Senior vs Junior Season 2

Well, it's still American Chopper no question about that!  But now, it focuses on the rift between father and son who are now building bikes separately.  Senior remains the OCC stalwart and Junior is now the boss of his own custom bike company---Paul Junior Designs.

Custom bikes for all intent and purpose are original and designed based on the customer's wants.  OCC started out as custom bike builders but Senior had grander ideas with regard to the direction of the company and also diversified to production bikes.  PJD is still a fledgeling company but based on the builds that they have done, Junior's creativity as a designer is once again put in the spotlight.  There's no denying it---Junior is a master in terms of bike design and the addition of Vinnie is truly a welcome development. After all, they did have a good working relationship back in OCC.  This collaborative kinship is, I should say, the foundation of PJD as a company. 

However, an excellent designer that he is, Junior should also learn from what OCC did to hasten the creative process and hire a graphic designer (like what Jason Pohl is to OCC). 

It is quite difficult for others to follow what Junior has in mind if there is no graphic representation.  You can just see how Brendan just stands in awe as Junior articulates his vision for a bike.  I'd assume that Junior looks over what Brendan is doing every so often but that's a time consuming process and susceptible to error.  From a project management point of view an ever changing design is a sign of scope creep which is the primary cause of delay.  I agree with Junior that designing is a creative process but creativity needs to stop at one point especially with a defined deadline.

Villain or hero?  Based on the last few episodes it's the former.
Is the show really showing what Senior's really like? 

Junior finally out of OCC's shadow with a couple of bike
builds for PJD.

My favorite PJD build:  Jared Allen's charity bike.
If this was colored blue---it would have been
Captain America's Chopper!

American Chopper Season 6

I've been following the series "American Chopper" since 2007. It's a reality television series which originally aired on the Discovery Channel(Sky Cable) every Thursdays and Saturdays here in the Philippines. However, the show moved from Discovery to TLC in the latter part of 2007 and got bumped off the Sky Cable's program list. Good thing there's torrent and I could just download the latest episodes after it has aired in the US.

The popular series is based around the founder of the company, Paul Teutul, Sr., his sons, Paul Jr. and Mikey, and their posse of talented fabricators and mechanics-Rick Petko, Christian Welter, Vinnie DiMartino(who now has his own chopper shop, VForce Customs), Lee Stamper, and Jason Pohl-whose business is creating custom motorcycles(choppers) in their workshop, Orange County Choppers. Among their most popular clients were: Intel, Wendy's, HP, Gander Mountain, Discovery Channel, NASA, and the US Military.

What started out as a mere basement operation of building custom choppers in 1999 is now regarded as one of the premier custom chopper builders in the world! But what is it that attracted a lot of audience that made the show successful? Obviously, the guys are very creatively talented to have built all those theme bikes. Well, I guess it's the human side to the series that makes this difference. You see, cameras cover not only the build itself but also the personal lives of the Teutuls: their relationship with their employees, their various charity and community works, their support for the different branches of the military, and most specially---their relationship with one another. Personally, the last one gave genuine credit to the term reality TV as the viewers become witnesses to the blowouts between Paul Sr. and Paul Jr.

Two schools of thought here: Senior being the boss believes in a structured work ethic, adherence to schedule, and thrives on the value of punctuality and hard work. Junior on the other hand is the "artist" whose job is to integrate design, function, and quality. Artists don't like being rushed. This is where the conflict sets in.

Now on their 6th season, the company is faced by the reality of the economic standstill in corporate America. Slow down on builds forces Senior to make cuts to the staff. And then here comes the latest squabble between Senior and Junior with the former gets the boot! So far, four episodes have aired and a total of seven bike builds. Junior was not part of the build for a good two months and only arrived at a truce with Senior on the third episode. The truce was only good for one episode as Junior's "work ethics" continue to test Senior's temper eventually forcing Junior to quit to save his personal relationship with his dad.

Is this for cinematic effect? I don't know. One thing is certain, OCC won't be the same without Junior around.

Vinnie, Junior, Senior, and Mikey with the Napa Bike

(photo courtesy of flskevin_flicker.com)