American Chopper is a reality television series that airs on Discovery Channel, produced by
Pilgrim Films & Television.
The series centers on Paul Teutul, Sr., and his son Paul Teutul, Jr., who manufacture
custom chopper-style motorcycles.
Orange County Choppers is in Newburgh, New York.
The contrasting work and creative styles of the father and son team and their resulting
verbal arguments were the series' hallmark until 2008 when a culminating explosive argument
led to Paul Jr.'s termination and departure to start a competing chopper company.
Originally aired on Discovery Channel beginning in March 2003.
In December 2007, the series moved to Discovery's sister channel TLC, starting off with an 18-hour
marathon.
Its first TLC season premiered in January 2008.
Season 6 began in April 2009 but the series was canceled by TLC in February 2010.
In July 2010, TLC announced that the Teutuls would return in a new series, American Chopper:
Senior vs. Junior.
Senior vs. Junior premiered on TLC but was soon moved to Discovery halfway through the
first season.
Discovery Channel announced that the show would end with "The Chopper Live: The Revenge"
show on December 11, 2012 after 10 seasons.
Featured staff
The OCC fabricators and mechanics such as Paul Teutul, Jr., Rick Petko, Nick Hansford,
Christian Welter, and former employees Vincent DiMartino, and Cody Connelly, create dozens
of custom motorbikes.
Michael Teutul, usually referred to as "Mikey", serves as the shop's custodian and webmaster,
and provides comic relief to the show.
He has been seen doing metal work occasionally, as one of his early jobs was working at Orange
County Ironworks.
Also featured occasionally is Danny Teutul, the second oldest child, who succeeded Paul
Sr. as the owner of Orange County Ironworks.
Danny visits to do contracted work for the OCC facilities.
The show also documents their personal and promotional activities ranging from magazine
photo shoots to family holidays and custom bike shows.
Paul Jr. leaves Orange County Choppers Following regular disagreements with his father,
Paul Jr. was fired from the shop in late 2008.
In January 2009, TLC served a notice of default due to Paul Jr.'s absence.
Paul Jr. then returned to OCC briefly as a contractor, but left finally in April 2009
in order to start his own design firm, Paul Jr.
Designs.
Paul Sr. then exercised a contractual option to purchase Paul Jr.'s 20% share in OCC, and
subsequently filed a lawsuit to force the buyout.
The case remained ongoing while a valuation of OCC was performed.
On December 14, 2010, Paul Jr. won his appeal of a lower court ruling forcing him to sell
his 20% ownership of OCC to Paul Sr. Paul Jr.'s appeal asked that the agreement to sell
be ruled invalid, so Jr. will continue to own 20% of OCC until a fair selling price
is agreed to.
Jr. has also filed a counter-suit laying out massive fraud on Sr.'s part in dealing with
Jr.'s interests at OCC.
The suit seeks $100,000,000 in damages along with court-ordered controls over the company's
finances to prevent further fraud.
After a one year non-compete clause ended, Paul Jr. opened a motorcycle design company
in April 2010.
TLC then commissioned a 7th season titled American Chopper: Senior vs. Junior which
features both OCC and Paul Jr.
Designs.
Legal issues OCC is the defendant in a legal action filed
by artist Justin Barnes, who alleges that his original designs were copied on merchandise
without his permission and appropriate compensation.
In July 2009, Cody Connelly sued OCC and Paul Teutul Sr., seeking damages for misappropriation
of likeness, breach of contract and fraud.
He claimed the show used his likeness in posters, coloring books and other merchandise after
he left it in 2007.
Connelly also claimed that he never received "the old school chopper" that he helped design,
though Paul Teutul Sr., gave it to him in one episode of the show.
Video games Due to its popularity during the first seasons,
American Chopper inspired two video game titles.
The first was American Chopper by Activision Value, released for the PlayStation 2, PC
and Xbox.
The second, American Chopper 2: Full Throttle by Creat Studios was released for the Nintendo
GameCube, PlayStation 2, and Xbox.
A video pinball arcade game made by Incredible Technologies, Inc. reached on-site play testing
but was never released.
Fantasy Bike Contest During 2005, Discovery Channel sponsored a
contest in which four winners received OCC motorcycles.
Custom bike features were specified by the winning fans, who sent in videos expressing
their reasons for wanting a bike.
The contest winners were: Jeff Clegg, Susan Morisset, Joseph McClendon, Bryan King.
Cancellation and Senior vs. Junior On February 6, 2010, TLC announced that American
Chopper's season finale scheduled for February 11 would also mark the end of the series,
stating, "The Teutuls will always be a part of the Discovery family and we congratulate
them on a tremendously successful series run."
On April 7, TLC announced the Teutuls would return for a new series.
The new series, American Chopper: Senior vs. Junior, chronicles the aftermath of Paul Jr.'s
departure from OCC and his construction of a new custom chopper company across the street
from younger brother Dan's Orange County Iron Works.
It premiered August 12, 2010 on TLC.
In December 2010, Senior vs. Junior was moved to the Discovery Channel, the network American
Choppers originally debuted on.
In Canada American Chopper started on January 8 on TLC and moved to Saturday nights at 10
p.m.
On February 7, 2011, Paul Teutul, Jr. announced that American Chopper: Senior vs. Junior had
been renewed for a second season and would return spring 2011.
On November 21, 2012, Eileen O'Neill, president of Discovery Network, announced the show had
been cancelled.
The final episode aired December 17, 2012.
Seasons DVD release
Parody American Body Shop, an improvisational comedy
shown on Comedy Central, is a parody of American Chopper.
References
External links Pilgrim Films American Chopper Website
American Chopper at DMOZ American Chopper at the Internet Movie Database