Homer Alaska - News -

Produced for History, the new brand name of The History Channel, by Moore Huntley Productions, "Tougher" premieres May 8.

To many Alaskans, its host will be familiar print and broadcast journalist Geo Beach of Homer. During 25 years in Alaska, Beach has worked in some of the profiled jobs, including logging, firefighting and commercial fishing. Beach takes a participatory part in each of the episodes, in some drawing on a wealth of experience, in others suffering the rude rewards of a raw rookie.

A series purporting to explore how tough one needs to be to thrive in Alaska requires a host who looks the part. At 6 feet 3 inches tall and Telly Savalas bald, Beach fits the bill. He is an imposing physical platform from which booms a voice every bit as commanding as his commentary is deliberative.

At first glance, the series title might be seen as a bit presumptuous. No doubt among the millions of people working hard jobs under difficult conditions elsewhere in the world there'd be many willing to stack their "tough" jobs up against anything filmed in the series.

"The name of the show is 'Tougher In Alaska,' not 'Toughest in Alaska,'" Beach points out.

"Tougher" isn't designed to label hard-working Americans living Outside as wimps or foster any sense of competition. It does attempt to convey with vivid images painted on a harsh canvas the sweeping scope and frequent severity of the climatic conditions under which blue-collar Alaskans labor and from which they may be entitled to draw a certain pride in the toughness of their natures.

It also recognizes that Alaska is a kind of metaphor for many Americans where elements of a dangerous frontier can still be found, Beach said.

Though several do, not every episode is devoted to a single occupation. A few cover multiple jobs or focus on life in a region, Beach said. In every case, however, the central figures are blue-collar workers.

"I never liked the idea that there is somebody out there who's better than a blue-collar worker. I just never believed that," Beach said. "I've considered it an opportunity and a privilege to do those jobs."

Beach didn't chase his position as the show's host. In fact, friends first alerted him to the fact the production company was searching for someone with a journalism background, a little acting experience and blue-collar bona fides.

After contacting Moore Huntley, Beach was asked to supply a casting reel, which he didn't have. Outside at the time, his brother-in-law shot a home movie of him on a pier in northern California. Later, a local film producer made a second film of Beach interviewing people at Homer Harbor.

Not in the least interested in involving himself with some Hollywood producer's dream of Alaska, Beach said he vetted the producers even as they were considering him.

"I saw the entire 50-page pitch looking for the classic errors that Outside media make, what I call 'igloos and penguins' journalism," he said. Beach said he found no misapprehensions about Alaska among the crew members. "Had I run into that, I simply wouldn't have been involved," he said.

Instead, he discovered talented and capable people as committed to portraying the truth about the lives of the workers they would film as he was. Beach was hired and shooting on the series began in early 2007. David Huntley, who Beach said qualified as tough, had already produced widely popular specials on Alaska including "Alaska: Big America" and "Alaska: Dangerous Territory." Beach was careful to differentiate "Tougher" from another variety of popular television programming.

"This is not, not, not 'reality television,'" Beach insisted. "There is no cash prize, no race or competition. Nothing is done for the camera. It is nonfiction, documentary journalism. It is real stories about real Alaskans."

The subject matter and the environment are such that nothing need be contrived.

There was no posing, no scripted shots, he said.

The featured occupations have deep roots extending well before the age of modern conveniences and high-tech tools. Yet even in the 21st Century digital age, the jobs remain as tough as ever. What's really changed, Beach said, is that many now require significant technological know-how, not just brawn. "There is a huge amount of intellect and brainpower in all of these jobs," Beach said.

Beach avoided inferring that any one of the featured occupations qualified as THE toughest.

"If we thought one of these was the toughest, we'd have just made a series about that," he said.

Driving a rig in winter on the Haul Road or riding a snowmachine on the frozen Kuskokwim "they're both bloody cold," he said. It's just as icy for a meter maid or school crossing guard during February in Fairbanks. For him, the toughest job was the one he was doing at the time, he said.

The May 8 premiere puts the camera's eye on gold prospectors. Succeeding episodes currently scheduled include salmon fishing on May 15, utility linemen on May 22, and logging on May 29.

Others topics covered in future shows include railroading, roads, the forces of nature, garbage, the reality of a Fairbanks winter, and more.

Hal Spence is a reporter for the Peninsula Clarion.