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STUDIO: A&E Entertainment
MSRP: $11.99
RATED: PG
RUNNING TIME: 300 minutes
SPECIAL FEATURES: Additional footage

The Pitch

It’s Deliverance with more gators.

The Humans

Troy Landry, Jacob Landry, Clint Landry, “Pappy” Landry, Liz Cavalier, Junior Edwards, William ‘Willie’ Edwards, Albert Knight, Kenwood Knight, Anthony Knight, Bruce Mitchell, Mike Kliebert, T-Mike Kliebert, Joe LaFont, Tommy Chauvin, R.J. Molinere Jr., Jay Paul Molinere, Terral Evans, Glenn Guist, Mitchell Guist.

The Nutshell

This History Channel reality series follows a group of Cajuns as they go about their doings in the bayous of Louisiana.  In particular, it covers their gator hunting.

The Lowdown

I realize it’s probably somewhat hypocritical that, as a fan of Deadliest Catch, which shows the fishing for Alaskan King Crab, which will diced up into crab cakes, crab legs, crab puffs and other seafood tasties, that I just don’t get into Swamp People and their pursuit of gators, which will be diced up into handbags and shoes among other things.  I don’t begrudge them for doing it, as they work within the boundaries of the law, but hunting shows in general simply aren’t my bag, especially when they’re stacking the animals ten deep in their boats.  It’s a way of life for the Cajuns of Louisiana, whose traditions in the endeavor go back over 300 years.  And the show has all of the qualities for being the success it is on the History Channel: colorful personalities such as the Landrys, Edwards and Knights, who are about as Southern, as Cajun and as Country as is gets. And that’s not a knock on Louisianans, because I happen to enjoy Sons of Guns.

The show follows their exploits as they hunt gators in the Louisiana bayous for a strict season of some 30 days to prevent overpopulation and threats to locals from the notoriously bad tempered reptiles.  This first season consistes of the following ten episodes:

  • 1.01 – Big Head Bites It –  Gator season opens and Troy Landry and his son, Jacob are on the hunt for “Big Head”, a large gator who’s managed to elude them for years.
  • 1.02 – Houdini’s Last Escape – Troy has to go into uncharted territory to hunt an elusive gator named “Houdini”.  And Junior has to babysit an Italian leather buyer, who is crucial to his business.
  • 1.03 – Troy’s Gamble – Troy has to risk shelling out cash for the rights to hunt a new section of swamp said to be teeming with gators.  Meanwhile, Mike builds a new aluminum boat from scratch.
  • 1.04 – Cannibal Gator – Joe and Tommy come up against a gator named “Godzilla” that’s been cannibalizing other gators.  Meanwhile, Troy’s having difficulties with empty lines.
  • 1.05 – Force of Nature – A premature cold snap threatens the season as alligators might be going into early hibernation.
  • 1.06 – Family Feuds – Squabbling within gator families grows as the season drags on.

  • 1.07 – Swamp Wars – Tommy and Joe deal with a poacher of their lines; Junior and Willie change things up by hunting frogs and snakes.
  • 1.08 – Gator Voodoo – The gators aren’t biting and the hunters have to dig into their bags of tricks to produce results.
  • 1.09 – Final Countdown – The end of the season is bearing down on the hunters.
  • 1.10 – The Last Battle – The last two days of the season come down to the hunt for a huge cannibal gator named the “Loch Ness Monster”.

Overall, the show is made along the lines in quality of other shows such as Ax Men.  It’s just not one that I particularly get into.

The Package

Sound and picture are fine.  The only special feature is additional footage.

Rating:
★★☆☆☆

Out of a Possible 5 Stars