Today's cuppa: peppermint teaTonight at 10 p.m. ET on Discovery Channel, "After the Catch," the companion roundtable show to "Deadliest Catch," returns for its sixth season, again featuring the salty sea captains and deckhands of the Bering Sea crab fleet talking about what did and didn't wind up on camera during filming for the documentary series.
(In photo, l to r: Jake, Phil and Josh Harris)
But this season, the captain's table will be short one member, since Cornelia Marie Capt. Phil Harris passed away in February after suffering a stroke. Click here and here for details. Click here for a story posted yesterday with "Deadliest" producer Thom Beers about tonight's episode.
After a few seasons away for scheduling reasons, "Dirty Jobs" host Mike Rowe, who also narrates "Deadliest Catch," returns to the moderator chair for "After the Catch," which has filmed in many different famous fishing ports. This season, it's New Orleans, which, along with the rest of southern Louisiana, has suffered from multiple hurricanes and, now, from the massive Gulf oil spill.
(The President speaks tonight briefly at 8 p.m. Eastern -- live in all time zones -- about the spill and the cleanup.)
"That was planned," says Rowe, "probably six or seven months ago, before the hurricane, before Phil, before everything. It was just very, very surreal, sitting there with four of the famous fishermen in the world, in maybe one of the most famous port cities in the world, in the midst of maybe the biggest eco-calamity in the world, with an empty chair, a duck fart and a picture where Phil would have been, looking back, in five hours, over the whole season.
"There was endless stuff to talk about,and it was really instructive. The guys are way more
forthcoming than they used to be, and more comfortable than they used to be -- or as comfortable as you can be when it's 105 degrees, your buddy's gone, and you're trying to make sense of it."(In photo, l to r), Capt. Andy Hillstrand, Capt. Phil Harris, Josh Harris, Capt. Sig Hansen)
For a show whose very name emphasizes the dangers of crab fishing in the icy Bering Sea, it is an irony that Harris was struck on dry land, that he didn't perish at sea.
"Which is exactly what we've trained everybody to expect," Rowe says. "When's the wave coming? When's the fire coming? When is the sinking? When is the calamity? These guys are prepared for it, and the viewers are prepared for it.
"Then all of a sudden, he has a stroke -- off-loading on the dock? It's so mundane; it's so relatable."
Along with the other captains, Harris' deckhand sons Jake and Josh also appear on "After the Catch," and it's understandably emotional.
"There are times when we have to stop shooting," Rowe says.
Since Rowe (at left) has been involved with the show since the beginning, he feels it helped for him to be there at this time."I've worked on every one of their boats," Rowe says. "I've been to six funerals in Dutch Harbor (Alaska), in the course of shooting the show. I've gotten drunk with these guys. I've bailed one out of jail. They know me.
"It just means you can have a conversation instead of a performance. That's basically what we wanted."
(Click here for footage of a jazz funeral held for Harris in New Orleans; click here for a "Larry King Live" segment featuring the captains and Rowe talking about the Gulf oil spill.)
It took the Mexican government 10 months to cap the leaking Ixtoc I. 3 months into the Deepwater Horizon and its beginning to look as bleak.
Just wanted to say we will all miss Phil Harris He was one of a kind. And I am sure He is LOOKEN down from HEAVEN and LAUGHEN at the rest of us down here.I dont know how to decribe thease men and women on your show DEADESTS CATCH other than YOUS ALL FEEL LIKE FAMILY.BECAUSE of your show and me getting my EYE SIGHT BACK I came to ALASKA MAY 11th through May 18th. ON May 16th 2010 I went on your BERING SEA CRAB FISHERMENS TOUR AND IT WAS WONDERFUL.THANKs BONNIE L DVORAK AT ATHENS WISCONSIN.
Hi, I have two sons myself and I have enjoyed watching Phil with Josh and Jake, and their relationship, and the love they shared, and the fights that families go through. We all will miss Phil and to Jake and Josh just remember all the good times you guys shared together. The world loves you guys and your Dad. God Bless
p.s would love to buy a bird feeder take care
What is happening in the gulf at the moment is a really big concern. The oil could continue to leak for another couple of years if attempts to stop the leak continue to be unsuccessful Clearly we cant do with out oil as things stand at the moment, we are just too dependent for so many parts of our lives. Personally I tihnk it's all too easy to pick BP as a scapegoat (regardess of any mistakes they made). Accidents are inevitable at some point with deep water drilling, the only problem is the consequesnces are so high when you consider how much oil can potentially leak.
The oil spill is nothing to laugh at but I just saw a kid wearing a t-shirt that cracked me up. BP - We're bring oil to America's shores. I died laughing because BP's billion dollar image change to their new sunflower logo is forever going to be associated with the worst environmental disaster to strike America. Check out the shirt here - http://bit.ly/bJAuTb
bp is awful! we should all not buy their oil!
My husband and I would love to purchase a bird feeder a keep a memory of cap Phil if anyone has one or know where to buy one please let me know thank u
RIP cap Phil!!
I would also love to buy one of those bird feeders please let me know if you get a response.
Please contact me to let me know where I can buy one of Phil's Bird Feeder's or houses, They are so beautiful and I would love one as a memory for him, I am willing to donate to the fund please contact me. Josh and Jake please know how much you both mean to your fan's and your dad is always with you, GOD bless you in all you do
I am also on board for trying to find a bird feeder. My boyfriend of two years has got to be Phil Harris's greatest fan. The tears he shed when he heard on the news that he had died...
I would also like to know about purchasing a bird feeder. If anyone could let Mr know, I would greatly appreciate it.
What do you think the tropical storm will do to the oil spill?
I just came to this site searching for the bird feeders as well. I see there is not any response to those that would like to purchase. I was here to see if it was possible as well. But I see that he made them for friends and I am sure that there are few friends that would be willing to give em up now that he has passed!! Love the show, Love Phil... You will be missed!!
The gulf oil spill is without doubt one of the most awful events of this century. While September 11 was limited to that small space of ground zero, this oil spill has effects all the way out across the ocean, impacting wildlife, long stretches of coast as well as industry of the southern USA. I truly pray that this disaster is sorted out as soon as possible.
Hello there ! I think the oil spill is the worth disaster of 2010Somebody have an idea how to clean the oil spill? Should we have sympathy for a corporation that caused this and other disasters in the interest of having always more money ??!! Will oil company like total learn a lesson from the oil spill.
It's simply a matter of time before our newly elected Congress tries to remove the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, together with the EPA and NEA