One thing is clear from the first episode of the new cable TV show, "Black Gold," on truTV: working on an oil rig in the Permian Basin (or anywhere, for that matter), is more dangerous than writing about oil in a Washington office (or anywhere for that matter).
truTV, formerly Court TV, has reinvented itself as television's "destination for real-life stories told from an exciting and dramatic first-person perspective." Not reality TV, it claims, rather "actuality," which actually is pretty much the same thing.
But if actuality isn't quite exciting enough, "Black Gold" offers the possibility of seeing something really terrible: death. "Two miles below the desert and rattlesnakes lies a buried treasure men are willing to risk their lives for," intones the narrator.
"There's danger at every turn," the cliché-plagued and portentous narrator says. The rig workers are fighting the clock, the machines "and their inner demons." These are "rugged men who toil in the hot Texas sun hoping to strike pay dirt."
And they could die: "Slammed by 500 pounds iron tongs, ripped by steel chains, or crushed by the five ton iron blocks."
"Chains are the fastest way to screw pipe together and the fastest way to get killed," said Gerald, the driller on the Longhorn rig. "Peanut," a "worm" or least experienced worker on the Longhorn rig, is struck by a runaway chain during the first episode, but didn't appear to be seriously hurt. (The synopsis of the first episode on the truTV web site said Peanut "is crushed by a piece of equipment." In reality, or actuality, he wasn't, thank goodness).
"[Peanut] doesn't have a lot of experience, but he has a big heart," Gerald said. "He doesn't understand the dangers on the rig."
For his part, Gerald has broken his back falling ten stories off a derrick and lost part of a thumb and one of his toes in separate drill pipe accidents. A graphic flashed on the screen during the episode invited viewers to the truTV web site to "hear Gerald describe more unbelievable accidents."
The premise of this eight-episode series is that three crews of roughnecks, working on rigs in sight of each other, have 30 days to strike oil (did someone actually refer to it as "Texas Tea?" Yes, someone did). Longhorn's Gerald, "is the toughest driller in the business." Viking rig's driller Wayne, "looks out for his crew and that's why everyone wants to work for him. He treats his crew like family." Big Dog's Justin has only seven years experience and is "still earning his crew's respect." Justin "has to show his crew he's got what it takes."
Future episodes promise: the Well from Hell; seeds of an explosive showdown; an inexperienced new driller puts the entire team in danger; a crisis that could destroy the Viking rig; oil fields unleash their fury; and Michael Patrick "Rooster" McConaughey, pipe salesman, brother of actor Matthew McConaughey.
Without question, these are tough men doing a dangerous and dirty job (how do these guys ever get clean?) who swear a lot (a four-letter word, found most everywhere, which is bleeped out on the program but easily discerned).
The camera images seems genuine enough, but this is reality (oops, actuality) TV, which requires a McGuffin, or dramatic plot device. In this case, it's who will be the first to strike oil. But is that enough to draw viewers week after week? Hedging its bets, the show incessantly reminds viewers that at any point, someone could be grievously hurt or killed. "Two miles deep or six feet under," the show is subtitled on the channel's web site.
Now that's something to look forward to.
haven't seen the show yet but from watching the talliers it seems to me that the whole dern crew of this rig are a bunch of worms, as a young man I roughnecked for Taylor drilling on a treble jackknife and some of the sceens of mud gushing and all of the wet stands they seem to have are way beyoud the norm. the only real wet stand I can remember was the very first pulled . I was told to hit the pipe as it came up so I did .prior to breakout the driller would ask me if it was dry and since we had new scrubbers it always looked dry to me and we broke out and pulled the next stand. I did notice that one one stand as we were breaking out the lead tong and derrick hands stood back more than usual and when the driller spun the pin out mudd covered me from head to toe .that's when I learned how to ring a dry stand and from then onward we never pulled a wet stand.
One of the problems with so-called reality TV is that the moment you stick a camera in someone's face, it's no longer quite real. I wondered if some of the scenes (if not many), were staged (or embellished) for dramatic effect. As you said, based on your experience , some, at least, were "way beyond the norm."
I lived through the oil drilling in the permian basin. The show might compress the events in a small time frame, but beleive me they are very truthful. I could tell you stories that will make a groan man weep and stories that will make a nun laugh. I was a roughneck in Odessa, Tx from 1956 until 1963.