Today's cuppa: Peet's coffee

Yesterday, I posted a story on Zap2it -- click here for that -- about Capt. Sig Hansen of the F/V Northwestern on Discovery's crab-fishing reality hit, "Deadliest Catch," who has lent his voice and his boat to the Disney/Pixar animated film "Cars 2," which opens nationwide this weekend.

(Crabby the Boat, photo credit: Disney/Pixar)

I first heard about Hansen's extracurricular activity while watching the "Deadliest Catch" roundtable companion show "After the Catch" this past Tuesday night.

Click here for a clip of that show which includes a bit of Hansen in the recording booth (and below is screenshot -- literally, a shot of my TV screen -- of Hansen from "After the Catch").

As you can see from the Zap story, Hansen was on the road with for "The Captain's Tour" with F/V Time Bandit co-captains and brothers Andy and Johnathan Hillstrand. I also asked Hansen about that.

"We have a lot of fun," says Hansen. "You definitely meet your share of fans, so that's always a good thing. It is neat to try to do different things. I'm enjoying it, I really am. I don't know if I would want to do this forever, but for the experience, yes."

When I comment that doing shows and traveling with the Hillstrand brothers probably isn't dull, Hansen says, "Well, we've gone through learning curves. We have nights when we have a little bit too much fun. Now, after a few shows, we've figured it out. There is a routine you get into, where your body doesn't hate you so much.

"I love to have a drink or two. I'm not going to say I don't, but that's the thing. If you're going to have a few drinks, but then you've got to go up and go to the next city the next morning ... it wears on a body after a while.

"We have a good time. We laugh. Every day, there's something new. We crack each other up. Johnathan, he's always a riot no matter what, and Andy, we just get along. It's like brothers, it's fun."

(L, Andy Hillstrand; R, Johnathan Hillstrand)

There are a lot of young fans of "Deadliest Catch" -- and maybe there will be more after "Cars 2" -- and apparently some of them come with their parents to "The Captain's Tour."

That could be a risky decision.

"They don't always leave the show the same as they came in," says Hansen, "because we're not always exactly the cleanest of language. We warn them prior, 'Hey, you brought them at your own risk.'"

But Hansen appreciates his young fans and wants to do more for them.

"I mean, hey, what about a children's book," he says, "showing the environment and how to take care of the environment?

"Even though we're commercial crab fishermen, we only harvest what's appropriate. We worry about our future and sustainability.

"There's all kinds of stuff. It's fun to think that way and still know that you're going to go and fish and be yourself in October."

Today's cuppa: English breakfast tea (have LOTS left over from the royal wedding)

Since 2008, Hot Cuppa TV has taken the lead in the push to get F/V Northwestern Capt. Sig Hansen of Discovery's crab-fishing mega-hit "Deadliest Catch" on ABC's ballroom-competition Monday/Tuesday powerhouse "Dancing With the Stars" (click here for a 2010 story that links back to earlier ones).

In the spring of 2010, Hansen took his quest to NBC's "The Tonight Show" -- click here for my story on that -- and even did a bit of a dance for host Jay Leno.

(Hansen also supplied these photos of himself in some wild dancing outfits)

Since then, the effort has taken a back seat to dealing with the death of Capt. Phil Harris and overcoming some legal and contractual difficulties involving Hansen and brothers Andy and Johnathan Hillstrand, co-captains of the F/V Time Bandit, on the way to filming the current season of "Deadliest Catch," airing now on Tuesdays.

"Sig's a great guy," says Andy Hillstrand. "We love that guy. We're happy. It was a frigging rough year last year. It's all over now. We were just at the New York upfront (for the Discovery Networks), talked to all the big muckety-mucks, so we're moving forward."

But Hansen has not given up on his "Dancing" dream, and he has the support of the Hillstrand brothers. The three have been touring the U.S. with a stage show -- click here for a review of a performance.

(Photo: Andy Hillstrand on left, Johnathan Hillstrand on right)

"No," says Andy Hillstrand, "Sig has not given up. He is going to get on 'Dancing With the Stars' at some point in time. I want to be in the front row to cheer him on. That would be a howl.

"He's not a bad little dancer, and he'd be in the best shape of his life after eight hours a day dancing!"

