COAL... The TV program

[CoolBreeze]

The first show is on right now. I hate to say this, but I don't think this show is going to do much for WVs already bad reputation...

Here's the first 14 minutes of the show:

http://www.spike.com/video-clips/6lgdnd ... d_facebook


Jeremy Marushia, 18, started working for Cobalt in the middle of filming. Although he since has gained his "black hat," Marushia was a red hat apprentice miner at the time and had to learn his job under the glare of television cameras.

"I'd mess up and they'd shut the machine off and the cameras would be looking at me," he said. "You were afraid to pick your nose, it was so bad."

Second-shift miner Raymond Crigger said R.B. Davis, the second-shift foreman, once fired a belt operator after only two hours on the job. Cameras missed the firing, however. The crew asked Davis to do it over. The newcomer went back in the mine to be re-fired, this time on film.

"They wanted you to say the same thing two or three times," said Jerry "Wildman" Edwards, Cobalt Coal's dayshift foreman. "I had to tell them two or three times to get out of my face. I made them mad a couple times."

Edwards said he flatly refused some of the film crew's requests: once a producer asked him to let one of the red-hats pretend he was lost in the mine.

"He was probably one of the most intelligent boys I've got. I told them, we're not going to do that," Edwards said. "If he was really lost, that would be different."

http://www.dailymail.com/News/201103290858

[Big Media]

I watched. It's a great show and, aside from Captain Phil Harris' death last season, Deadliest Catch has been relatively free of drama---Ice Road Truckers has been even more lacking in the drama dept. Hopefully this show will be a little more dramatic.

Granted, some of that drama is injected, but it should still be a good show.

I am not at all convinced the slate fall in last night's show wasn't staged. Though, I can't imagine any miner attempting to stage something that could bring the roof down.

[genlock]

Bad roof is brought down all the time.
How else to get rid of it?

[CoolBreeze]

DID ANYONE NOT SEE THIS COMING?

MSHA cites mine after watching 'Coal' on TV

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- The first episode of a reality show filmed in a Southern West Virginia coal mine had real-world results: Federal inspectors who watched the Spike TV series have cited Cobalt Coal Corp. for activities they say endangered the miners.

In the debut of "Coal," a worker at the Westchester mine in McDowell County used the wrong tool -- a 12-inch pick hammer -- to pull down loose roof rock for a dramatic collapse that was caught on camera. The Mine Safety and Health Administration said the tool was too small for the job and put workers at risk of being struck by falling rock.

MSHA also cited Cobalt for moving the continuous mining machine when it wasn't cutting coal and allowing a worker to walk alongside, creating the potential for a crushing injury.

It's the first time MSHA has written a violation based on TV footage, spokeswoman Amy Louviere told The Associated Press.

"However, this is the first time that a documentary like this has been taped underground, to our knowledge," she said. "If violations are obvious, they will be cited."

The show debuted March 30 and was seen by 6 million viewers in the first week. The second episode aired Wednesday night.

More....
http://www.wvgazette.com/News/201104080646

[CoolBreeze]

There is something weird about COAL the TV show:

I've watched about every episode and it appears that few operating the company and in the mine actually know what they're doing.

I did a little background checking and discovered that the company itself is actually a consulting company to other coal operators. They claim to have all the answers and resources in order for their customers to make a profit, yet.... they act as though they've never seen a coal mine before sometimes. Why they decided to open their own mine I'm not sure.... maybe the TV show itself?

These shows attempt to have drama throughout the programs, and there seems to be an overabundance of drama each show. Example: One guy was on drugs and still allowed to work, until he didn't show up for a meeting, then was fired. The latest show involved lengthening a conveyor belt. The night foreman (40 years experience) claimed the belt hangers were too short. This caused a lot of down time. The day foreman discovered the hangers were installed upside down. What kind of idiot would not know that in a mine?

It appears that each miner only has one skill, and if anything goes wrong outside of his skill level, no one has a clue how to fix it. I mean, many of these guys have worked in the mines all their lives. How could they NOT pick up and learn every damned thing there is to know in that job? Most of the machinery is the same, and they're right there within feet of it every day.

Way too many things have gone wrong in this mine to the point that miners all over the state must be saying "what a bunch of morons". So the question is... are they doing this for the drama... for the TV show... or is this consulting company really that stupid?

[Big Media]

I believe you are dead on in your analysis that 90% of the "problems" are to give the show the drama it needs to hold an audience. I think that 90% of the "problems" on AxMen and Deadliest Catch are for the same purpose.

I have called bullshit on more than one occasion while watching this show. If the mine were not profitable, it would have been shut down long before now. I think they were moving much more coal out of that mine than what they were letting on.

They come across as bumbling buffoons but in reality, I believe they know exactly what they are doing. It's television, after all.

[Jay Nunley]

Is there any truth to the rumor that the owner of the actual mine and that particular part of Cobalt company is the Canadian company that owns most of Spike?

You are absolutely right about small things being turned into big things for dramatic effect on all of the Beers shows. The people at Tli Cho Landtran refused to let Ice Road Truckers come back after the first season because "they made it look much more dangerous than it actually is."

Incidentally, the "false" drama is exactly why IRT, Deadliest Catch, and Axe Men became boring to me after 2.5 seasons. The "characters" are only interesting enough to watch for about 2.5 seasons as well.