American Chopper: Senior Vs. Junior Season Finale

Other than the great choppers built by both OCC and PJD, viewers are also keen on the latest development in the relationship between Senior and his siblings.

In the season finale which aired last May 21, Mikey finally decided to quit the show in the hope of mending his ties with his father.  Many were saddened by his decision especially the crew of PJD.  Viewers such as myself also felt the same way.  Mikey has been part of the show for 10 years and his decision meant losing the comic relief that he provides.  Oh no, no, no!  Jason's antics are not funny!  He tries to be funny but it only results in irritating scenes worthy of being edited out!  

In episode 9, Junior reaches out to his father in an off camera meeting to achieve what he hopes to be a "genuine" conversation with his father.  Unfortunately, the interview after the meeting showed two different versions of what went down.  Personally, I'm more inclined to believe Junior's version.  Senior has been the one dishing out verbal assaults at his sons since the start of the Senior vs. Junior spin off and his version of the off cam meeting again puts Junior in a bad light.

In order to break the impasse, Junior again offers another meeting---this time with cameras rolling---and offers the OCC shop as the venue.  You can feel the awkwardness of the situation as father and son meet at the OCC showroom and walks the distance to the conference room intermittently filled with small talk to dissipate the unbearable silence.  

It was three years since we last saw father and son in a man to man conversation (which as you may recall did not end well and eventually resulted to the break-up).  It almost got heated as both again butted heads about who's at fault. I would like to commend Senior for averting further aggravation and always steered the conversation to a more civil atmosphere which showed a hint that he truly wanted to make peace with his son. 

Although we did not see father and son hug and make up, Senior placed on the table a collaboration option that he thinks would move their relationship in a more personal level---a joint bike build for charity.  Junior's response is something to look forward to in the next season.

The Continuing Saga of Senior vs Junior

Many people think that after Paul Teutul Sr. and Paul Teutul Jr. settled the lawsuit that they were locked in for two years, father and son would let bygones be bygones and eventually kiss and make up---WRONG!  To this day, father and son remain estranged. 

Recent episodes of American Chopper:  Sr. vs Jr. now includes an aftershow interview with the Teutuls on both side of the fence, OCC and PJD, and every once in a while the touchy subject of reconciliation comes afore.  Apparently, Senior is more keen on reconciling with Mikey than Junior.  Why is that?

Well, I could think of a couple of reasons:

1. Mikey is obviously Senior's favorite (in terms of having fun with).
2. Mikey is the only Teutul who can actually hit Senior in the balls (literally) and get away with it.
3. Mikey makes Senior laugh (even during his many blowouts).

Senior admitted to the third one in last Monday's episode.  As for the other two, you can go back to the earlier episodes of the show and decide for yourself.

I have just finished reading Senior's business memoir "Ride of a Life Time:  Doing Business the Orange County Chopper Way" and in there you can surmise that Junior is his least favorite son. 

The primary premise of the book is HARD WORK.  Senior pictured himself as a workaholic, who, despite of any carousing the previous night, never missed a day of work.  As a father, Senior wanted to impart the same value to his sons.  He favored his second son Dan to whom he gave the reigns of his ironworks business as someone who is "willing to learn" and had the work ethics to succeed. 

Although he did cite Junior's innovative fabrication genius, he sees him as a know-it-all "who hasn't had to work for much in his life".  About this Senior says:

Not because he's lazy, but because he seems to have a natural ability to do almost anything he wants to do.  When Paulie played football, he was the best player on the team.  Whe ran trace, he was the fastest guy on the team.  When he was competitively weightlifting, he was always the best.  It all came naturally to him.

For Senior, Juniors natural abilities to excel in anything he does prevents him from committing to any endeavor.  Personally, I think Senior is so fixated in his philosophy of hard work that he does not see the natural talent of Junior.  I also believe Senior resents the fact that he is unable to teach Junior anything. 

Before Jason Pohl came to OCC, Junior was the designer.  He'd design bikes out of the fly.  No drawings.  We have all seen what kind of a custom bike designer Junior is in creations like the Fire Bike, Liberty Bike, Jet Bike, Gillette Bike, I Robot Bike, Comanche Bike, Army Bike and a lot more.  Every thing was done in his head.  Of course, to make his vision happen he had a team of excellent fabricators such as Vinnie and Rick to work with him.  Such is the world of CUSTOM bike that OCC was known for. 

Senior also questions Junior's commitment to deliver based on punctuality.  This is discounting the fact that OCC has not missed a deadline while Junior was there. 

Junior's problem with punctuality could have been addressed by counseling.  As a part owner of the company, Senior could have explained the effects of Junior's tardiness with the business.  First, owners should set an example to the workers.  Secondly, tardiness means loss of money.  With the desing all in his head, workers cannot work without Junior's presence.  If he reports for work 2 hours late, that would mean total hours late x hourly rate x number of workers on the project.  This is further compounded by the number of times overtime is needed to compensate for the tardiness.  Third, rules need to be enforced.  A logical consequence to Junior's tardiness should have been being charged with the non-productive hours of the employees affected and the overtime.  This way, there is no money loss to the company and Junior learns his lesson.  Unfortunately, Senior's counseling equivalent are blowouts that is reciprocated by resentment from Junior.  No wonder he screwed up his relationship with his children.  

I'm also under the impression that Senior doesn't have plans of reconciling with Junior.  I base this on his interviews in the show where he keeps on saying negative things about his eldest son.  How can Junior be inclined to opening the doors of reconciliation when you hear your old man lambasting you publicly?  If Senior keeps on stoking the fire of hate reconciliation is virtually impossible.

Senior vs Junior Season 2

Well, it's still American Chopper no question about that!  But now, it focuses on the rift between father and son who are now building bikes separately.  Senior remains the OCC stalwart and Junior is now the boss of his own custom bike company---Paul Junior Designs.

Custom bikes for all intent and purpose are original and designed based on the customer's wants.  OCC started out as custom bike builders but Senior had grander ideas with regard to the direction of the company and also diversified to production bikes.  PJD is still a fledgeling company but based on the builds that they have done, Junior's creativity as a designer is once again put in the spotlight.  There's no denying it---Junior is a master in terms of bike design and the addition of Vinnie is truly a welcome development. After all, they did have a good working relationship back in OCC.  This collaborative kinship is, I should say, the foundation of PJD as a company. 

However, an excellent designer that he is, Junior should also learn from what OCC did to hasten the creative process and hire a graphic designer (like what Jason Pohl is to OCC). 

It is quite difficult for others to follow what Junior has in mind if there is no graphic representation.  You can just see how Brendan just stands in awe as Junior articulates his vision for a bike.  I'd assume that Junior looks over what Brendan is doing every so often but that's a time consuming process and susceptible to error.  From a project management point of view an ever changing design is a sign of scope creep which is the primary cause of delay.  I agree with Junior that designing is a creative process but creativity needs to stop at one point especially with a defined deadline.

Villain or hero?  Based on the last few episodes it's the former.
Is the show really showing what Senior's really like? 

Junior finally out of OCC's shadow with a couple of bike
builds for PJD.

My favorite PJD build:  Jared Allen's charity bike.
If this was colored blue---it would have been
Captain America's Chopper!