American Chopper is a reality television series on The Learning Channel (TLC) and is produced by Pilgrim Films & Television. The popular series is based around the founder of the company, Paul Teutul, Sr., and his son, Paul Teutul, Jr., also known as Paulie or simply Junior, as the two run a business creating custom motorcycles in their workshop, Orange County Choppers. The workshop is located in Newburgh, New York.

The contrasting attitudes of the men and their propensity for sulking often lead to fiery but humorous verbal exchanges as they meet unusually short schedule deadlines for building distinct custom choppers.

Originally a show on the Discovery Channel, the series moved to Discovery's sister channel, TLC, on December 28, 2007, starting off with an 18-hour marathon. Its first season on TLC premiered on January 18, 2008. Season 6 began airing on April 9, 2009 on TLC.

Featured staff

The OCC fabricators and mechanics such as Paul Teutul, Jr., Rick Petko, Nick Hansford, Christian Welter, and former employees Vincent DiMartino, also known as Vinnie, (who left OCC to start V-Force Customs in 2007) and Cody Connelly (a BOCES student intern who has joined DiMartino's business), to create dozens of custom motorbikes. Paul Sr. supervises the builds and has built motorcycles himself. Michael Teutul, commonly referred to as Mikey, serves as the shop's custodian and webmaster, and provides comic relief to the show. He has been seen doing metal work occasionally, as one of his early jobs was working at Orange County Ironworks. Also featured occasionally is Danny Teutul, the eldest child, who succeeded Paul Sr. as owner of Orange County Ironworks. Danny drops by to do contracted jobs for the OCC facilities.

The show also documents their personal and promotional activities ranging from magazine photo shoots to family holidays and custom bike shows.

Firing of Paul Jr

In the season 6 opening episode, Paul Sr and Paul Jr had an explosive disagreement over Paul Jr's contract and Paul Jr was subsequently terminated from employment at OCC. In a later episode, Sr and Jr appeared to work out their differences but Jr's return to work at OCC caused more problems between the two. Later Paul Jr decided that returning back to OCC was a mistake and has left to pursue his own ideas, however he and his father have both expressed interest in Paul Jr. remaining involved with OCC into the future.

In recent episodes, Paul Jr has been working for OCC as a consultant, who comes in when Paul Sr is out of the shop, and when a build needs extra man power.

In addition, Paul Jr is currently helping his girlfriend open and establish a boutique in Montgomery, New York, and has expressed his ultimate ambition is to own his own design firm.

Video games

Due to its popularity during its first seasons, American Chopper inspired two video games, developed by Activision Value and developed by Creat Studios. The first was 'American Chopper' released for the Sony PS2, and the Xbox. The second, American Chopper 2: Full Throttle was released for the Nintendo GameCube, Sony PS2, and the Xbox.

FANtasy Bike Contest

During 2005, Discovery Channel sponsored a contest[1] in which four finalists won OCC motorcycles. Bike features were specified by the winning fans, who sent in videos expressing their reasons for wanting a bike. The contest winners were (in episode order): Jeff Clegg (Corporal Punishment), Susan Morisset (Female Snake Bike), Joseph McClendon (Custom Hog), Bryan King (Vertebrate Trike). Each winner's bike appeared in a single episode, since each build took only 2 days.

Southern Chopper

It is a 2-hour pilot that follows the themes of American Chopper, but follows the lives of bike builders in Milwaukee Iron. Builders in the show include Randy Simpson, Gary Woodford, Lee Stamper.

The bike that was built in the episode was called 'Karn Evil'.[2]

Milwaukee Iron had also supplied fenders to OCC.[3]

Seasons

Season Episodes Originally aired DVD Vol. DVD release date (R1)
1 14 2003 1 May 10, 2005
2 23 2004 2 May 10, 2005
3 November 1, 2005
3 20 2005 4 September 13, 2007
5 July 19, 2007
4 37 2006 6 July 19, 2007
7 July 19, 2007
5 19 2008 ?
6  ? 2009 ??
Pilots,
Specials
& Other
14 20032007

Parodies

American Body Shop, an improvisational comedy shown on Comedy Central, is a parody of American Chopper, as well as other similar shows, such as Monster Garage and American Hot Rod.[4][5]

References

  1. ^ http://dsc.discovery.com/fansites/amchopper/fantasybikes/fantasybikes.html
  2. ^ Karn Evil - Milwaukee Iron
  3. ^ Lee Stamper from Southern Chopper on OCC Comanche Bike Episode?
  4. ^ American Body Shop - Television Review
  5. ^ TV.com: Body Shop creator makes dent with DIY gambit

External links

DeVoteD DVD