Asked if Hansen might finally have to give up smoking, Hillstrand says, "Yeah, it's either that or start using oxygen."

Hillstrand continues, "I'm hoping Sig gets on that show so bad. It would be cool. People would never respect him or talk to him again, but it'd be bada--. The reality is, we've been on a TV show for six years, and he has been on for seven. We are TV guys now.

"We fought it tooth and nail, but that's our reality. We're TV stars and crab fishermen. Those are our businesses. We don't ever forget that. We'll still be fishing when TV's done and running the business."

Hillstrand also wouldn't mind being on NBC's Sunday reality hit "The Celebrity Apprentice," overseen by possible presidential candidate Donald Trump (standing, yellow tie, just to the left of center), but he might want to take a firm hand with his fellow apprentices.

"I would kick their a--," Hillstrand says. "They give them these tasks on 'Celebrity Apprentice,' and they don't pull through, and you can't just physically beat them up? I would can their a--. I would go, 'You're fired.'

"If you're the team leader, and you can't fire that jacka-- for not doing his job, or beat him up, what the hell? Why even bother?"

As for Trump's flirtation with being president, Hillstrand says, "I would love to see him president, just to shake stuff up there."

Speaking of shaking things up, Hillstrand says he and his brother played an epic practical joke on Hansen, which will be seen in this season of "Deadliest Catch."

"The prank this year," he says, "is so amazing. It's unbelievable. This one tops it. It's a work of art."

Tonight's cuppa: organic fair-trade coffee

Discovery's "Deadliest Catch" doesn't return until Tuesday, April 12, but I recently had a long conversation with F/V Northwestern deckhand Jake Anderson (at left) -- which has already produced one story for Zap2it, and another for print, which will come out the week of April 10 -- but I thought I'd give my Cuppers an exclusive look at an incident that they may not see on the show.

As fans know, Anderson was originally seen on "Deadliest Catch" as the greenhorn on the Northwestern deck, perpetually under the scrutiny and tutelage of Capt. Sig Hansen.

But Anderson has progressed in his studies on and off the deck, and apparently he's taking on new responsibilities.

"This is some inside information that you won't see on TV," Anderson says, "and that nobody really knows. Sig had his back out the last day we delivered, so I had to move the boat.

"I'm trying to wake him up. I'm like 'Sig, get up, wake up, man. You've got to move the boat. All right, if you don't get up, I'm going to move the boat by myself.' He didn't budge, so I moved the boat once. I'd been moving it a few times with him.

"I'm like, 'Oh, man, it's so easy without him over my shoulder.' I did it once, and then he gets up, and he runs, and we moved it. He's teasing me, trying to tell me that I'm just whispering to him and not actually yelling at him to get up."

But then Anderson got even more responsibility when it came to returning the Northwestern to its home port in Seattle, Wash., after fishing in Alaska's Bering Sea.

"So Sig flew home," says Anderson, "and the last thing he said to me was, 'All right, it's time for you to step up.' Norman (Sig Hansen's brother) was in charge of the vessel, and I look at  Norman, and Norman says, 'Well, you know what, if you want to be in charge on the way down, we still have a few things to do here. You can call the Coast Guard, and get your transit number, and call the office in Seattle, and then you can take it all the way into the Ballard Locks.'

"Especially when you go to Seattle, you've got to dot your Is and cross your Ts and fill the logbooks out. So I docked it three times, and then we get into Seattle, and I had to dock it four times, before we were actually all done, and we can go home.

"The first time I docked it, we had to pick up Sig at the dock in Seattle, so he can go through the locks with us, because I never went through the Ballard Locks. I was so scared, because you have all these people there, your family there waiting for the boat to come into Seattle to its home port.

"Then we went through the locks. Now we're fine, and then we had to pull through all these little Fiberglas boats in the dock and into this little spot to wave to my family. I'm trying to wave to my family as I'm driving the boat, and it was scary.

"I did it, and it was good."

Today's cuppa: hazelnut coffee

Steve Watson has kept very busy since his days as host of Discovery's radical home redo show "Monster House" -- produced by Thom Beers, who has gone on to produce such modest little shows as "Deadliest Catch" and "Ice Road Truckers" -- including a stint as host of "Ice Road Truckers: Off the Ice," the trucking equivalent of "After the Catch," the companion roundtable show to "Deadliest Catch."

