TV sure has gone to hell lately.
There’s Hell’s Kitchen, Hotel Hell, Hell on Wheels, not to mention Here Comes Honey Boo Boo, which doesn’t have hell in the title but sure makes you feel like you’re in hell while you’re watching it.
Which brings us to a new show on the Discovery Channel called Highway Thru Hell, which debuts Tuesday, Sept. 4. It’s about driving to the mall with your family. We kid, we kid. It’s actually an eight-part Canadian series focusing on a small group of steel-willed “heavy rescue” specialists who are called upon to help truckers in trouble.
And the truckers in this case face a unique type of trouble, since Highway Thru Hell is centred on the Coquihalla Highway, a.k.a. 100 treacherous kilometres that cut through the heart of British Columbia’s Cascade Mountains. Steep slopes, deadly drop-offs, random rock-slides, awe-inspiring avalanches and all-around wicked weather combine to make this economically important route anything but a smooth ride.
While much reality-TV fare obviously can be frivolous, this show actually is not for the faint of heart, as it deals with some life-and-death situations.
Apparently hell hath no fury like a hungry highway.
bill.harris@sunmedia.ca
@billharris_tv
Categories: Television
A great program, with a great guy at the centre of it. I have known Jamie Davis (along with his mother, and 2 brothers, all of whom have Towing and Recovery companies) for a long time. (having worked with him, and for, his mother and 1 brother) Jamie would be one of my top three choices to represent the industry.
I am not much into reality TV…it is all too contrived. But….I did find Highway Thru Hell to be pretty factual and not too hyped.
Good on ya Jamie.