Ax Men (2008– ) User Reviews

For a reality show ,I give a 5

[baitman55 · 5/10 · 30 December 2013]

The show wasn't to bad when it first came out, but its becoming to fake and predictable, when a "accident" happens, the victim if you can call them that waits for their name to be repeatable rang out then its "I am OK" it surprises me how a camera is always where a tree "accidentally" falls.

I can take it for what its worth, a cheap show on a channel thats in a circus for ratings, fluff like this is easy to produce no fact checking here.

The worst character on the show has to be Swilly and my least favorite segments are the crew of the Chapmans and the Dreadknots, if your putting girls into bikinis to help your ratings you may want to find some better ones.

I find Shelby entertaining, but I would not want to live anywhere near him, and the damage he does to the environment is shameful.

Another history channel Docu-Comedy

[johntwatterson · 5/10 · 12 August 2022]

After finishing the last of its kind that I saw "Swamp people". I found this little gem! Another docu- comedy by the history channel where teams of loggers play the stupidest people on earth. It is truly laugh worthy at least once in each episode! Worth a watch if you enjoyed the old slapstick of the three stooges, Laurel and Hardy, or Abbott and Costello.

A bunch of jerks cussing each other out.

[captkirk_4 · 5/10 · 7 January 2023]

They are running this old series all day long on the local UHF rerun station. Wow are these guys ever a bunch of jerks, the way they disrespect each other and cus each other out. Is this staged or does this kind of conduct fly in this kind of dangerous work? Then the disregard for safety? There is always some jerk boss demanding some dude run around on top of slippery logs and jump on top of a still moving pile to undo the steel knot. Evidently speed is more important than safety. The worst is the way that old guy who fishes logs out of the river talks to his son. About the only guys who seem to act professional are the old bald guy with the missing hand who owns one of the companies and his son. Wonder if they encourage the cast to ham it up? This seems to be from the last days of cable era when all we got served up was reality TV on every channel, even those that formerly used to run more highbrow programing. Is it no wonder most people have cut the cord?

Awful

[leedav-87604 · 1/10 · 29 March 2015]

I've watched about 6 or 7 episodes and had an unknown many playing on the TV while i did other things( just leave the TV on for noise). I actually have to stop what im doing to turn the show off when it comes on now cause its drives me nuts.

The drama on this show is annoying at the very least. The lack of safety is appalling. The lack of common sense is astounding. I know a few loggers and i don't know ANY that log remotely close to this. Granted they might log in some tricky and dangerous locations, but they also do some of the dumbest things that result in someone getting injured or almost getting injured.

For example on an episode i just watched craig rygaard ( a supposed 24 yr logging vet) put his foot on a running cable drum on one of the machines, apparently trying to fix some unseen problem( guiding the cable with his foot maybe? i don't know i wasn't watching that closely). Now one would think that he, being a vet with the machinery, would know better than put his foot on a drum that is actually winding cable. But he doesn't. His foot gets caught and it sucks his leg in. Now if this stupidity isn't enough it gets better... oh does it get better.

The machine, from your view looks like it would suck his whole body in.. I mean he got his foot wedged enough to suck his leg in so why wouldn't it keep sucking the rest of him in? Well it doesn't. Once he gets to a certain point it stops sucking him in. Then the operator( who is literally pretty much right in front of him) finally shuts it down and craig pulls his leg out( on his own) he talks about how bad of shape his leg is in. But he climbs down off said machine with relative ease( he made it look more effortless than climbing down with a sprained ankle remember this in a minute).

He gets off the machine and we get to see a close up of his leg. The pants aren't shredded, they aren't blood soaked, and he seems to have the pain tolerance of a dead man. The only noticeable damage to his pants? it looks like someone tore it about 6 inches up from the bottom. Hardly the damage you would expect for someone that just got their leg caught between moving steel cable on a drum and the machine its mounted on.

It gets better. The son, gabe, tells us that his knee is broken and like jello. Now i just watched said knee being used to climb down off a very large machine.

Ignoring the fact that its TV and they are going to make it into a big drama event, the fact that a 24 yr vet does something so ridiculously stupid just shows you how far they will go to create drama for ratings.

I work in an industry that is semi dangerous and i have for 20 years. Experience has made me both wiser and more cautious not flat out stupid. And stuff like this happens ALL the time on this show. Its absolutely ridiculous how "careless" and "unprofessional" the people on this show are.

If your going to make a show about a real job and put it on what use to be a reputable channel for actual knowledge then don't make it complete drama. History channel use to be one of my favorite channels. They use to have great shows now its mostly garbage like ax men.

Worth 10 AXES

[PartialMovieViewer · 10/10 · 16 April 2014]

If only alligators were born with a set of wings and hid in the branches of trees – now THAT would be the perfect TV show – ever. I started watching, "Ax Men" very early in the morning, and just like any other 'Reality TV Show', I found this 'original?' show to be buried deep in a ton of redundancy. Normally, I would not be able to stomach watching such twaddle, but the reruns come on at 2:00 AM – making it the best thing available at that time. I guess you could call, "Ax Men", entertaining. This kind of show embraces a unique form of 'folksyness,' while serving up generous helpings of gruffness and profanity. Pardon the 'spoiler alert', and - it will spoil it for you if you read any farther - but every week, the show can be summed up as follows: a bunch of guys get in trucks, swearing at each other, and talking loud; while transiting to the cut site they swear at each other and swear about the rough ride; once at the site, they select target trees, while swearing at one another and the chosen trees; they fall out of trees a lot and manage to swear at one another and about falling…and finally, each program is closed out with an end-of-the-week cliff-hanging swear-session. I am sure I missed something, but whatever it was, it was definitely inconsequential. So why did I give this show such hi marks? Who knows.

The History channel sells out again...

[darin-wissbaum · 1/10 · 28 November 2009]

More reality TV crap to fill our airwaves and it just so happens to be on a channel that claims to be about history. Just around the time The History Channel started its program "Ice Road Truckers" it started another one, only this time instead of rednecks driving around on frozen lakes it's rednecks climbing up and chopping down trees. How many reality TV shows are going to be produced until the intelligent viewing public (if there are any left) are going to say enough. It's bad enough when there is not one smart program on public or cable TV any longer that does not show a bunch of boneheads acting like complete and utter fools. I really use to respect the History Channel because of its smart and informative programs but now I can see the reality TV nonsense creeping ever more slowly into its program list.

So who really cares about a bunch of redneck lumberjacks chopping down trees and having lots of drama among themselves in-between? Have the producers of the History Channel lost that much faith or respect in their viewing audience to start catering to people that don't much care or want to be informed? They need to go back to what made them good because I am ready to give on the History Channel.

Best Show Especially Shelby*****

[o_b-kinobe · 10/10 · 24 May 2014]

Best show to date, shows temper, shows work reality to some point, OK it shows it fully, shows who even the best fail at safety and human communication, a bite of reality that could help you to obtain good health and real thinking, from enemy's to just plane stupid thinking, he will remember it for the rest of his life and say boy i was dumb, theirs a lot to learn about communication, being able to work together, being able to find the right people, to seeing the most lazy slowest people, to the ones that still need to mature, if you think you will need help in your life to understand the good the bad and the ones that just don't give a heck, this is the show to watch it covers all ends. pick it up people work fast, if it was not for my disability, I'm sure id be ripping it up, i like to compare myself to certain people, i find that i to was immature to also at times and find that I to was a to like that, GOOD SHOW TO LEARN AND KNOW ABOUT TO HELP YOURSELF OUT. good luck to all. age and life will always teach you about many things

Ax Men History Channel

[barstads1 · 1/10 · 6 January 2013]

I live in logging country. I've worked logging sales and visited on-site logging. I must say that I'm very disappointed with the History Channel. There's nothing historical about this program. If you will notice there are times when the camera is actually under someone that's falling. This is a pure piece of Hollywood type of junk. Not one of those men would last 2 minutes on a real logging site. "History channel" had done a real dis-service to the true logging industry.

