You know that saying, it’s wonderful just to be nominated? Well, Thom Beers isn’t buying any of that crap.
The outspoken creator of Deadliest Catch came forward on Monday to rip a strip off of the Academy of Arts and Sciences because his gripping documentary lost out to Ken Burns’ The National Parks: America’s Best Idea in the Outstanding Non-Fiction Series category.
“I was totally crushed,” Beers told Fancast over the phone as he promoted the newest season of Black Gold, which spotlights oil rig workers. “To lose to Ken Burns’ Parks was an abomination. That was the most boring show Ken Burns ever made, and when I think that my show should lose to the most boring — the dullest — show Ken Burns ever made, it’s an abomination.”
Beers believes that his programs shouldn’t be in the Outstanding Non-Fiction category — where they competed with PBS’s The American Experience, PBS’s American Masters, Discovery’s Life, IFC’s Monty Python: Almost the Truth and Parks — but in their own docudrama category instead.
“How easy is this!” he exclaimed to the publication. “Docudramas [like Deadliest Catch are on] every network … Cops is a docudrama, Intervention … Jersey Shore, Ice Road Truckers, Ax Men, Pawn Stars … they’re docudramas and nobody’s touching that category.”
Beers says he’s pled his case to the Emmys, but hasn’t heard back from them. Maybe he needs to try again, but in person, with some of the Deadliest Catch captains and crew accompanying him to get his point across.
This past season of Deadliest Catch was tearful and heart-wrenching to watch, as long-time crab skipper Phil Harris was struck down by a stroke in January and passed away a week later in hospital.
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