History Series / DeadliestCatch

** Sig is campaigning to be on ''Series/DancingWithTheStars'', which explains his fancy footwork in New Orleans; he also provides the voice of Crabby, which is a cartoon version of the ''Northwestern'' in Pixar's ''WesternAnimation/{{Cars}} 2''. He also revealed on ''Revelations'' that he was offered a movie role but turned it down. In 2015 he was a contestant in season 14 of ''Series/CelebrityApprentice''.

* HulaAndLuaus:
** The 2011 series is in Hawaii (hulas yes, luau no, at least not that I remember). Additionally, the closing music of the preceding episode sounded like a Hawaiian-language choir -- perfect background music for attacking a "cathedral of ice".
** The 2020 spinoff ''Deadliest Catch: Bloodline'' is set in the waters off Hawaii. During a refitting of ''Cornelia Marie'', Josh Harris and Casey [=McManus=] investigated Hawaiian fishing charts left behind by Josh's late father Phil, and went to Hawaii and teamed with veteran local fisherman Jeff Silva to focus on yellowfin tuna.
** TheWildWest(ish): 2012's edition takes place in Colorado, where the captains went horseback riding, river rafting, and a bit of bull riding (John Hillstrand broke five ribs).

** On top of all that, ''everyone'' seems to have a stew of ongoing personal problems -[[DisappearedDad absentee fathers]], strings of failed marriages, baby momma conflicts, child custody battles, alcoholism, drug addictions, trouble with the law - all of which often serves as drama fodder.

* DIYDentistry: While onboard the ''Cornelia Marie'', Jake Harris gets a toothache from a partially repaired tooth. As they are obviously several miles from the nearest dentist, Jake grabs a pair of pliers and manually extracts it himself. Phil jokes that pulling your own tooth out is a rite of passage.

* TropeCoTropeOfTheWeek: The Coors Light Crab Count.

The future of the series is now in serious doubt, with Alaska having closed down all red king, blue king, and opilio seasons statewide for 2022–23.

** Website/TheOtherWiki notes that people had a problem with Sig making a deal to endorse crab sold by Walmart, which was acquired from the Barents Sea fishery. Sig severed the relationship when it was discovered the manufacturer was selling crab caught by poachers.

** Wiki/TheOtherWiki notes that people had a problem with Sig making a deal to endorse crab sold by Walmart, which was acquired from the Barents Sea fishery. Sig severed the relationship when it was discovered the manufacturer was selling crab caught by poachers.

* RealityTV / DocuSoap: Wiki/TheOtherWiki has this classified as a "Fishing Show". Sig doesn't seem to like the term "reality TV show", probably due to the fact that most "reality" shows aren't very "real" (say what you will about editing, you can't fake the weather).

*** Sig launched perhaps the most complex plan, deciding to continue pursuing red king crabs half a world away in the waters off his parents' homeland of Norway. He teamed up with a local boat owner and they jointly decided to convert an old Norwegian coast guard ship into a fishing vessel capable of pursuing crabs in the open ocean.[[note]]Most Norwegian crabbers fish in the country's numerous fjords or in the immediate offshore waters.[[/note]] Sig was an adviser to the new crew he and the owner assembled (and thus effectively co-captain).
*** Wild Bill also went to Norway and teamed with a local boat owner to pursue red kings. It should be noted that Norway has no limits whatsoever on catching of red king crab, which is an invasive species in those waters.

** '''Captain''': Sig Hansen (owner)

*** Sig launched perhaps the most complex plan, deciding to continue pursuing red king crabs half a world away in the waters off his parents' homeland of Norway. This also involved assembling a new crew and converting an old Norwegian coast guard ship into a fishing vessel.
*** Wild Bill also went to Norway, teaming up with a local boat owner to pursue red kings. It should be noted that Norway has no limits whatsoever on catching of red king crab, which is an invasive species in those waters.

** '''Captain''': "Wild Bill" Wichrowski

* ''Stålbas''[[note]]A Norwegian vessel featured in Season 18.[[/note]]

** Phil had lived in [=BFHs=] but liked his two trailers the best, which sounds like a bit of a comedown until you find out it has a big HDTV, gold-plated kitchen fixtures, marble counter tops, and ''maid service''.

