Tag Archives: dirty jobs with mike rowe

Mar 05

An open letter to Mike Rowe

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Mike, we all love you. “Dirty Jobs” is one of the best things on TV, a rare combination of fun to watch and inspiring in its respectful treatment of honest work.

And no one begrudged you the Ford endorsement deal – it’s a fine American company, and your commercials for it were in perfect synch with your public image.

But, Mike, you’re starting to turn into Peyton Manning. First there was the blue jean endorsement, and now these Viva paper towel ads – the ads in which, bizarrely, you do voice-over narration referring to yourself, over and over again, in the third person, by both names. It’s kind of weird, frankly.

I know these must be profitable deals, but there’s such a thing as being penny-wise and pound-foolish. I don’t want to get to the point where I look at the TV and think, “Oh, no, there’s that shill Mike Rowe again.”

Just a word to the wise.

Oct 20

I knew there was a reason I liked Mike Rowe

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On the episode of “Dirty Jobs with Mike Rowe” airing right now, Mike Rowe and his crew are assisting a crew washing windows on a skyscraper.

The thing that amazed me is that they showed, in its entirety, the brief but sincere prayer that the window-washing crew prayed together before heading out over the side of the building. (Mike even added an “Amen” at the end.)

I understand why, in many secular situations, it would be easy to leave something like that on the editing room floor. After all, you’re not making a religious program, and there’s a chance that part of your viewing audience would be offended. There are certain types of non-Christian prayers that, if shown in this same context, would probably enrage some of my fellow Christians. Some people, both Christian and non-Christian, confuse any portrayal of religion at all with prosyletizing.

But the producers of “Dirty Jobs” (Rowe himself is the show’s creator and now one of its executive producers) decided to show the prayer, perhaps as a reminder to the viewers of the danger inherent in the job being portrayed. Good for them. I know nothing about Mike Rowe’s personal beliefs, and they’re none of my business. But I applaud him and his co-workers for including a relevant piece of information in this particular segment.