Sons of Anarchy

[Highspeed]

I bought a US biker mag today and there was an advert in it for a TV show called 'Sons of Anarchy'

Mininova and mutorrent later, I have the first 3 episodes.

1) The hero looks like he's about 12 years old and is angst ridden. I hate angst
2) None of them look much like any hard core biker I have ever met. Hero guy is Kurt Cobain wearing a leather jacket.
3) Most of their bikes have stupid little headlamp fairings with tinted screens. You don't see those much on choppers. I'm betting this is a device to conceal the faces of stunt riders, when combined with an appropriate camera angle. Better than the full face helmet with tinted visor approach though.
4) The name of the club sucks. I know all the really good names are taken, but c'mon, did it really have to be that silly ?
5) Their ( one ) prospect doesn't own a bike. You don't even get to hang around with an outlaw club without owning a bike.
6) The power behind the throne is a woman of course. Although she has a bigger pair of balls than her son, the hero.
7) The music is insipid.
8) It's better than any drama series we get in the UK, but that isn't a difficult standard to beat

Anyone else been watching it ?

[Darrell]

Seen the ads, never seen the show. Highspeed, have you ever read Hell's Angels: The Strange and Terrible Saga of the Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs, by Hunter S. Thompson? Great book. Written over 40 years ago, perhaps the best thing he ever wrote.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hell's_Ang ... ycle_Gangs

[The Quiet Man]

Everything you said is absolutely true. Through the years I have spent an awful lot of time with bikers...including outlaw bikers groups and this fictional outfit is basically unfit. Damn, a lot of the guys I never did know their real names...only their club names.

I suppose it is about the best you can expect from cable TV though cause real life bikers would hardly be fit for Showtime or Cinemax. I guess the whole medical drama had played itself out and they needed something a little more "edgy" to suck in new viewers. So far it's kinda pitiful.

[The Quiet Man]

I agree with Chris as far as Sagal and Perlman go...if it weren't for them I wouldn't bother watching. In fact, Sagal is excellent...she plays an outstanding tough biker broad...only hotter!

[mekender]

Seen the ads, never seen the show. Highspeed, have you ever read Hell's Angels: The Strange and Terrible Saga of the Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs, by Hunter S. Thompson? Great book. Written over 40 years ago, perhaps the best thing he ever wrote.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hell's_Ang ... ycle_Gangs

i dont know, fear and loathing in las vegas was pretty good

[Highspeed]

I've read Hells Angels many times ( although not recently )

Sonny Barger is quoted as saying much of it is inaccurate. Who knows ? it's still a very good book

One thing is certain about Sons of Anarchy - if it had been made in the UK, especially by the BBC it would have been apocalyptically bad.

[DougWojtowicz]

I love Katie Sagal. But truth said about these guys being too neat and clean.

I remember one really cool Charlie Sheen movie where he was trying to infiltrate a biker gang, and they noted that his originals were way too clean. So they took turns releasing bodily functions onto them to make him good and filthy.

[Steamforger]

As far as naming conventions are concerned:
There is, down south and in some of the more "Death Metal" countries of Europe, an MC called Sons of Silence. If memory serves, it's a 1%, Aryan MC that had a hand in growing the meth industry.

Seems to be a nasty outfit from what little I've actually seen of them and read. I always felt that Sons of Anarchy might have been, at least a little bit, inspired from this MC.

[sam]

I'm watching it. Yeah, if if wasn't for Sagal and Perlman, I probably wouldn't be watching it.

The fictional town of Charming is supposedly located in the foothills East of the City of Lodi. It looks like Charming is based on the the City of Ione, except without the prison.