teams of two to participate in an extreme competition in the new planned Bear Gyrlls Adventure Reality Show. Teams of two will be dropped in a remote location. To learn more about how to audition, visit Bear Grylls Adventure Reality series.

I scream, you scream, we all scream for… seafood? We must, because, the size and monetary value of the U.S. seafood harvest hit a 17-year high in 2011, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Crediting government efforts to protect and rebuild fish populations, NOAA’s report, Fisheries of the United States 2011, shows that the nation’s commercial fishermen hauled in 10.1 billion pounds of fish and shellfish in 2011, a 1.9 billion pound increase over 2010. The catch was valued at $5.3 billion, $784 million more than in 2010.

Much of the increase was due to higher catches the popular food fish, Alaska, pollock, and Pacific whiting.

“Commercial and recreational fishing are integral to the nation’s social and economic fabric,” said Sam Rauch, deputy assistant NOAA administrator in a press release. “To see landings and value climb again this year shows we’re moving in the right direction and that the fishing industry is strengthening as fish populations rebuild. Our goal is to support a thriving, sustainable seafood industry that is competitive in the global marketplace, and to enjoy the benefits of recreational fishing in our own waters.”

Also See: FDA Warns Women of Seafood Dangers

The Alaskan seaport of Dutch Harbor-Unalaska, made famous by the popular reality TV show “Deadliest Catch,” led the nation in the highest amount of fish landed for the 15th straight year. New Bedford, Mass. had the highest valued catch for the 12th straight year, thanks mainly to the area’s strong Atlantic sea scallop fishery.

According to the report, the average American ate 15 pounds of fish and shellfish in 2011, down slightly from the 15.8 pounds consumed in 2010. Second only to China in consumption of seafood, Americans consumed a total 4.7 billion pounds of seafood in 2011. About 91% of all seafood consumed in the U.S. was imported in 2011, compared to about 86% in 2010.

Speaking of recreational fishermen, more than 10 million U.S. recreational saltwater anglers went fishing 69 million times in 2011, catching 345 million fish, releasing nearly 270 million of them alive. What did they catch? As usual, spotted sea trout remained the top catch for recreational anglers, with 41 million caught in 2011.

Also See: Why the Government Can’t Clean Fish
NOAA Nets Surprise Giant Squid in Gulf

Photo: Alaskan Pollock – NOAA