\'Hard Hats\' part of trend toward \'manly\' reality

Tag : fireproof cable

Standing atop this luxury apartment building overlooking theStaples Center in downtown Los Angeles, it's easy to see whysomeone would want to make a reality TV show here — in 2004.
There was a time when viewers couldn't get enough of watchingcontestants sit around penthouse cribs whining about each other.But that's changed. Audiences want action now. They want danger.They have what Thom Beers, the hottest producer in reality TV,calls "a hunger for authenticity."
That explains the emergence of the manly man show. Hit realityseries like Ice Road Truckers, Dirty Jobs and Deadliest Catch havefueled a wave of shows about dangerous jobs and the oddballcharacters, almost all male, who perform them.
And that's why I've come to the construction site of this 23-storyluxury residence known as Evo South.
Wearing the mandatory hard hat and orange vest, I've spent the pastfew minutes dodging heavy equipment and walking through unfinishedcondos while my guide, Dan Jackson, yelled over the power saws.
"This will be the most fireproof building in Los Angeles," Jacksontells me, pointing out the sprinklers that will be placed everythree feet throughout Evo South.
Jackson and his crews spent two years here, filming theconstruction for a new show tonight on the National GeographicChannel called L.A. Hard Hats.
To learn how L.A. Hard Hats got made is to learn a lot about wherethe reality TV business stands at this moment. And you can't get abetter guide than Jackson, whose r