I see guys commenting frequently here about T.A.A., obviously most of us like the show. I was wondering how many of you watch "Dangerous Game" on Versus, and what you think of it??

Saw one last week where they were apparently shooting a hippo in a little pond in South Africa and pretending this is dangerous game hunting. OMAB.

Will - Didn't see that episode, but hear what you're saying. Obviously not every episode of every show is gonna be awesome viewing. Overall though, what do you think?

There are only two shows I set my DVR for. One is Tracks Across Africa and the other is Dangerous Game. I really like both of them.

Bull1

I enjoy most episodes of "Dangerous Game", but believe it is overly dramatic.

I booked my first trip to Africa with Zayne Van der Merwe after seeing him on Dangerous game. He was working for Adam Clement at the time.

Unfortunately it is no longer available on Direct TV as they in a dispute with Comcast over pricing.

quote:

Originally posted by SBT:
I enjoy most episodes of "Dangerous Game", but believe it is overly dramatic.

I agree with SBT. I did see the episode Will is referring to and actually noticed a fence in the footage of the hippo "hunt".

quote:

Unfortunately it is no longer available on Direct TV as they in a dispute with Comcast over pricing.

As a DirecTV subscriber I think this is a bunch of crap. At their rate we should get it.

Is there really any "dangerous game hunting" in SA? Just a question......

The two best episodes (IMHO) feature a wounded lion charge in Bots and an unprovoked elephant charge on Sango, SVC, Zim.

Only recently started watching Dangerous Game, local cable just started carrying Versus. Seems better than most "Africa episodes" of other hunting shows, but not quite up to Tracks Across Africa.

I capture both programs on my DVR and have found that Tracks Across Africa has a more sober, understated approach to their program - undoubtedly influenced by Craig Boddington's down-to-earth, soft-spoken philosophy. On the other hand, Dangerous Game seems to have a larger production budget with a flashier, more commercial look. Too, it is far more melodramatic, with Jeff Rann and others going out of their way to hype the 'danger' and 'life on the edge' aspect to their hunts, with an obligatory, "no shit, there I was ..." segment on each program.

Strangely, with Tracks Across Africa I have the feeling I'm watching old friends who happen to be sharing their African experience with me, and I can more easily relate my own safaris to those depicted on the screen. With Dangerous Game I'm always left feeling like the program was produced by a bunch of TV-types for a non-hunting audience. That said, I look forward to watching them both each week.

By the way, has anyone else notice that the narrator on Dangerous Game sounds like Anthony Hopkins?

I like it a lot! TAA is my hands down favorite, but Dangerous Game is second. There have been a few episodes I could do without. The white rhino hunt in RSA was rather lack luster and the lion hunting one was excellent until Olivia Nallos-Angelos (sp?) shot a lion with Tam safaris! To be diplomatic her hunt was bullshit!

Brett

I saw the hippo episode.

I saw one a few months ago and was disappointed in it. Have watched a few more and still not impressed with the dramatics.

Maybe the fence was to keep the hunter there. Running was not an option..

Mike

Brett - I saw the episode with Olivia too, terrible!!!

quote:

As a DirecTV subscriber I think this is a bunch of crap. At their rate we should get it.

I'm with you on this one. Why can't these satelite companies offer a basic package, then offer everything else a-la-carte?

I also have Direct TV and had to order the higher priced packages for the outdoor channels, then they drop Versus. I never watch most of the channels that I get.

I think DG is an OK show. Despite the hype sometimes, it still shows a lot of Africa, the animals there, anything for my fix I guess. Tracks is definitely on top, but I really like Under Wild Skies, with Tony and Johan. Quality show, great camera work, very well done, in the same league as Tracks.

I watch and enjoy all three!!

Larry Sellers
SCI Life Member

quote:

Is there really any "dangerous game hunting" in SA? Just a question......

Well its like any place, you get the interesting guys. S.A still has free roaming big five, places like Selati, bordering kruger etc just depends who you hunt with.

I really enjoyed the first season of DG, but, in my opinion, it went way down hill after that. It stopped being a must watch for me after the episode where the PH shot the leopard for the client who was too tired to sit in the blind.

We have our DVR set for Dangerous Game, Tracks Across Africa and Under Wild Skies. We enjoy all the shows, but our favorite is Under Wild Skies.

Versus was/is my favorite network on Direct TV.
As far as I'm concerned I'm paying premium price but not getting premium content. Direct is still better than cable in my area.

I don't think I get Versus anymore on Direct TV. Can't ever find Dangerous Game anymore. Does Direct still carry it???

I like Oprah just the bestest of all.

