Forged in Fire should take a clue from Netflix show "Blown Away"

Well, it could be worse, they could take after the other cooking show 'Cutthroat Kitchen' and offer up sabotages that you can buy to put on the other contestants like

Take away their hammer
Make them use a coal forge instead of the gas forge
Work with one hand tied behind their back
Have someone standing there asking questions the whole time

or some other nonsensical terrible thing they could come up with...;)
G2
 
allenkey said:
Especially that the contestants require assistants but it's supposed to be a competition where 1 person wins lol
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Assistants are not making the glass.

Remember in FIF the contestants, while in the studio on set, do not do the tempering and it is done by someone else behind the scenes.
 
I think they feel at this point any major changes would damage the brand they've built and would prefer to milk it until people quit watching or they can no longer find participants.
 
I agree that FIF has started running out of good ideas and has started with silly ones ... toy trucks????

That said the show is for the public audience and not knifemakers. It is the knifmakers who want to be on FIF that keepit going. As mentioned before, you don't see any of the big names on anymore. You do see people who really have no qualifications for entering. Once in a while one of them gets lucky and everyone else's bade breaks. The public actually likes and wants to see the blades to break.
Occasionally a really talented new maker gets on and shows why his name will soon be more well known.

Just remember that it isn't "our" show, it it The History Channel's show, and they make it for the public audience that watches.
Besides, even the toy trucks are a lot better than Duck Dynasty or Gator Hunters.
 
I think they could take some lessons from the Netflix show meateater. It's sort if a hunting/culinary show. Some episodes are strictly in the kitchen and some are in some cool places. The could easily add a culinary addition every 5 episodes. It would make sense since that's what it was supposed to be to start with. Maybe it's to hard to judge though.
 
AVigil said:
Assistants are not making the glass.

Remember in FIF the contestants, while in the studio on set, do not do the tempering and it is done by someone else behind the scenes.
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That is definitely true.

I think less FiF episodes per season with a higher payout wouldn't be such a bad thing either.
 
Gary W. Graley said:
I thought that more time would be better presentation of what the smith can do, but then, more time and you probably end up in a 4 way tie, the time limit adds that pressure that when the 'judges' evaluate the work presented to them, often there is one that stands out as not quite there and most will agree that one is the one to go. If they had the time they usually spent on a knife, then it would be so minute as to the differences between them, it would be tough to say yes to one and no to another.

One thing I think Forged in fire might want to include when they introduce the contestants is to have them bring a knife that they had made in their shop, just as an example of their craft and what they normally make. It would let the audience see that these folks really can make a quality knife, as opposed to a time crunch they are pressed into from the show.

G2

edited to add haven't seen that Glass Blowing series as I dropped Netflix a while back but I live just outside of Corning NY and they have a very cool/hot Glass Museum which also has live glass blowing there and it's really a work of art that they do ! I recommend anyone passing through to take a tour if you can spare a few hours.
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They did an episode once where the returning champions, maybe champions, I can't remember, but they brought their best work. Kelley Vermeer brought once of the coolest knives I've seen. But, yeah, that's a good idea, I think it would be nice to see.

And, I don't blame some of these people going on the show to get their name out there, I've seen some ads for, as seen on FIF knifemaker so and so. That's not a bad thing in my opinion
 
All shows are for the "audience" so is the show Blown Away.

People should check out Blown Away and you can see how they are doing it .

FIF could still do the destructive testing the masses like to see yet take a page from Blown Away as well
 
If FIF started doing it the way it should be done, you would hear the sounds of a stampede of people getting to change the channel. ;)
 
jdm61 said:
If FIF started doing it the way it should be done, you would hear the sounds of a stampede of people getting to change the channel. ;)
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That just is not accurate, there are many show that show people doing things correctly with out all the reality tv nonsense.

Removing Toy Trucks, pinball machines, cars etc as the source of material would not cause anyone to stop watching.
 
Would you be willing to bet a beer on that? ;) A show like this only stays around by getting sillier.
AVigil said:
That just is not accurate, there are many show that show people doing things correctly with out all the reality tv nonsense.

Removing Toy Trucks, pinball machines, cars etc as the source of material would not cause anyone to stop watching.
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jdm61 said:
Would you be willing to bet a beer on that? ;) A show like this only stays around by getting sillier.
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That is how they end up getting canceled. When a show jumps the shark that is the herald they are on the other side of the bell curve.

A show like FIF it is the forging,fire and tests that attract the audience, not toy trucks and pinball machines.
 
The thing about those Netflix shows they tend to use a variant of the British "limited series" model. We have out 5 or 10 scenarios, we do them and then we are done. Sustaining a show like that indefinitely is when our friend the shark eventually shows up.
AVigil said:
That is how they end up getting canceled. When a show jumps the shark that is the herald they are on the other side of the bell curve.

A show like FIF it is the forging,fire and tests that attract the audience, not toy trucks and pinball machines.
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jdm61 jdm61 Blown Away is in the "British Limited Series model"?
 
10 episodes. What are the odds that you will see 10 more? Even Stranger Things is still considered to be a "limited series" but perhaps stretches the definition after 3 seasons and 25 episodes.
AVigil said:
jdm61 jdm61 Blown Away is in the "British Limited Series model"?
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Netflix renews shows based upon viewership. That is it.

They know exactly how many people watch a show, how long and how many times. They do that with all their shows to determine if it will be given more seasons.

Unlike regular or cable TV that just guess how many viewers they have.
 
It is very disheartening that they keep shortening the time and making the steel and parameters worse. It is a disservice to the show and makers who participate.

I know many talented....even world class smiths who would not ever do the show for these, and other reasons. Many who do the show are not good smiths. I've met in person, and looked at work from Smith's on the show, who's work I would not buy. Fit and finish not anywhere close to what should be presented in public, let alone for good money.

I've also met others in person from the show, and seen how nice the work they do is.

There have been plenty of makers on that I would love to have pieces from, including mastersmiths and those who's work is top tier, but do less well on the show, due to the silly constraints.

Never the less, I still watch the shows, and always look for people I know.
 
The show that some here are suggesting FiF should be and that is being proposed as having the opportunity for the same success was made. Discovery Channel had a show called “Master of Arms” with less antics and more focus on historical accuracy. It lasted one season before being canceled, and most of you reading this probably didn’t even know it was a show...
 
lanternnate said:
The show that some here are suggesting FiF should be and that is being proposed as having the opportunity for the same success was made. Discovery Channel had a show called “Master of Arms” with less antics and more focus on historical accuracy. It lasted one season before being canceled, and most of you reading this probably didn’t even know it was a show...
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FIF should keep up the antics of the testing, but give them good steel from the beginning instead of wasting time cutting springs from a truck or finding metal from toys
 
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