"Gold Rush"

While flying to Florida two weeks ago on the way to Disney World (see December 9, 2011, "Disney Whirl"), I got hooked on the Discovery Channel's "Gold Rush."

JetBlue has TVs on the back of each and every headrest, with a good selection of channels, ranging from Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network for the kids, to HGTV, History, Discovery, VH1 Classic and all the networks for adults. So much for reading my National Geographic.

So after flipping around, I settled on "Gold Rush," which follows three groups of guys trying to strike it rich by mining for gold in Alaska and Canada's Yukon Territory. This is the second season. In the first season, just one group was featured, and they lost a LOT of money during the course of the 150-day mining season.

This season, the original group, led by the father and son team of Jack and Todd Hoffman, is back, but they failed to make a payment on season one's claim (the land where they mine), so they lost the site to the awesomely monikered "Dakota" Fred Hurt. The third crew is led by 17-year-old (16 when the season started) Parker Schnabel, who is trying to resuscitate his grandfather's mine.

The Hoffman crew buys a new claim 600 miles north of their original site, putting them in the Canadian Yukon. From the few shows I've seen, I can tell you that the Hoffmans are clueless. They make broad statements about where they'll find gold, based not on previous experience, or geological knowledge, but simply on hope alone. They've got a big crew and they bicker about all sorts of things, and end up in lots of predicaments that make for good TV.

As for "Dakota" Fred, he's a gruff straight shooter who takes pride in the fact that he was able to take over the Hoffmans' old claim. But he's no perfect gold miner. He spends a lot of money on equipment and then lots of time trying to figure out how to get it to work. Not that it's easy to dig massive amounts of dirt and rocks, feed it onto a washer and get just the right angle to send water one way, big boulders another way, and miniscule gold flakes and tiny nuggets into the right spot where you can collect them.

Fred is entertaining, but Parker Schnabel is the one I root for, as do most viewers, I imagine. He's a smart, personable kid who's willing to work hard. His grandfather, who the show claims is 91 but who looks to be 15 years younger, appears on occasion to consult with Parker or give him encouragement.

I realize that this show, like just about every other reality show, is scripted at least in part, and that the participants are getting money to be on the show, and probably to cover at least some of their expenses. Still, just as I was once fascinated by how the contestants on "The Apprentice" were able to marshal their business instincts in a very short period of time to create a viable enterprise, and how I currently marvel at how the artists on "Work of Art" can within a 24-hour period manage to gather materials, plan out a project and make it gallery-worthy, I love watching the guys on "Gold Rush" hoisting 30,000 pound machinery while trying not to kill themselves, and figuring out to defeat the permafrost that keeps making their rigs slide to and fro.

While I'm eager to see which of the mining teams will pan out as the winner, I have to say I find it disconcerting just how much these guys have to destroy the environment in order to find mere ounces of gold. I take some solace in the fact that the show demonstrates that previous mining sites have been shown to recover.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go catch up on some back episodes.