Top two shows in the hunting lineup between The Outdoor Channel and Versus have to be:

1) Tracks Across Africa
2) Dangerous Game

They are both fantastic in my opinion. I just got done watching the ele hunt in Botswana and it was done very nicely. Given the 30 minute window and the adds for sponsors I think both shows do a great job. Production quality (High Definition content) has definitely been improving year after year.

Did you see the latest one with the two blondies. The highlight of the warthog shoot was watching her work the bolt of the rifle to chamber a round after looking at the WH thru the scope. Then, she nicks it I think and when she and Doktari go after it watching him work the bolt on his rifle to chamber a round. What's up with that?

TAA will spoil you for anything else except their DVDs.

Rich

There is no bad hunting show, so are just better than others!

Al a Carte for the hunting shows I want and umpteen I don't even know what are or would ever watch.

Hi Guys
Thanks for the "Tracks" compliments off this thread. One difference is that all of the TAA episodes feature hunts our team filmed, not footage purchased of an exciting sequence we heard about , bought rights to, then aired under the Tracks brand. Hope that does not come off as petty, but it is a huge difference in our show and DG. Certainly some of their episodes are shot on location,start to finish by their team on a true safari timeline, but ALL of our shows are. That to me is a the major difference in the two productions. They have a very well produced and graphically pleasing TV show, but no one in the business puts in the days, manpower, or effort into safari specific television. When real danger is part of a hunt or film sequence, of course we highlight it, but we do not try to imply that some Big Nasty is behind every tree and your next trip to the loo might be your last! But variety is the spice of life and the customer will let you know what he wants in the end.

quote:

Did you see the latest one with the two blondies. The highlight of the warthog shoot was watching her work the bolt of the rifle to chamber a round after looking at the WH thru the scope. Then, she nicks it I think and when she and Doktari go after it watching him work the bolt on his rifle to chamber a round. What's up with that?

TAA will spoil you for anything else except their DVDs.

Rich

Yes, I saw that episode too. I was really surprised at how badly she pulled the shot. As for the "working the bolt" thing, I think that's a dramatic trick borrowed from Hollywood to make the less astute viewer understand they are ready for action. For us it's like what the f#%*&@k? I see it all the time in lame movies. The thug holds a gun on someone and then jacks the slide when he decides to shoot. It really ruins the scene.

For me, it's right up there with those camera shots on the hunting films where the hunter is shown approaching the kill from a vantage pont behind the animal carefully checking to see if it's dead. Those re-enactments really suck.

TAA is the one I make a point of trying to
watch every week.

I enjoyed a recent DG episode-teh one where Chris and Jeff walk up behind a bull ele and surprise him, Chris hits him witha 458 in the noggin, he sits back, tehn you hear Jeff say "another, reload", Chris is seeming behind the power curve (I probably would be too, as I have never hunted a DG Animal, but seen the other elephants...) and gets a follow-up in as the bull is whirling away.

The ele turns and runs, with Rann in hot pursuit hoping to stop the ele before he hits the water, meanwhile Chris, reloaded,thumps the ele in the hip, from seemingly long range and on teh run....

Apparently the shot stopped the bull and he was dead when they approached. My only thought is why did not Jeff hit the ele when Chris' shots failed to stop it? I would expect my PH to insure the critter was stopped, w/o any explanation required!

This strengthens the concept of insurance or follow-up or stopping drills whatever you wish to call them....

forgive the mispelled "the" (teh, tehn etc) words- I hate to review and my fingers apparently are out of time...

Aaron:
DG is a fine program. Graphics-wise it's very appealing which I feel is important for the overall look of the show. Where it falls short is in "personality", meaning no single one talent or host radiates any ownership of the show. We all identify Mutual of Omaha w/ Marlin Perkins for a reason- but DG really has no host.

So thus the viewer is left with a detached feeling to the action unfolding on the screen. There's no intimacy between the viewer and the hunt, leaving those watching with a disconnect. Yes the narrator does sound a bit like Hannibal Lector, and that's the hook but to some degree that's also the drawback. The hunting consumer should not watch a hunting program and feel like Anthony Hopkins is narrating it. Because Hopkins is not a gun guy, so the DG narration leaves me feeling like it's all a bit contrived. Charlton Heston's voice, may he R.I.P., always seemed to work because he was on our team.

Even given those shortcomings, DG is easily one of the top five best hunting programs on TV.

