Denny wrote:
I have watched a few early episodes of Junkyard Wars, and Monster
garage, and Orange County Choppers, and that custom car guy in
California - Ward something or other -but I have quit... The fake
deadlines and manufactured crises annoy me to the point that I cannot
enjoy watching... Actually what they do with the machinery is
interesting and I dearly love watching rough metal being shaped and
smoothed and painted and coming out looking like a piece of sculpture,
but the crap that the vapid producers use to hype the show ratings is
intolerable...

You would probably enjoy the British series of series "A [plane/race
car/classic car] is (re)born". Same presenter and format in each
episode, building something. Only one guy (mostly), no rush or
deadlines, but he does tend to skip over big chunks... its still
entertainment rather than how-to. There's also a series called "Wheeler
Dealer" that I enjoy -- again one presenter buys a beat-up old car,
fixes it up (with help from others), and sells it for profit.

Frank