Review: 'Porter Ridge'

If you've spent any amount of time watching the never-ending procession of "observational reality" TV shows, it becomes quickly apparent that nearly all of them are manipulated/edited/produced in a way to make each episode as entertaining as possible. It's easy to accept a bit of this in a show such as "Deadliest Catch," because the producers use a light hand on the footage and there don't appear to be any drastic manipulations in the events.

At the other end of the scale are shows such as "Porter Ridge," which seem to combine a lack of respect for the audience with a level of editing and manipulation that you usually only see in vanity projects and Warsaw Pact-era government propaganda films.

In theory, a series centered around another small-town business would be a good thing. For all of the hackiness that's sprung from the explosion of rural-based reality TV shows, it's also a genre that's offered up a look at some lifestyles don't don't get covered on broadcast television. And shows like A&E's "Duck Dynasty" and CMT's under-appreciated "Swamp Pawn" work because while they are edited to be entertaining, at the core of the show are real people with a real compelling life story.

The same can't be said for the loathsome Discovery series "Porter Ridge," which returns for a second season on Tuesday, November 6th. While it may come from the creators of "Duck Dynasty," it comes across a weird, evil cross between that show and "Reno 911." There is nothing believable about the show or the characters or the situations in which they find themselves.

Set in the "rolling hills of Porter Ridge, Indiana," the show is populated by a cast best described as a comedic version of the hillbillies from "Deliverance." Everyone is colorful to the point of being a caricature and every episode in season one involved watching the cast get mixed up in increasingly unbelievable situations.

Season two begins just as badly, when Terry Porter, owner of Country Auto Parts, gets the delivery of a big old limo that was purchased at a police auction. There's some discussion about trying to sell it for $400, before he and his employee Danny Bob decide that "hey, let's just use it to start a limo service!" Because, well...why not? It's only TV! Of course, he quickly books two jobs and of course they are scheduled for the same night at the same time. So why not cut apart two vans from the nearby junkyard and duck tape them together to make a second limo? Yeah, it's just as idiotic as it sounds and it might be worth watching if I had the slightest belief that this would all happen if the cameras weren't around.

The two jobs go badly, with Terry's Frankenvan falling apart and the limo driver getting lost. And then there's the equally idiotic "Who is going to win this weekend's trailer race?"

"Porter Ridge" feels more like some public access spoof of rural America than a real show about real people. And it's an indication of how little the producers care about the audience that the interview segments are cut in a way that you hear a producer asking a question before each snippet. The producers aren't even pretending that the show is anything but a highly manipulated clip job and the result is a show that has absolutely no heart.

I don't enjoy writing bad reviews and even when I don't like a show, I generally tend to just suggest that the audience make up their own minds. But please do not watch "Porter Ridge" and it's cookie-cutter assembly of white trash stereotypes.

The only positive thing I can say about the show is that Country Auto Parts employee Kayla is cute, but she's also the only person who seems to have a likeable, human personality. I wouldn't mind seeing more of her, but not even her charm is enough to convince me to watch this hillbilly disaster.