ELLSWORTH, Maine — January 10, 2013 — Anybody familiar with the commercial fishing industry, especially Maine’s iconic lobster fishery, will know that it doesn’t fit into a typical 9-to-5 schedule.
So it most likely will not come as a surprise to most Mainers to learn that, when producers and television crews from Headline News set out last summer to profile “individuals and communities who have found inventive and surprising ways to address today’s challenges by applying the lessons of American pioneers,” that offshore island fishermen and their families would be featured on the show.
The new show is called “American Journey” and is being hosted by Ty Pennington, former host of “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” on ABC. The first episode of the half-hour show, which features the Maine lobstermen, is set to air on HLN at 8 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 12, and will air again at the same time the following day, Sunday, Jan. 13.
The aim of the show, according to HLN officials, is to highlight the “resourcefulness and resilience” in the lives of Americans whose work ethic is more about lifestyle than it is about putting in an eight-hour shift for his or her boss.
“With programs like this, and our new daily program ‘Making It in America,’ HLN is deepening and broadening its coverage of news stories that really hit home for our national audience,” Scot Safon, executive vice president and general manager of HLN, said in a prepared statement.
Other upcoming episodes include profiles of a modern-day collective commune and of Delta blues culture, according to show officials.
Last summer, television crews came to Hancock County to meet and ride along with a couple of lobster fishermen to talk to them about what they do and why they do it.
Robert Howell, a senior producer for HLN, wrote Thursday in an email that the cable network was interested in the lobster fishery because, in an unusual combination, lobstermen have been having a tough time financially even though catches have hit record highs and the resource appears to be healthy.
Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News