Doomsday Preppers, season 1
release year: 2012
genre: TV documentary (14 episodes: a pilot, 12 regular episodes, and a bonus feature)
viewing setting: home streaming 3/5-15/23
synopsis: Various preppers and survivalists show and tell their plans and preparations, which are then evaluated by a consulting company. Their fears, among other things, include earthquakes, floods, economic collapse, oil shortages, pandemic, overpopulation, nuclear war, government takeover, and the world's magnetic poles shifting.
impressions: This show was a good mix of ideas (and their feasibility, depending on how far one is willing to go) and entertainment (as far as seeing how people think and act while praparing.) You have to wonder about the intelligence of some of these people...a few state that they want to remain anonymous yet they let the National Geographic team film them, their vehicles, their defensive measures, and their secret underground hideouts. There was also one guy who said he was worried about China taking over the world economy, and so his shooting practice targets had pandas on them, and his toy sandbox had an Asian action figure as the bad guy...all of this could be a sign of mental instability and intolerance. That guy reminded me of the militia leader played by Don Johnson in Machete. Some of these people are 100% convinced that something bad is going to happen and have radically altered their lives (and in most cases, their family's lives) due to that belief. I personally think we should all be prepared for EITHER outcome, not just one. But anyway, here are brief recaps of what people/plans are featured in each episode:
episode 0: a family that's producing much of their own food in their backyard...a mom who's stockpiling supplies and training her children...two families that have joined forces
episode 1: an older couple who have built a highly-defensible house/farm/complex out of shipping containers and have buses ready if they and their friends need to flee...a guy who lives in L.A. and practices urban survival including harvesting and eating vegetation...a young woman who is training to be ready to hike out of her large city if the need arises
episode 2: a guy who's a master of ham radio and has a lot of guns and provisions, but is horrendously out of shape...a mom who's focused on not only having a huge stock of food, but finding ways to make it taste great...an older couple who do a great job of being 100% self-sufficient with food but have zero ability or intent to defend their stock if needed...a family in which each member (including the grown kids and their spouses) has a skill and a purpose
episode 3: a husband and father who's working to train his sons, and planning to buy and build out some shipping containers, then almost blows his thumb off while practice shooting...a NYC firefighter deals with the challenges of a small apartment, no natural water source, and the illegality of guns there...a man and his three adult children have turned their entire backyard into a giant garden that can grow giant 25 lb squash, and built a machine that turns used cooking oil into biodiesel fuel for their car...an older couple who have stockpiled a ton of food, water, and guns but lack fresh sources for more food and water (not to mention that two people can't effectively use 60+ firearms)
episode 4: an elderly couple who drive a big rig, live out of its cab, and want to improve their readiness...a woman who predicts a pandemic, eight years before it actually happened, and takes great steps to prepare...a Florida family in the process of relocating to higher ground in case of flooding
episode 5: a guy in Maine cooks roadkill for his family and appears to have no job or ability to give his children an education, but is teaching them how to survive in the wilderness...a land developer who's turning an old missile silo into luxury underground survival condos...a young woman who's convinced that the government is going to take over, and spends all of her time and money preparing for it
episode 6: a wealthy suburban family stockpiles food, fuel, and weapons and practices regularly...a guy stocks thousands of seeds and tries to build a radiation-proof farm...a welder builds a steel shelter for his family
episode 7: an ex-soldier amasses food stores and builds underground hiding holes and trains kids for survival...a Canadian family prepares due to the overly-dramatic wife's troubled dreams...an older hippie couple lives in an old missile silo which they seem completely unprepared to defend if needed
episode 8: a guy in Canada has built an underground shelter from 42 buried school buses...a small family owns a used Army M35 truck for bugout purposes...a doctor's prepping and bugout plan don't work for his wife and daughter
episode 9: a man moves his family into the middle of nowhere (and trains them to fire guns, eat insects, and fortify the house) in order to avoid the effects of dirty bombs...a housewife in Montana secretes tons of food in hidden places all over her house so that her husband doesn't see them...an older guy is new to prepping but is working diligently
episode 10: a family has a small stocked bunker under their garage floor, and an escape plan involving a boat...a retired military veteran prepares to survive if the power grid fails...a woman stocks supplies and runs drills in case of a bird flu pandemic
episode 11: fearing economic collapse, a Texas man makes and stores his own wine as a barter item, along with his underground room full of food and drink, and also makes his own bullets and bombs, and sometimes eats dog food, and also seems to hate China with a passion...a rural couple sells everything of value, buries silver all over their property, and installs an underground container to live in when the world ends...a small-town couple devotes half their income to prepping, and the husband goes metal detecting to find extra funding, but doesn't seem to understand that not all of his family are on board
episode 12: This one is just a recap of the season, but would be an outstanding way to scout this show without having to watch the entire nine hours.
bonus documentary on season 1 DVD: American Doomsday - Details the United States' history and preparation for a catastrophic event that threatens the rule of government. Gives overview of airborne and ground-based command centers and shelters for the higher levels of the government.
acting: n/a but there are some real characters here
final word: Interesting advice on preparation, some of it a bit out there, much of it valid. Worth seeing just to learn it all and then sort out what's useful.
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