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Review: 'Ice Road Truckers' on History

Verne Gay | Off Camera

June 6, 2008

From Discovery Channel's program, "Ice Road Truckers," to premiere in June 2008. Here, a truck on Mackenzie Delta in the Northern Territories, Canada. (Jason Dolbier / Discovery Channel)

Reason to watch: Second-season launch of History's most-viewed series, ever.

What it's about: It's impossible to say the now- indelible title, "Ice Road Truckers," without a growl in your voice. Go ahead. Try. These are big, tough, hairy hombres who cope with frostbite like we cope with hangnails, whose power rigs are so big that they fill the screen, and who are cold but never - not once, ever - say, "Man, I'm really cold."

"Ice Road Truckers" boys of the frozen open road - including Hugh, Rick, Alex and Drew - are back, and this time, they're hauling their behemoths over the open ocean, from Inuvik, in the Northwest Territories, to deep out onto the Arctic, where natural gas exploration is under way. This season also stars Alex Debogorski, the so-called "legend" of the Yellowknife trucking community, but who - far more perilous than a little ice-road trucking - is father to 11 children. Hugh "The Polar Bear" Rowland is back, and Sunday's episode focuses on his virgin haul out on the ice; and the trip is not without peril. The ice? It averages about 3 feet in thickness, but truckers can still feel the ocean waves underneath. Sound advice: You don't want to stop because if you do ...

Bottom line: Come on! What more can I say? "Ice Road Truckers," like its close and worthy relative on Discovery, "Deadliest Catch," is some of the best that reality TV has to offer. Maybe the best. It's skillfully produced, laden with drama and filled with nicely drawn character studies. Executive producer Thom Beers has carved something of a TV art form out of the world's-most-dangerous-jobs category, and (guess what?) he'll even launch "America's Toughest Jobs" on NBC this fall. Would "TV writer" qualify? Just asking.