"Madhouse" Ends With Fans Divided

The original reality series Madhouse on the History Channel has finished season one. Whether or not there is a season two depends on who you ask.

The 2009 summer racing series for the NASCAR Modifieds at Bowman Gray stadium in Winston Salem, NC was the subject of this TV project. What emerged from hundreds of hours of footage divided the fans and sparked a lot of conversation.

The TV formula was pretty simple. First, pick some drivers to profile. Then, mix staged reality footage recorded away from the track with the actual racing footage from the summer. The series also had a narrator to tie it all together in the form of a local radio DJ who read a script created by the producers.

After starting the season airing at 10PM on Sunday nights, the series was moved to 11PM where it remained to the end. It was a tip-off that things were perhaps not going so well in Madhouse land. The reason was pretty simple, the show was the exact same thing every week.

Click here for the official History Channel website about the series. Junior Miller, pictured above, hated everyone and was the villain. The Myers brothers were the good guys and the other drivers simply made up the supporting cast. Wives, diners, dogs and even rental trailers provided staged situations to create content. TV guys call that "scripted reality."

Click here to visit the Facebook fan site for Madhouse. There are a lot of fans of the show who enjoyed what they felt was a realistic portrayal of short track racing in the south.

Reviewing the Facebook comments over the past couple of months has revealed an interesting mix. Some fans follow the series like a story, watching the characters and the relationships between them on and off the track. Other viewers relate to it as a sports event, with the off-track content serving to build the on-track drama.

One running theme during the series was violence after the races. From the first episode to the last, the potential for a fight in the pits was always an important element. Here is a preview of the final episode from the History Channel Facebook moderator:

Starting to get geeked up for this weeks episode. The pot finally boils over! The Showstopper has taken all he can take and its time to open up a can of whoop ass! Who do you think Chris Fleming is going to put that hay-maker on? Think it lands? Who would you like to see that hammer dropped on?

Needless to say, the episode ended with a good pit brawl as previewed. The lingering issue is whether or not it happened because the TV cameras were there. There was a lot of jawing and nervously glancing at the camera crew right before the festivities. In fact, it was clever video editing that allowed Mr. Fleming to appear to suddenly charge his rival like an angry water buffalo.

The result was the stereotypical redneck fight with lots of wrestling and torn t-shirts. The brawl even featured a miscellaneous female who appeared from nowhere to get a swift kick in to the ribs into one of the participants.

It certainly was curious that the big fight featured two of the lesser TV characters. This left the door open for continuing tension between the Myers and Junior Miller for 2010. All of that brings us to the big question.

There has been official silence from The History Channel on a season two. On the network's own website chat, fans have offered that driver Burt Myers has said the series is not returning. Other postings included reports of Bowman Gray PR staff saying no TV this summer and the original TV production company saying they will not be back for year two. At this point, things do not look promising.

Madhouse was an interesting TV project that featured real racing. The production company and the network chose to create a reality formula that echoed lots of the other series now on the revamped History Channel. Ax Men, Pawn Stars and American Pickers continue to feature people who have unique interests, just like the drivers on Madhouse.

In real life, the racing begins again on April 24 at the stadium. Regardless of the TV issue, fans will pack Bowman Gray once again for some weekend fun at the races.

As we close out this topic, perhaps you could share with us your feelings about how you feel the sport and the personalities involved were portrayed in Madhouse. Make sure to tell us how you watched the series, if you stayed up to see it or recorded it to meet your own viewing schedule. If there are other elements you felt strongly about, feel free to raise those issues.

To add your opinion, just click on the comments button below. This is a family-friendly website, please keep that in mind when posting. Thank you for taking the time to stop by The Daly Planet.

Your Turn: NASCAR On FOX From Phoenix

Note: At this time, we are leaving this post up as our primary discussion. There are some great comments and opinions below. Please add yours to the mix.

It was a very long night for both the TV crew and the fans. The new length of the Sprint Cup Series race from PIR was a bit tough to take. It certainly was a change.

Chris Myers unveiled a new version of the Hollywood Hotel. It featured sponsors and not much more. Gone was Slice of Pizzi and a featured driver interview. In was a long bracket selection show and several features on Subway serving breakfast.

The DirecTV Head-To-Head bracket competition was modeled after the NCAA and featured the NASCAR on FOX announcers awkwardly creating seeds for the drivers. NASCAR has absolutely nothing to do with head-to-head match-ups and the entire thing was poorly explained.

Darrell Waltrip and Jeff Hammond provided the commentary in the pre-race. Waltrip chose Dale Earnhardt Jr. to win and Hammond was guarded in his comments about a favorite.

Mike Joy, Waltrip and Larry McReynolds provided the commentary during the live race. Steve Byrnes, Matt Yocum, Krista Voda and Dick Berggren were the pit reporters.

The weather did not play a factor, other than the bugs in the desert. Pictures and audio were great. An early graphics error was caught and changed. There were no technical problems.

This is your opportunity after every Sprint Cup Series race to tell us how you liked the TV telecast. This is not a fan site. We are asking about the NASCAR on FOX presentation of the race from PIR.

We are a family-friendly site, so we would ask you to keep that in mind when posting. Thank you as always for taking the time to stop by The Daly Planet.

Live Blogging Sprint Cup Series from PIR (7PM - FOX)

The Major League Baseball season is upon us. While NASCAR is scheduled to start at 7PM, there are regional MLB games on FOX scheduled from 3 to 6PM. We will have to keep an eye on those games today.

Chris Myers is up first from the Hollywood Hotel. As we have previously mentioned, Myers is struggling to manage Darrell Waltrip this season. Jeff Hammond has been trying to help, but Waltrip continues to be all over the map.

Myers also seems to be embarrassed by the "Slice of Pizzi" segment he is forced to run as FOX promotes the "Cubed" online series. This has been a flop since the beginning and continues to take time away from information on the pre-race stories.

The green flag flies at 7:44PM, so this will be a thirty-minute version of the pre-race show. That should put a premium on the amount of junk that FOX can add to the NASCAR news and interviews. Lately, the junk factor has been high.

FOX has the best NASCAR pit reporters in the business, yet continues to leave them out in the cold. During both the pre-race and the race, Waltrip is the star of the show. Unfortunately, this does not allow the amount of information on stories of the day/race to be relayed to viewers. Today, there are lots of stories to report.

Last we saw Mike Joy, he looked and sounded tired. Who wouldn't be with the continual chattering of Waltrip and Larry McReynolds going on all race long? This season has been the absolute worst in terms of Waltrip and McReynolds talking over top of Joy while he is doing his job.

FOX needs to have a focused and exciting telecast as they gear-up to run out the network's string of Sprint Cup Series races. While Daytona was a disaster, PIR has the potential to be fantastic. From the Denny Hamlin injury to the continued feuding on the track, it should be an interesting night.

The challenge for the Director is to stay ahead of the action. We like to refer to it as "showing headlights and not taillights." Cars racing toward the camera and constantly coming forward make for a very different telecast that one camera following the same cars around the entire track. On Friday night, ESPN learned that the hard way.

This post will serve to host your comments on the NASCAR on FOX coverage of the Sprint Cup Series race from PIR. To add your TV-related comment, just click on the comments button below. This is a family-friendly website, please keep that in mind when posting. Thanks as always for taking the time to stop by!