It's a difficult task in the hunting TV medium however, to truly please the hunting consumer. All the shows strive for reality as best as they can, because what the viewer wants to watch is something "real". Some can be fooled but most cannot. That realism is served to the consumer in a variety of plates; folksy, humorous, stupid-like, dramatic, melodramatic, gals w/tight T-shirts and from an iconic standpoint, are probably to the most popular approaches. If the viewer for any reason objects to the "serving", that could lead to a turnoff of the entire show. Some above referenced Oliva's lion episode which is unfortunate, because she is a fine hunter.

But in the long run I'm a believer that the host/personality makes a show. I could do without all the twitching after the shot, as if they just saw a ghost. I could do without whispering after the supposed kill shot because the presumption is that the animal is dead, so what are you whispering for. And finally, I feel guests on hunting TV should never say, "It doesn't get any better than this," because it always does.

Look at how Outdoor Channel titles its shows "______________" with so and so. That's an obvious attempt to brand the show with a personality, which is a proven strategy in the TV world. I bet some of you have heard of "On the Record" w/ Greta Van Susteren. Now if we could just find a host for DG. "Dangerous Game with...???hmmm...Aaron Neilson!" That would work for me!

One thing I'd love to see again are the shows with celebrities out hunting. Recently an episode of DG showed snippets of Gerald McRaney leopard hunting.

It would be great for the sport for more celebs to be seen hunting, not just the country singers and the NASCAR drivers, but more actors like McRaney to counteract all the vegetarian, animal rights types in Hollywood.

I agree Caleb. I have a remember watching the American Sportsman show with several celebrities hunting. I even have a recollection of Bing Crosby bird hunting.

quote:

Originally posted by SBT:
I agree Caleb. I have a remember watching the American Sportsman show with several celebrities hunting. I even have a recollection of Bing Crosby bird hunting.

American Sportsman was excatly what I had in mind when I posted above.

Moja - I totally agree!!!

Moja and Aaron,
Being an engineer and someone who researches/studies the "stuffing" our of things I am interested in - I did a personal survey on TV and DVDs that appeal to me.

The best DVDs shared the aspects that Mark mentions- Boddington on Buff, The Perfect Shot, Zambezi Extreme, Mountain Buffalo (not well edited, but outstanding story), Peter Flack Hunts Cameroon, Adam Clements dvd of his trip after bongo (non commercial but very good). Mojo's are good as well.

The worst are family vacation DVDs like what I have seen fo Brittingham's and Mark Sullivan's and the Ruark re-do's and the Capstick DVD's. Brittingham may be a good guy and his family seems nice, but what a waste of money on his DVDs. Leave it to Beaver re-runs are better.

For TV shows, most of Tracks Across Africa is excellent. Jim Shockey's work is very good. For an interesting change of pace, he has his father and father-in-law on a hunt and it is hilarious. Those two guys remind me of the two old guys on the Muppets Show.


The worst are the two idiot bowhunters that are sponsered by Bushnell. They go to RSA and shoot from a hide around a waterhole and then fist bump like the two "bubba's from Alabama" they are. Next would be the bimbo blonde, Cindi someone, that was a distraction much like Erin Andrews at an NFL game.

The worst of the bad are the various bow hunters sitting in trees hyperventilation over a canned deer that was baited to the tree. Lee and Tiffany would be boring if it weren't for Tiffany's enthusiasm and joy that shows up. The rest are pathetic.

Jeff Neal (agent and long time hunter) has some video footage that is very good and is on the internet somewhere where he is just hunting the story unfolds without a lot of hype. It is good stuff and someone should capitalize on it.

I like "real" shows and real people walking through a real story without the fake "walk up to the dead animal and poke it in the eye" scenes and the fist bumps and the Michael Waddel hick trash talking.

For me, a good hunting program has little to do with the host and more to do with the hunt itself. i can't tell you how many numerous times I watch a hunting show and am dying for the host to keep his mouth shut because it actually detracts from the hunt. It isnt real and most times it is highly annoying.

I personally like T.A.A. It moves well because of its editing, they have fantastic footage, and the show really puts you in the action.

Hunting shows and DVDs, like football are best watched with the sound OFF.

My DVR is regularly set to record Tracks Across Africa, Dangerous Game and Under Wild Skies, among others. Occasionally Winchester Legends, the World of Beretta, etc. and other programs have African hunting episodes that I also watch. In fact, just the other day they had a show on the ten best African hunting lodges/destinations and it was very good. Although there are problems with some of the hunting episodes, I still try and watch them as it gives me something to watch dealing with African Hunting, and it beats all of the bow hunting whitetail hunts that make me want to puke my guts out. I guess that I am not as critical as some on here about the shows, as I can reasonably discern fact from BS and still enjoy it.