Most recently, he was the host of the remodeling reality show "Don't Sweat It" on HGTV, participated in the competition reality show "HGTV Showdown," and was co-host, with Sarah Karges, of "NHRA Unleashed," a Fox Sports show covering National Hot Rod Association events.

On Friday, April 1, Watson leaves houses and hot rods behind to take on the great American yard in DIY Network's "Yard Attack," in which he and his team transform an outdoor space, doing a task that would normally take days in just a few hours.

Of course, this quick-draw transformation isn't done with the flick of a wand, so Watson kindly took a few minutes to dash of some answers to questions about how the magic really happens.

Enjoy ...

Q: What did you love about the idea for "Yard Attack"?

A: I loved the "speed" aspect of the show.  I love showing what can be done when you plan ahead and have a game plan. And I loved that it was an idea that hadn't been done before. I love breaking the mold.

Q: I seem to remember you have redone your own yard. How did that compare to doing other people's yards for the show?

A: It was pretty much the same process but without all the help. I moved 20,000 lbs of gravel, planted 40 plants and shrub and 60 bags of mulch in one weekend, by myself. I didn't get out of bed on Monday.

Q: Is there something that all yards in need of help have in common?

A: Generally, the common thread is homeowners without vision. A lot of times they just need to be pointed in the right direction.

Q: Planning and preparation seem very important in this show. How does that process work?

A: Hayden, my landscape designer and I come up with a plan well in advance. I get the team to work in our warehouse days before we "Attack" a yard and we pre-build anything we can.

When we arrive on location, we know exactly what we're doing, where everything goes, and how long it will take. We know who's doing what and we have every piece of equipment and material we need on the street before we even show up.

That's the only way we can do these amazing transformations in hours and not days.  No surprises no "snafus."

Q: Was there one yard that was particularly challenging?

A: I believe it was episode 2. We thought we were gonna breeze through this yard because it was so small. What we didn't think about was the 40 people we have working, not to mention the TV crew. Small spaces = bigger challenges.

Q: Have you come up with a list of suggestions for folks who want to do this on their own?

A: Basically, just plan. plan, plan.  Then GO!!

Q: Do you have a favorite plant or plants?

A: I'm a big fan of drought-resistant plants -- succulents, fountain grasses, etc.

Q: Beverage of choice when the work is done?

A: What do you think? COLD BEER!!!!

Today's cuppa: PG Tips tea

If you're a Roman Catholic, like me, you get used to thinking, "Well, it's a mystery."

All of the universe cannot be fully explained nor rationalized away -- as those poor, brave souls in Japan know with heartbreaking clarity -- and what is true of the universe as a whole is also true of that little corner of it called TV.

Screenwriter William Goldman, in talking about the movies, said, "Nobody knows nothing," and that goes for all of entertainment. Why some things succeed and others fail is as much about luck and happenstance and timing as it is about effort or talent.

Quality shows fail; cheesy shows are giant hits ("Jersey Shore" and all of the "Real Housewives" come to mind).

Why? Eh, it's a mystery.

I have loved plenty of shows that failed, from "The Adventures of Brisco County Jr." and "EZ Streets" to "The Good Guys," and several shows that have hung on by the skin of their teeth but never became big hits, like "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" (before you yell, it was never The WB's highest-rated show, or usually even the second highest-rated show, but it did well enough by The WB's modest standards to survive) to "The Wire" and "Friday Night Lights."

(I shall always have a warm little spot in my heart for former NBC chief Ben Silverman and DirecTV for striking the deal that let under-appreciated "FNL" have a full five-season run -- the final season begins on NBC Friday, April 15.)

Now, you may say, well, you're a TV critic, you have elevated and refined tastes, and you don't like shows that normal people like.

Hold it right, there, buckaroo. I've been on the case of megahit "NCIS" since the beginning, long before the mainstream press was finally forced to take notice -- went off in a blog post a few years ago about that -- and as any regular reader of this blog knows, I love the intellect-free but fun-filled "Wipeout," reality-competition megahit "Dancing With the Stars" and reality hits "Deadliest Catch" and "Dirty Jobs."

