Offroad TV Update
Back at the end of December I quickly cataloged several offroading TV programs I had seen. One of them, On the Rocks, hadn’t yet been shown. I’ve seen four episodes since then, so I thought I would chime in with my thoughts.
The show is a little different. Rather than being about extreme offroad races, vehicle build-ups, or the other usual fare, On the Rocks is mostly about people… With some other stuff thrown in. For me, as an offroader, it’s been interesting but not great.
Some of the folks are more unique or likable than others. There’s enough shown to get a glimpse of each personality, but there’s no time for anything more that that. I think the idea was that they wanted to show offroaders as human, (mostly) nice people out having fun in a (mostly) family-oriented way, and maybe this would encourage more people to give offroading a try?
They have managed to have a diverse group in terms of different ages, men and women, etc. but that’s about as far as that gets. We don’t really see any difference in the types of offroading, or why the people do it. Will we see a group of well-off Land Rover owners offroading to go fly fishing, and preparing upscale camp cuisine as we saw on one episode of Four Wheeler TV? I doubt it. Will there be an expedition perspective? No, I think that’s out of the question. Mudders? Icelandic snow and ice offroading? Geocachers offroad? I think that will be no, no, and no. You get the idea.
In my original post, I mentioned my concerns about the host, and the cook. Neither bothers me per se, but the host is just there as an MC who makes some bad gags, and adds no content or real value. The cooking segments have taught me almost nothing, unfortunately, where I had hoped to pick up some welcome tips.
Each episode also features a short technical segment, and these have also been disappointing. The first one was all about knowing where your pumpkin is, which should really have taken about a minute to cover at most. Again, I was hoping to learn something, but I haven’t. More lost opportunities.
The show is still young, but on a scale of 1 to 10 I’d have to rate it about a 4. Maybe I’m just not the target audience, but I’m still disappointed. I’ll keep watching though, and report on any major changes.
On a related note, I read today that 4Wheel Parts will be launching a new show, titled Off-Road Adventures TV. It’s due in April, on the Outdoor Channel, and all signs point to it being another build-up program. That’s hardly unexpected from an aftermarket parts dealer, and while it may not break any new ground, hopefully it will be another good program like Xtreme 4×4.