To Pimp or Trick

I love the television show "Pimp My Ride." Seriously. I think Xzibit comes of as genuinely likeable and funny. But really, I love the absurdity of it. The people on the show are clearly very talented at what they do, and what they do is so completely useless that the juxtaposition is hilarious. There is absolutely no reason why they are able to ply their trade, yet they are clearly in such demand that they have been able to perfect it. I really hope this is the type of innovation, wealth, and freedom that Libertarians claim will be created when they champion free markets. They put televisions in cars where only people in other cars can see them, just to make other drivers jealous. If that isn't art, then I don't know what is.

So last night, I was delighted to see that CMT has produced their own show "Trick My Truck." In this show, a team remodels a truck along the lines of 'Pimp My Ride." And we are not talking about F150s, I mean big rigs. In the episode that I saw, the trucker's dream was to be able to take his wife along with him. Apparently September 11th has hurt the trucking industry leaving this man unable to retire when he planned to. The crew heard this story, and decided to "help a brother out." Interesting side note, based on the one episode I have seen, the "Trick My Truck" crew, which is filled with white rednecks, uses considerably more urban slang than the "Pimp My Ride" crew.

So the "Trick My Truck" crew gets their hands on the rig, but a television, a queen size bed, and a fireplace in the sleeper compartment, and everyone is happy. While I welcome another car modding show, I do have some problems with "Trick My Truck." First, the crew doesn't seem to be as talented as the people on "Pimp My Ride," and they didn't put as much stuff into a considerably larger container. It just made me wish I could see what Mad Mike could do with the interiors of a big rig.

My biggest problem with "Trick My Truck" is that one can vaguely justify the additions that the show has made. Sure you don't "need" a barbecue attached to your truck, or a flat screen television, but they guy essentially lives out of this thing, so it kinda makes sense. Sure the fireplace was completely unnecessary, but it can't compare to a standard truck bed filled with 3 flat screen TVs that can only be watched once the bed has been tilted forward by two custom air lifts.

I have only seen one episode of "Trick My Truck" so maybe they can reach the level of absurdity that I am searching for, but until then I am a pimp 'till I die.