OK, and "IRT: Deadliest Roads." Nothing like TV you have to watch through your fingers, curled in a fetal position.

For what it's worth, here are a few theories I've cooked up as to why shows succeed or fail (bearing in mind, "nobody knows nothing") ...

Timing is everything. When you've had a hard day at work, do you want to come home, help the kids with their homework, argue with your teenage daughter about boys or college admission, maybe look over the budget with your spouse and then sit down and watch people do the very same thing on "Friday Night Lights"? Maybe not. Shows have to hit people at the right place and the right moment in their lives. On the other hand, if the show is funny enough, like "Modern Family," you just might.

Stars don't matter. Maybe they do in movies -- but I'd only make an argument for a few people even there -- but big-name actors don't get people to watch scripted TV, at least not past the pilot. If the viewers still don't like the show, they're gone. But stars are something to promote, so I know why the networks try.

Stars do matter. But usually only in reality TV, because viewers hope they'll learn something new or the star will do something ridiculous or entertaining. You tune in because you know something about the person, and therefore you care more than with a total unknown. But if the star is boring  -- which means he or she is probably a sensible person and not an unbalanced exhibitionist -- the audience is gone. (Which may go a long way to explaining why sane, sensible stars don't often do reality shows.)

Big-name producers matter ... to a point. Again, it's a selling point to have a name producer, but very few of them are hit machines, and the recognition doesn't often penetrate beyond a small slice of the TV audience. But if you've got a Mark Burnett or a J.J. Abrams, you've got wider recognition and a good track record, and that's about as good as it gets.

Swing viewers matter. There will always be a loyal constituency for every show -- the size varies wildly, and often it's not enough -- and there will be a certain number of people who wouldn't watch the show if you paid them. It's those people in the middle, not necessarily inclined to love a show nor to hate it, that are the difference among utter failure, cult hit and "NCIS." I believe a lot of those swing viewers came to "NCIS" through its frequent airings on USA, and that the show was accessible enough and consistent enough to satisfy them when they tried out the new episodes.

A copy is never as good as the original. Never. Ever. Development execs should have this tattooed on their arms, so they have to see it every day. A COPY IS NEVER AS GOOD AS THE ORIGINAL. And cloning is only for sheep. Unless you get the same producer, same writers, same crew, same actors, same premiere date and same societal conditions at the time of the premiere date, you can't clone a hit.

Amuse yourself first. If you're a producer or a development exec or a network exec, and a show tickles you or moves you, go with it. Unless you're deeply weird or clinically insane (and sometimes even if you're one or both), someone else will feel the same. How many of those someones there are, well...

It's a mystery.

Tonight's cuppa: English breakfast tea

'Tis the season for Top 10 lists, but we here at Hot Cuppa TV (which consists of me and my trusty companion, the battery-operated hamster Badger, who, frankly, is not much of a typist but is extremely good at getting stuck under the couch) are not really that organized. We're all about the comfy chair and the soothing cuppa, not getting all archival on you.

(Yes, Badger is an "Ice Road Truckers" fan. And he'd better stay that way, unless he wants to get stuck under the couch permanently.)

So, instead, I'm just going to muse about a concept that keeps bubbling up in my mind -- that moment it becomes apparent just which character a show is really about. Sometimes that's not obvious until the end, but other times it's evident right from the beginning -- and I suspect that, more than once, if the producers are seeing what I'm seeing, that it's come as a surprise to them.

And honestly, often it's a very personal thing, which means your results may vary.

For me, it's a question of which character takes the longest personal journey, feels the events of the show most deeply (in that way, they often reflect the feelings of the folks at home), or represents that unpredictable synergy of character and actor that makes for unforgettable TV moments.

Going back in TV history, I think "Hill Street Blues" was about Belker; "Homicide: Life on the Street" was about Tim Bayliss; "The X-Files" was about Scully; "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" was about Willow; "Lost" was about Hurley; "The Shield" was about the police-detective partnership of Dutch Wagenbach and Claudette Wyms; and, on the unscripted side, "Ice Road Truckers" was about Lisa Kelly, and "Deadliest Catch" was about the late Capt. Phil Harris (which makes the upcoming season without him a big challenge).

