Paul Teutul Sr. is returning to reality TV.
|
ADVERTISEMENT
|
Orange County Choppers -- which, similar to American Chopper, will follow Teutul Sr. and his staff as they build bikes, pull pranks and get into big blowout fights -- is scheduled to begin production this summer and air its eight-episode first season on CMT later this year.
Paul Teutul Jr. -- Teutul Sr.'s son and fellow former American Chopper star -- will not be a part of Orange County Choppers, according to a CMT spokesperson.
"We're thrilled to be back on television doing what we do best: building outrageous custom motorcycles," said Teutul Sr.. "We have a lot of very cool projects coming up and can't wait to deliver on this new partnership with CMT and [Pilgrim Studios production company]."
Pilgrim Studios was also produced American Chopper, which Discovery Channel canceled late last year.
"Pilgrim's relationship with Paul Sr. goes back more than a decade, and we've seen his creative and mechanical genius first-hand. We're so glad to be working with him again and look forward to bringing OCC's unique brand of excitement and inspiration to CMT viewers," Pilgrim founder Craig Piligian added.
Prior to its most recent cancellation, American Chopper had previously been taken off the air in 2010 but resurrected several months later.
American Chopper originally premiered on Discovery in 2002 as a special and then launched into a regular-airing series several months later. The show later changed networks in 2008, switching over to Discovery's sister channel TLC. However, after a couple successful years, the Teutul family's ongoing disagreements with each other and producers escalated to the point where TLC just decided to end the show entirely.
In 2010, the father and son began reconciling and the series returned to TLC as American Chopper: Junior vs. Senior. The show subsequently changed its title back to American Chopper and returned to its Discovery Channel roots.
When Discovery announced American Chopper was being canceled again last year, Piligian suggested the show, or at least its concept, could very well return again.
"American Chopper was canceled before and we came back even stronger," Piligian said at the time. "It's been a resilient, powerful show. Right now they're telling me it's canceled. I can only comment: 'Who knows what the future holds.'"
About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski
