Discovery: Gold Rush Alaska Series - Page 2

Yes, for the 2nd series, hard to see how they'll stretch episodes for a full TV season. They've recovered about $20k worth of gold--~$10k in the last day--versus ~$275k of expenses. That glory-hole dig looks like it'll collapse and swallow the excavator shovel/operator. -- John

Looks like, from last night's summing-up/out-take show, the gang's planning a move northward to the Klondike, not finishing the Porcupine Creek dig for the glory hole. The consultant to the site's owner said he wants to bring his own crew to finish Porcupine. That set the original planners scurrying to find another site, anticipating a 'deal' for needed cash. With gold over $1400/oz recently, there's a mining rush on and sites are scarce. Maybe they'll hire an expert for the Klondike dig. -- John

EDIT: A search engne spit out this article , with sublinked related pieces, about reality show contrivances.

EDIT2: One outtake edited out earlier: After the ex-realtor quit the camp in disgust, someone contrived an 'action shot' involving an attempt to burn his cabin, before grandpa Jack rolled in the big 400 excavator and crushed it.

Lots of surprises with the season premiere last night. Couldn't imagine more bumbling than the first season (above) but they managed. They'd researched moving northward to start a new Klondike claim, bought costly new mining equipment, but forgot to finalize a must-have water-rights license. That squelched Klondike plans.

So it was back to the original Porcupine Creek site, a few days restoring their old equipment, draining water from their Glory Hole dig, and discovering promising gold from the bottom. That's when Fred, the experienced miner hired last season by the site owner as a monitor, arrives and announces he now has mining rights and will use his own crew. So they're off to the Klondike after all, seeking yet another site. Awaiting the next screwup... -- John

Like the plan to show activities for three digs, jumping back and forth. Helps maintain interest IMO. The kid managing his grandfather's site measured ~$800 worth, after a day's processing--and replacing his shaker power-supply regulator, per his grandfather's suggestion. Shots of gold nuggets remain a mystery. The kid's take was less than an ounce, yet they flashed pictures of a pan with its bottom covered with huge nuggets.

Glad the Klondike crew is happy with the completely untested site they settled on...undoubtedly they'll strike it rich. Had to chortle at Fred's glee while filling in Porcupine Creek's 60'-deep glory-hole dig, building a road to mine the site his way. And from the previews looks like they've manufactured more phony conflict at the Klondike dig next week, causing the grandfather to leave in a huff-- temporarily no doubt.

Didn't see repeat, but perhaps they'll backtrack later if the 400 excavator is shown at the Klondike site. Trucking it northward wasn't shown. Believe there's more discussion at the Discovery forum on the show--plus a add-on video for this week's show with Fred and the younger Hoffman being questioned together by the producer. [EDIT: At least they previewed such a video, but couldn't locate it at the Discovery site.] -- John

Not positive about the episode sequence, but as I recall (11/11 ) they used a bulldozer to pull the wash plant from its dropoff point closer to the stream. The week before (11/4) it was hauled into the site. They're running new episodes preceded by the earlier one. Usually scan my cable guide descriptions looking for the "NEW" designation, then DVR it or watch 'live' if there's nothing better being cablecast.

This Friday's upcoming drama moment (from preview and your desciption) seems to be encountering thick Klondike permafrost with the bulldozer, perhaps blocking access to enough gold.

Remains an interesting series, excluding most of the reality-show antics, although they allocated about the right amount of time showing how the teenager had to bump up their percentage of the mining take to get his two workers to cooperate better. -- John

Well, Friday's fun and games could have been anticipated. The Hoffman honcho at the Klondike Crystal Creek site claimed a gut feeling the flat land they bulldozed was untouched. Then an old timer arrives and shows how it had been excavated many years earlier. So they wasted about $5k for fuel and five days. Now it's back to digging through the permafrost on the sloped area, attempted unsuccessfully at the beginning of this episode. Seems most of the series foul-ups develop when the neophytes consult experts too late. -- John

Interesting special last night (12/23) about how they're shooting this series. Remarkably, there are ~100 videographers, etc. between the 3 sites now, from various countries, probably with the UK lead team most prominent. Amazing how many cameras and operators swarm the miners for many scenes. Several shots of videographers nearly getting chomped by excavator buckets. Lots of monstrous camera cranes--for that environment--and crew members being immobilized in knee-deep mud.

Tough to precisely recall PQ differences, but some demonstrated chopper shots, using all-in-one pro camcorders, seemed to have softer images of distant trees and landscapes compared to the earlier '09 Alaska 'trek' series. There they used a gyro-stabilized chopper camera to a separate high-bandwidth Sony SRW-1 deck, as outlined here and the sublinked article.

Must be near the series end, with freezing problems previewed for next week. At the northern Crystal Creek site, the few ounces of gold finally extracted were reviewed, with the usual, ah, optimistic goal of 200 ounces before winter. -- John

Anyone know the most common reason for this? Tried reviewing some clips about recent Gold Rush shows, but after brief ads appear there's only a black PC screen with brief periodic symbols. Googling suggests you need a separate software player--aside from the current Flash? Thanks for any tips. -- John

EDIT: Other video streaming, such as ESPN3, works okay.

^^^Thanks. Read somewhere the Discovery streaming ads use Adobe Flash, then Windows Media Player (WMP) handles program video. If so, with newest Windows XP versions of Flash/WMP, still just getting a black PC screen after Discovery video ads run. WMP's 'syncing' dropdown menu doesn't seem to apply. -- John

EDIT: E-mailed Discovery about this 12/26; maybe they've heard about the problem.
EDIT2: Disocovery replied saying they're working on a general solution, outliing some standard supposed fixes.

^^^Noticed that, too. Discovery.com has a clip about tonight and the description mentions interviews and not-seen clips, different from how they shot Gold Rush last week. Seem to be stretching the season out for some reason. (Still only see clip ads--per the posts just above--while they're supposedly still crafting a solution.) -- John

Another season coming to an end. The teenager's heading back to high school, seemingly with modest success finding gold. First season made his 91-year-old grandfather seem quite well off from mining. Then lately the teen was supposedly trying to save the whole mining operation. Overdone a bit, maybe.

The Todd operation to the North struggles to mine a target 100 ounces of gold. But from the preview it appears the coming freeze, restricting needed water flow, plus enough gold-rich soil, will beat them again. (Looks like Discovery will follow on with a barge-based Bering Sea gold mining show next week, with genuine nut-case, cage-wrestling-temperament miners, it appears from previews.)

And old-timer Fred and his limited crew at the original Oyster Creek site somehow failed a safety inspection, wasting time waiting for an official instructor. Not sure they'll locate enough gold either. -- John