I'm a regular watcher of both NBC's Thursday comedy "Community" and The CW's Friday fantasy-drama "Supernatural," and when I think about this phenomenon, they're the current shows that leap to mind.

(BTW, if you haven't watched either show, click on the links and read up. I'm not going to give a ton of backstory to catch up non-viewers.)

For "Community," it's Abed Nadir (Danny Pudi, at right), the pop-culture-obsessed Muslim community-college film student. It's an ensemble show, and episodes that focus on other characters are fine, but "Community" has become -- at least for me -- about Abed's emotional journey. He's quickly evolved into the show's Greek chorus and conscience, as well as the source of most of its numerous pop-culture meta references.

Now, this is not to take away anything from the rest of the cast or characters -- and an abrupt shift in storytelling could change this completely -- but there's just something about the combination of the Abed character, the writing, and Pudi's performance that's so compelling that Abed has become the show's gravitational center.

This was never more evident than in the most recent episode, "Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas," in which Abed's search for meaning resulted in stop-motion-animation (and a Christmas pterodactyl).

"Supernatural' is set up as a show about two demon-hunting brothers, Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles) Winchester, but I've concluded that, in essence, it's the story of Dean.

He's the show's emotional anchor, the good son and loyal brother who's followed in his father's footsteps all his life and protected his brother, even when it broke his heart or sent him to Hell.

Now, all the Sam fans may scream and yell, but again, this takes nothing away from Padalecki's performance, which has been especially impressive this season, in the episodes where Sam was without a soul.

But I'm consistently drawn to Ackles, who plays Dean simultaneously with insouciance and wounded dignity, which is a hard mix to pull off.

He's like the ragged but cocky dog you know will pee on the carpet and eat your shoes, but which you also know will guard you with his life, so you give him a bone and let him sleep near the fire anyway.

While we're at it, Castiel the Angel on "Supernatural" has earned special mention as a character who has an entire life that we never see on the show, which is at least as interesting, if not more so, than the one we do see. He pops in and out to help the Winchester boys out of a fix, then returns to his day job -- fighting a war in Heaven.

Yeah, I'd like to see that spin-off.

Also kudos to the actor who plays Castiel, Misha Collins (right), who has worn the same rumpled suit and "Columbo" raincoat during his whole run on the show and has never been anything less than fascinating to watch.

Among the fall's new shows, I find the dynamic on CBS' Monday hit "Hawaii Five-0" intriguing. Obviously, as Steve McGarrett and Danny "Danno" Williams, respectively, Alex O'Loughlin and Scott Caan are the stars of the show, and doing a bang-up job of it.

But I'm starting to think, just starting to feel in my gut, that the show may wind up being about Chin Ho Kelly, played by former "Lost" star Daniel Dae Kim (left).

A disgraced Honolulu cop with a troubled past, Kelly always draws my eye, most recently in the Christmas episode "Hana 'a'a Makehewa," in which evildoers put a motion-sensitive explosive collar around his neck.

Even though he was forced to stay in a kneeling position for most of the hour, Kim managed to convey all of Kelly's fear and courage.

The first actor cast for the show, Kim has great subtlety and emotional depth, and I'm always rooting for him. We'll see what happens.

Today's cuppa: coffee at lunch

Earlier today, I sat down for lunch with Josh Harris (left), son of the late Capt. Phil Harris, and F/V Time Bandit Capt. Johnathan Hillstrand, just prior to them taping an appearance for NBC's "Tonight Show With Jay Leno," airing, well, tonight, to talk about the personal ups and downs of the Harris family on Discovery Channel's crab-fishing reality hit "Deadliest Catch."

Watch for those interviews starting tomorrow in the From Inside the Box blog at Zap2it.com (UPDATE: Click here for the story), but first, here's part of my chat with Discovery Channel president and GM W. Clark Bunting.

We got on the phone to talk about Discovery's upcoming "Shark Week" -- click here for the video that introduced Craig Ferguson as host of the 23rd annual event, featuring my new favorite character, Brian the Puppet Shark -- but of course, we began our conversation talking about the phenomenon that is the "Deadliest Catch" fan reaction to the illness and passing of Capt. Phil Harris.

