Day 02 - A show that you wish more people were watching

[dalekboy]

Dirty Jobs starring Mike Rowe does exactly what it sets out to do - show the audience at home the sorts of jobs that people have to do in order to make life work for the rest of us. Roadkill pick-up, sewer maintenance, bell-making, horse insemination, salt mining, plumbing, this show deals with them all.

What really makes Dirty Jobs work is the charm and likeability of its host, Mike Rowe. He's an educated guy, and ex-opera singer, and with only very rare exceptions he gets in and does every aspect of every dirty job they look at, no matter how vile, hard, or dangerous. And he does it with great honesty, humour, and a fabulous turn of phrase.

Most importantly of all, he always shows respect for the people who do these things day in and day out. When he visited the San Francisco transfer station (processing and sorting garbage for recycling and landfill) he made a point of talking to a bunch of the people working there and getting them to list the physical cost of working in such a harsh environment - knee and back operations, bad cuts, lung problems, and so on.

Dirty Jobs is currently showing on ABC 2 at 6:30pm, Monday to Friday. Well worth the look.

Mike Rowe's TED talk.

One of his visits to the San Francisco dump

Comments

[stephbg.livejournal.com]

I love this show. Mike is an absolutely charming man and shows respect for the people doing the dirtiest jobs. He's quite right when he says we can't live without them.

[possbert.livejournal.com]

I also like the fact that he's not all macho - he's not afraid to show that some jobs are scary and some may be beyond his capabilities.

[drhoz.livejournal.com]

*nods* been watching it

[dalekboy.livejournal.com]

I would have been very surprised it you hadn't been :D

[tikiwanderer.livejournal.com]

That talk was awesome. I will have to try and check out the show on iView (6-7's our dinner time).