When Did ‘Deadliest Catch’ Start Getting Too Scripted?

Deadliest Catch fans complain that Discovery Channel started scripting the show too much, and now, they are trying to pinpoint when that started happening. Actually, many viewers claim they are done with the show as some scenes are so badly acted they become unbelievable.

Deadliest Catch Become Too Fake?

Not all viewers believe that the scenes of the crabbers in the Bering Sea are fake. For a few of them, the added drama gives something extra to the show. However, they are few and far between on social media. Plenty of others hate what they think is way too much scripting.

Many things can’t be scripted at sea, and there have been deaths and injuries on Deadliest Catch. Bad weather, for instance, can’t be scripted. And, neither can the pots of crabs that the crew haul up. However, comparisons are made to earlier seasons of the show when it was more like a fascinating documentary.

Discovery Channel Made The Show Too Fake, When?

A Discovery Channel viewer who used to watch the show stopped for a while. Now that they are back watching it, they wonder when it started becoming obviously scripted. So, they reached out to other viewers and asked their opinion on when it started getting too much with the drama.

In the discussion about Deadliest Catch on Reddit, the OP wrote in part:

…This subreddit is pretty much now just post after post about how scripted the show apparently gets in the later seasons. So that’s my question, as someone that’s never seen past about season 7, at which point does it start becoming apparent that the show is blatantly scripted?…I’m assuming that in later seasons, it gets worse?

In the discussion that followed, many people agreed that they could confidently point to a particular event as the turning point. Here are some of their thoughts:

• [Captain Phil Harris] death was 100% real and broke ratings records. DC has been trying to manufacture the drama since. I still watch, but it’s like watching a once-great athlete hanging on too long.
• I can’t imagine [Captain Phil Harris] ever doing anything like what they have now. I can picture him looking at a script like a scene Sig and Mandy performed, look into the camera and say “you gotta be f–king kidding me” and ball it up and toss it. It’s sad what the show has come to, it needs to end.
• Whenever Phil passed is about when I quit watching. There’s only so many dramatic takes of “this is the worst storm we’ve seen in 40 years.” I liked the derby style/actual fishing part. Became too much of a soap opera.

What are your thoughts about scripted scenes on Discovery Channel? Do you agree that it got a lot worse after Captain Phil Harris passed away? Sound off in the comments below, and come back here often for all your Deadliest Catch news.