(The episode featuring his passing airs tomorrow night, followed by a tribute on the season finale of "After the Catch." Click here for more info.)

This is not the first time that one of the Discovery Communications networks has dealt with a death, since Animal Planet star Steve Irwin died from a stingray barb in September 2006.

"That was a different circumstance," says Bunting, "but a close friend as well. That was one two-hour special. I went down, did my remarks at the funeral. We did the show, and off you go.

"This (with Phil Harris) is much harder, because this is the reality of reality TV. The boys (sons Josh and Jake Harris) wanted this story to be told. So, unlike Steve -- where that film will never, ever been seen by anybody -- this is reality TV becoming real, in the most, I won't say harsh, but raw way.

"When you see that show, you'll see that it's very spare. It's very bare, very little voice-over, practically no music. It's just that powerful."

In many ways, both Discovery and Original Productions, which produces "Deadliest Catch," are making this up as they go along in covering the Harris saga.

(At right, Phil and Josh Harris)

"There are no instruction manuals on how you deal with issues this challenging," says Bunting, "other than common sense, dignity and, of course, the brand that is Discovery. But this ... I've never dealt with an issue like this. I've never seen anything like this.

"It's a really fascinating look at something every family goes through, but very few families would allow cameras or want cameras to be there. But that was part of Phil's wishes."

Click here for details of the late-January stroke that took Harris' life in February, at the age of 53. While that may not seem very old, Harris was a man who packed a lot of living and adventure into his years, whether on Alaska's Bering Sea aboard his beloved crab boat, the Cornelia Marie, riding motorcycles, running several businesses and even building birdhouses.

"He was one of those people," says Bunting, "who I don't ever think would be a graceful old man. It's one of those really difficult struggles creatively and editorially. When is too much? When have you gone over a line?

"How much do you do to fulfill Phil's wishes? But at the same time, you're just using common sense, because, again, creatively and editorially, I have never seen anything like this."

Today's cuppa: Newhall Coffee Patriot Blend, natch

In honor of our nation's birthday on Sunday, July 4 -- click here for the full text of the original Declaration of Independence -- I went out to a few more TV folks to learn which Founding Fathers are their favorites and why.

It's something I've done before -- click here, here and here to see previous installments.

Ed O'Neill ("Modern Family"): "I would probably go to (Thomas) Jefferson (below), just because I thought he was brilliant, a vital guy, interesting guy, bon vivant. He knew a lot about wine."

Mike Rowe ("Dirty Jobs," "After the Catch," narrator of "Deadliest Catch," founder of www.mikeroweWORKS.com): The short answer for me was always John Adams. Adams was so contrary and so unlikable, so devoted to his wife. He was the only actual Founding Father who never owned a slave. He made principled decisions and was perfectly comfortable with the fallout -- happy to be unpopular. But also, it's hard to beat Ben Franklin.

"Where do you draw the line in terms of time? Lincoln (below) was so late. There'd be no union without (George) Washington. There probably wouldn't be a union without Jefferson. There definitely wouldn't be a union without Lincoln. There'd be something, but I don't know what."

Mike Vogel ("Miami Medical," and one of the founders of Ride2Recovery, which aids wounded veterans): "Being from Philadelphia, I'm a fan of Jefferson and Franklin. You're indoctrinated with all that. There's something so amazing, being a massive history buff and growing up where I did in Pennsylvania. I was a mile away from George Washington's headquarters before he crossed the Delaware. Every year, you'd take a field trip down to Independence Hall and Betsy Ross' house and Ben Franklin's place and the history that exists there.

"As for my favorite, I think Jefferson -- his ideals, the conservatism that he espoused, at least as I know it, Jeffersonian democracy, I like. (James) Madison ... when you look at the checks and balances that you had to go through just to get these guys to show up at a meeting of the federal government. They had to take it through every level of their state governments, to make sure their state would be OK with them showing up, because they were so adamant about maintaining the rights of the state before turning it over to the federal level of government."

Eric Bolling ("Money Rocks"), via email: "Glenn Beck -- Founding Father of today! Historically, John Adams (right) -- he was greatly responsible for the content of the Constitution."

