Discovery Bringing Back American Chopper

Screen Rant

American Chopper Is Being Brought Back By Discovery

By Ana Dumaraog

Published Oct 19, 2017

An American Chopper revival is currently in the works at Discovery with father and son rivals Paul Teutul Sr. and Paul Teutul Jr. returning.

Discovery is currently working on a revival of their mid-2000 reality series, American Chopper. The series ran for six seasons from 2003 to 2010 and featured father and son Paul Teutul Sr. (also known as Senior) and Paul Teutul Jr. (who goes by Paulie or Junior), respectively as they man the family business of manufacturing chopper-style motorcycles at Orange County Choppers in Newburgh, New York.

Of course, American Chopper wouldn't have lasted as long as it did if it did not have the classic reality trope of extreme family tension, exactly what Senior and Junior had together. The two often clashed over their conflicting methods of work and creative styles offering something interesting and dynamic for viewers. Over the years, they've been involved in countless verbal altercations until Junior ultimately left the show and business to start his own company called Paul Jr. Designs.

Now after 7 years of being off the air, EW reports that the father and son will soon be back on the small screen with a new iteration of American Chopper as they try to reclaim the former glory of their family business and mend ties after their big fallout. Discovery has also provided an updated on the Teutuls:

“The Teutuls have been on a wild ride, and it certainly isn’t ending anytime soon. Paul Sr. has revamped Orange County Choppers – turning it into a complex with a shop, café, bowling alley, restaurant and of course, the showroom – but all that didn’t come without a hefty price tag and he is feeling the burden of a high overhead and a lack of foot traffic. Meanwhile, Paul Jr. has also felt the sting of a rough economy – with his business built solely on high-dollar custom-builds and commissions becoming tougher to come by, Paul Jr. stresses about the long-term stability of his own shop, Paul Jr. Designs especially now that he has his own family.”

American Chopper is one of Discovery's most popular shows ever, averaging 3.4 million viewers at the height of its popularity. Its rating numbers are easily on par with some of the today's leading reality series such as Keeping Up with the Kardashians and The Real Housewives of Orange County. The building and customizing chopper-style motorcycle element of the series on top of the complicated father and son relationship also makes it appealing to the male crowd significantly more than the two previously mentioned programs.

With the evolving small screen landscape and the obvious interest in bringing back old viewers with relaunches of old shows however, it remains to be seen how the revitalized American Chopper will be accepted by modern audiences. The key here is to bring the show back to its golden days with a simplified narrative centering on a father and a son trying their best to run a business and make a living.