Then there's the bleeps, and bleeps, etc. History Channel is encouraging and airing filthy language. Bleeps do not cover the lips when they peak the filth. This is really great examples for the youth of our country....NOT! History Channel...there's enough real history to fill your airways...why air all this crap? Your taste is questionable.

deadly accident

[strider1960 · 8/10 · 20 March 2011]

I love the show but I wish two people would meet an untimely death and those would be Jimmy Smith and Craig Rygaard. Talk about two of the stupidest and biggest pieces of ****! James Smith is a great kid and I sure rooted for him when he finally lost his temper with the old man and took a swing at him. Nobody else deserves having the crap beat out of them other than Craig Rygaard. Craig's stunts in trying to get rid of Dave, though he does need to grow up, is just childish. Dave just needs to throw Craig out of the seat and down the hill. Maybe we'll get lucky and a tree will fall on him. I do have to agree with some posts about Ax Men and disagree with some. Connor Aviation was interesting the first few episodes but it got boring shortly thereafter. There are only so many interesting episodes as they have to test and train new helicopter pilots, but one must give credit to the piloting skills of Connor's head pilot. I do have to disagree with comments of the Alaska and swamp loggers. Our family just loves the craziness that is Shelby Stanga. I don't think I've ever heard of someone who is willing to jump into a river full of alligators. I keep expecting to see a bunch of bubbles as some gator drags off Shelby for dinner.

Glorification of environmental destruction!

[cobrafa · 1/10 · 20 November 2012]

I currently live in Europe where people seem to actually care about the environment. The other day I was flipping through the limited channels that I have and came across this horrible show. This is one of the worst that I have ever seen. I am amazed that they would even put this on a channel like the "history channel". I should think that they would be against environmental destruction. I watched 30 minutes of this show until I had to turn it off. They do nothing but glorify the destruction of pristine forest lands and the environment. I have spent a lot of time in the Pacific Northwest and personally have witnessed the destruction of habitat there. You would think the history channel could be more creative instead of broadcasting a show about cutting down "old growth" trees. If anything I hope this show creates more environmental awareness and motivates people to stand up and organize so this type of destruction is better regulated in the future.... My advise is to turn the channel if you ever see this show on TV.

The stars of this series are falling down

[patrickfilbeck · 1/10 · 17 December 2021]

An actually interesting job is being ruined again with the prescribed action from the History Channel (which really doesn't deserve its name). A series that nobody needs, even if the forests are often very beautiful ... but they are just simply felled here. Real information about the dialectical relationship of this profession to culture and nature can of course not be found here.

Season 10--I had such hope! :(

[rsvp321 · 23 July 2019]

I had stopped watching this series years ago, when the extremely annoying scripted drama drove me off.

When I saw that it was back again, season 10, I watched episode 1 and woo-hoo! just logging! Interesting info from the loggers, great video, and apparently, no scripted drama!

...until episode 2. Rygaard fake drama, father Vs son! ...again!

You've got to be kidding me! The show's been off the air for several years, your audience hating the fake drama, you get a reprieve with another season, and you jump right back into the garbage!

I'll watch a couple more episodes, then I'm bailing again, if the producers have continued ruining it.

This show should be for guys that enjoy watching an interesting job, not for Hollywood. This is exactly why I bailed on Gold Rush, years ago.

The cowards"Kelly Oaks".

[leenjeff-83603 · 9/10 · 19 July 2021]

Kelly oaks should be thrown in prison and lose his logging license for life he has no right to be logging;he endangered lifes of the other crew.

no wood for you

[haroldhecuba · 1/10 · 25 February 2019]

It's become so stupid & staged just barely watchable now,the only redeeming thing is Shelby.The venomous backstabbing craig & his manchild baby gabe are quite sickening to see of late & the other peanuts on the river just talking crap all the time.Quite obviously scripted & staged when you see the rygards looking,smiling at camera in the middle of a raging argument,seems that's all it's become now just faux arguing & terrible acting

Axe this tedious reality TV, please!

[c-kelsall · 3/10 · 13 November 2008]

What can I say about this programme? I saw it last Saturday morning, and it was only because a) I was really tired, and b) there was nothing on worth watching anyway. Talk about making a mountain out of a mole-hill! How could the producers extend that material to a full hour (plus advert breaks)? No disrespect to the guys who do that job, they clearly have a fairly hard time, and frankly I wouldn't want to do it, but that doesn't mean we have to be subjected the tedium on a Saturday morning, when I and many others like me are at our most vulnerable. It's just not good TV, and I resent paying my license fee when all I get is "reality" TV shows. Boring. Having said all that, there are at least a dozen other reality shows I'd less rather watch. Big Brother, Celebrity Love Island, I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here, How Clean Is Your House?, etc, etc, etc.

Please ax

[davidchatman-84053 · 1/10 · 9 January 2022]

Why is Defy using all day Saturday for this show? The only likeable guy is Shelby, and he is already on Swamp people. Just don't even go to Defy on Saturday.