As a bonus, here's another pick, this time from leading political blogger Andrew Malcolm of the Los Angeles Times' "Top of the Ticket": "B. Franklin ... I've always liked and admired him for his amazing combination of talents and skills. Other Founding Fathers were magnificent generals or writers or revolutionary/politicians. Franklin was multi-dimensional before multi-tafking (cq) was a word.

"He was a well-educated writer who could help draft the Declaration of Independence and see the compromises there to make the crucial national cohesion among disparate colonies. Franklin could, as well, quill a newspaper column for ordinary citizens.

"He was a nuanced diplomat, an, uh, man about town, even if it was Paris. He was into science and inventions (I think we will someday discover his drawing of a prototype iPhone). And yet, with all that, he was so down-to-earth that he could see the need for, and help invent, something as ordinary as a postal system, as another thread in a country that would eventually evolve into a nation."

And, to go out with a flourish, click here for one of my favorite eGuiders picks, the Revolutionary War rock video "Too Late to Apologize: A Declaration."

Tonight's cuppa: Barry's Gold Blend tea

With the unfortunate passing of Capt. Phil Harris of the F/V Cornelia Marie, a lot of attention in the sixth season of Discovery Channel's "Deadliest Catch" has been focused on him and his volatile relationships with his deckhand sons, Josh and Jake Harris.

(Click here for a Zap2it story of mine from last week with "Deadliest" executive producer Thom Beers discussing that very topic. Click here for another that posted on Tuesday, June 22.)

But there's another Jake in the "Deadliest" family, and that's deckhand Jake Anderson (above) of the F/V Northwestern. That crab-fishing boat is the subject of Tuesday's (June 22) episode of "After the Catch," the roundtable companion show to "Deadliest," with host Mike Rowe ("Dirty Jobs"). It airs at 10 p.m. ET, right after "Deadliest" at 9 p.m.

Capt. Sig Hansen and his brother, deck boss Edgar, and the rest of the crew discuss battling the weather, the crab and, occasionally, each other. Also, Anderson recalls a deckhand-swapping incident from earlier this season that saw him to go the Cornelia, and Jake Harris come to the Northwestern.

(Click here for my Zap2it story with Sig Hansen discussing the "Two Jakes" swap.)

Unfortunately, in swapping the deckhands back -- by putting them in survival suits and dropping them in the sea to be picked up like a crab pot -- Anderson was nearly drowned when he was caught in an undertow.

That's only the latest trouble for the beleaguered Anderson. In Feb. 2009, he received word aboard the Northwestern of the death of his beloved sister, Chelsea Dawn Anderson, from complications of pneumonia. This season, along with the usual ribbing from the Northwestern crew, Anderson was injured when a cod knife slipped and cut his wrist.

Last week, Anderson's injury appeared to be about to torpedo his season aboard the Northwestern, but then Hansen (right) answered a call from Anderson's mother and learned about the family tragedy that the deckhand had been keeping from the rest of the crew

Anderson's father, 63-year-old retired school counselor Keith Anderson, was reported missing, with his truck found along a remote logging road in Washington State. As of this writing, the elder Anderson has yet to be found.

(Click here for an extensive AOL News report; click here for a video of Jake getting the news from his mother aboard ship; click here and here for local news reports; click here for a reward flier.).

Yet, all of this doesn't seem to derail Anderson's work ethic or desire to please his bosses aboard the Northwestern, although he gets scant praise in return.

Says Beers, "You know what the fascinating thing is about him, he passed his First Mate's license. He's been quietly going on about his business. Somebody said that the he'd put him in as a captain for a lot of these guys. That kid's worked his butt off.

"He just gets his a-- kicked by the Norwegians. Sig and these guys just beat him up, but you know what, the kid really mans up. To me, he's going to be the surprise hitter on this whole series.

"Do you remember the last season, when his sister passed away? That was just the most amazing thing. He was talking to his mom ...oh, my God, there wasn't a dry eye in the house."

Click here for an earlier blog post I did with Mike Rowe about "After the Catch."

Click here for my Zap2it story in which Rowe discusses the Harris saga on "Deadliest Catch."