Other than Jon Stewart's canny current affairs life riot on Comedy Central, there's only one other show on television I try not to miss. American Chopper, on the Discovery Channel, is must-see TV. For the unitiated, the show revolves around the father-son team of Paul Teutul Jr. and Sr., who run an outfit called Orange County Choppers in upstate New York and create one-of-a-kind motorcycles for corporations and other well-heeled customers.
American Chopper has two basic appeals for this Ivy-educated, Brooks Brothers-wearing, Manhattan-working executive: the relationship between the Teutuls and their fabrication shop cast of characters, and the actual work itself. While the former can make for great TV - Junior and Senior are constantly at each other's throats - the latter is the true lure for this digitally-obsessed technology geek. These guys make physical objects from scratch - they work in metal and create fascinating machines that actually run. It's not that I always wanted a chopper out of Easy Rider, it's the process itself that attracts. Sheet metal becomes a stylized gas tank. Simple pipes become an elegant exhaust system. And then the thing rumbles down the road.
I love the themes - the Spider bike created for Wyclef Jean, the Jay Leno retro bike, the MIA-POW bike, the NYFD heroes bike, the Christmas bike. And the corporate assignments that pay the bills: Snap-On, Dixie, the New York Jets. These custom rides go for anywhere from $40,000 to six figures. The artistic genius behind OCC's success is Paul Teutul Jr., a true savant in the narrow world of custom motorcycle design; although he clashes with his father for the cameras, "Paulie" is the man with the vision, a guy who can take a corporate brand and mold it in metal, gears, and wheels.
Most of all, American Chopper is the perfect antidote for my line of work - from my lifestyle. It's all physical, hands-on, a shop full of characters who - at least in the TV storyline - ride on down the highway after a hard day's work. The most American show on TV. Is it reality? A fella can dream.
