'American Chopper' Shows Us the Best and Worst of Ourselves

American Chopper: Senior Versus Junior is reminding me, and many other entrepreneurs about everything right and wrong about business. But also, it’s reminding us about the best and worst of ourselves… that part of us that gets sucked into the limelight and spit out. The part that longs for approval. The part that pleads to be loved. Or, most importantly, wants to build something beautiful in life.

Back in 2003, at about the same time I was getting my hand pretty far up fame’s skirt (just before her dad walked in the room and kicked my ass), I found Discovery and Pilgrim Entertainment’s “American Chopper,” a reality show about the Teutuls, a family of rough-and-tumble men who own Orange County Choppers (Orange County, NY… not CA). They build some of the most beautiful custom choppers on the road, but the appeal of the show is that, because we’re dealing with a father and his sons, they fight. A lot.

The show featured a classic battle between an overbearing, strict father and a creative son with a penchant for showing up late to work. As Paul Teutul, Sr. pushed Paul Jr. to adhere to the company rules, Paul Jr. pushed for more creative and business freedom, and the show that made it possible for them to grow into a full-on motorcycle factory brought fame and fortune for both, their egos and bank accounts grew exponentially.

But because these are real men, who take challenges to their egos and masculinity seriously, the show ended with a fiery argument, with the father firing the son (along with a big chair, a few garbage cans and a bunch of tools being thrown with the force of a 103 cubic-inch V-twin at full throttle).

Discovery couldn’t make a show without both men and canceled the show after its long run. Then Paul Tuetul, Sr. sued his son for a million dollars in stock options, vowing to crush his progeny beneath the weight of the litigation. You would think that a bad economy (the principals acknowledge that OCC has been losing money), the loss of the company’s creative force and the stress of a legal fight amongst family members would bring calamity. But these aren’t well-coiffed, manicured, metrosexual Hollywood reality TV stars we’re dealing with. They’re real men who build badass machines.

But Paul Jr. didn’t give up. He did what most creative entrepreneurs did. He started his own company, “Paul Jr. Designs.” And he got the band back together, hiring back some of the show’s early “characters” (I don’t know what else to call them), with whom he had creative chemistry. And he got to work, putting in crazy hours and building bikes.

Discovery Channel decided to get back to work producing the show as “Senior vs. Junior” with a film crew at each company. We see the teams each build custom motorcycles, but we get a bigger glimpse into the psyche of real men at war with each other, despite their familial ties and long partnership. It’s an interesting study for entrepreneurs and one we rarely see played out so honestly in our popular entertainment culture.

Senior obsesses over ways to inflict pain on his son, makes flimsy and nonsensical arguments about how his son betrayed him, all while suing to take ownership of Junior’s 20% ownership in OCC for, get this, $0. His integrity devolves over the course of the season, as he’s driven not by a love of craft or a simple desire for success, but to hurt a competitor. It’s the very thing that people dislike about big business.

Junior is showing us what’s right with an entrepreneurial America, where people who are willing to take risks under tremendous pressure and who are willing to put in the effort, can pick themselves up and build something big and powerful. Maybe he can do it better faster and cheaper. Or maybe it’s his vision for his own success that will allow him to overtake OCC. Maybe he’ll fail, but I’m rooting for him. His is a story most of us who have struggled to build a business, or get a film made, or overcome some obstacle know very well.

TV, and especially reality TV is full of pussified girlie-men who lie, cheat and cry about how miserable they are. American Chopper: Senior vs. Junior gives us a glimpse into the lives of real men, in genuine and often painful conflict and competition. They, through their successes and failures, mistakes and decisions, teach us what it’s like to put everything on the line. Most importantly, they remind us that in America, it is still your actions that show the world the best and worst of what you are.