Category: SGDI

Bobblehead News & 3-Day Auction!

Shari

As you may have heard, my odyssey to mass-produce a high-quality, competitively-priced Bobblehead entirely in the USA is now complete, and the results are coming to a future episode of Somebody’s Gotta Do It. Without giving too much away, I can tell you that much of what I suspected was confirmed. We succeeded on the “high-quality part,” but fell short on “competitively-priced” and “mass-produced” part. The reasons for this are complicated, and best explained by actual economist. But the bottom line is this: it is simply impossible in today’s global market to mass-produce a high-quality, American-made Bobblehead, at a competitive Read More

A Sign of the Times

Shari

Those of you who caught SGDI two weeks ago will recall Craig and Rory May – the father and son blacksmiths who forge hot iron into amazing works of art up in the Colorado Rockies. I spent a day at The Dragon Forge last Fall, where I was reintroduced to the joys of blisters and second degree burns, as well as the absolute futility of complaining about such things to men like Craig and Rory. As Craig likes to say, “There’s no crying in blacksmithing.” Indeed. There is however, a fair amount of generosity, which brings me to the point Read More

50 Shades of Doug

Shari

About that last video…(see below) Some of you know my old friend Doug Glover. Doug is a gifted and mostly fearless cinematographer who has excelled in his chosen field. But Doug also suffers from chronic disappointment, brought about by years of concessions and professional compromise. On Dirty Jobs, Doug was beset by a host of environmental challenges, including but not limited to very high places, very tight places, very wet places, and of course, a constant rain of feces from every species – much of which wound up on his lens. Somebody’s Gotta Do It is not quite as hellish, Read More

CNN: The art of lucha libre

Shari

Ryan Bergeron, CNN Clothes may make the man, but a mask transforms him into something more. “With just this mask, the life is changed,” Manuel Quiroz says. “Because when you put the mask on, you feel bigger.” Quiroz has become the go-to mask and costume maker for a new generation of fighters in the world of Mexican freestyle wrestling, known as lucha libre. The work is a labor of love for Quiroz, who spends 15 hours a day sewing the detailed masks and gear from his home in South-Central Los Angeles. When CNN’s Mike Rowe wanted a taste of the Read More

Big Gulp Justice

Shari

A couple of weeks ago, I was stuck in traffic on Lombard Street, desperate to get across the Golden Gate Bridge for a meeting I was doomed to miss. As I quietly cursed the faceless bureaucrat who approved road work during rush hour, the guy in front of me threw an empty Big Gulp out the passenger window. I watched the giant cup bounce around the street, roll into the curb, and come to rest on the grate of a storm drain. The guy was driving a Prius, and the irony was just too much to bear. I hopped out Read More

SOMEBODY’S GOTTA DO IT HAS STRONG RATINGS DEBUT LAST NIGHT

Shari

SGDI is Up by Triple-Digits vs. Prior Four Thursdays and is the Only Cable News Program to Grow vs. Last Year at 9pm According to Nielsen Fast National Data, CNN Original Series Mike Rowe’s Somebody’s Gotta Do It season 2 premiere had a strong ratings performance last night at 9pm, delivering 316k among adult 25-54 viewers.  CNN nearly tied Fox news for the top spot in the demo 25-54 rating, registering only 1k behind (316k vs. 317k).  MSNBC trailed CNN by 93% with 164k. Compared to the prior four Thursdays, CNN was up the most across cable news, increasing by triple Read More

Variety: ‘Bloody Do-Gooders’ and Searching For Oddball Stories

Shari

Mike Rowe knows how to play dirty — as host of the Discovery Channel series “Dirty Jobs,” he did it professionally for eight seasons. Now Rowe, a one-man variety show who’s worked as a narrator, actor, host and opera singer, has cleaned up his act in his current series “Somebody’s Gotta Do It,” which opens its second season on CNN tonight. The show follows a similar format as “Dirty Jobs” but with a broader lens. The show, along with Anthony Bourdain’s “Parts Unknown,” has been a big part of CNN’s push to add more unscripted series to its news and Read More

I’m on CNN

Shari

Julie Daniels Tamasy writes: “Hey Mike, We’ll have to assume there aren’t many of those “I’m Mike Rowe” tee shirts…” Hi Julie. I’ll have to assume you’re correct. To my knowledge, they are four, and I think I have them all. I might auction them off for the foundation sometime soon, though it’s hard to imagine a more confusing message on the chest of a person who is not Mike Rowe, and not on CNN. But you never know. People will wear anything. The shirt does have an interesting backstory though. I was asked to wear it in a series Read More

Promos with the Parents

Shari

People keep asking me who wrote the current promos with my parents. The truth is, no one. These were actual conversations with mom and dad that occurred sometime over the last few months. We just re-created them for the camera. Now of course, everybody wants an agent… Mike’s Facebook Page