** ''Dungeon Cove'' followed the exploits of Dungeness crab fisherman in Yaquina Bay, Oregon[[note]]which is the last derby fishery in the United States and even more dangerous than the Alaska crab fishery[[/note]] for a single season in 2016.

*** Apparently, Sig wasn't the only captain in the series who got king crab fishing rights in Norwegian waters, though given his Norwegian origin, it was easier for him. Since red king crabs are an invasive species in that part of the world, Norway ''wants'' as many of that species caught as possible.

*** Sig launched perhaps the most complex plan, deciding to continue pursuing red king crabs half a world away in the waters off his parents' homeland of Norway.[[note]]Given his ability to launch this plan, he most likely held a Norwegian passport thanks to his family heritage. Incidentally, red kings are an invasive species in Norwegian waters.[[/note]] This also involved assembling a new crew and converting an old Norwegian coast guard ship into a fishing vessel.

* RantInducingSlight: Occurs about five times per season per boat, especially if the season's greenhorns are particularly poor.

* InSeriesNickname: "Sucker Punch Hillstrand!", Keith's off-the-cuff insult to John Hillstrand. See RantInducingSlight, below -- it's not clear whether Keith was reacting to the comment about "killing his brother", being shoved into a pile of scrap, or both.

* LighterAndSofter: Captain Keith Coburn of the ''Wizard'' must have taken an anger management class or something between Season 7 and Season 8, because he didn't have ''nearly'' as many blow-ups during Season 8 (if any). Probably the biggest example of this shift was in an episode set during the 2012 opilio season, when during an argument about miscommunication (sparked by Lenny not speaking loudly enough on deck, causing a buoy to pop as the ''Wizard'' was trying to leave iced-up St. Paul harbor), Lenny told Keith "fuck off" (resulting in an OhCrap look from Lynn Guitard). Keith's response? Go out on deck ... and tell Lenny to project towards the loud hailer to prevent similar miscommunications in the future. Keith likely would not have reacted [[RantInducingSlight nearly as calmly]] to a comment like that just a season ago.

** Captain Keith of the ''Wizard'' was ''very'' upset when his brother didn't wake him up to see a pod(?) of walrus, the reason being that every time he's seen walrus while fishing it was a good season.
** Keith appeared to be trying to get one of the ''Time Bandit'' crew to join his boat (he says he was just joking), which infuriated the ''Bandit's'' captain to the point where he ''shoved'' Keith into a pile of scrap metal in front of the other captains.

** A commercial for ''After The Catch'' had Keith, wearing a pink flower lei, state that he is in fact misunderstood and very sensitive.
---> '''Mike Rowe''': *SpitTake* ''Really?''
** Guess who was featured in over half the clips in the "best blowups" poll.

** A Downer ''Opening'' for the opilio season during season 17, when Wild Bill is notified of Nick's death by phone.
** And a different type of Downer Opening for season 18, with the fleet learning that the state shut down the red king crab fishery for the season, forcing the captains to scramble for a different way to earn their living.

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: Each boat features at least five crew, not including the captain, and the show features at least four boats each season, plus the boats that only show up occasionally. Do the math.

[[caption-width-right:350:''[[Music/BonJovi I'm wanted... (Wanted...)]] [[RealSongThemeTune dead or alive...]]'']]

*** Sig launched perhaps the most complex plan, deciding to continue pursuing red king crabs half a world away in the waters off his parents' homeland of Norway.[[note]]Given his ability to launch this plan, he most likely held a Norwegian passport thanks to his family heritage.[[/note]] This also involved assembling a new crew and converting an old Norwegian coast guard ship into a fishing vessel.

* HulaAndLuaus:
** The 2011 series is in Hawaii (hulas yes, luau no, at least not that I remember). Additionally, the closing music of the preceding episode sounded like a Hawaiian-language choir -- perfect background music for attacking a "cathedral of ice".
** The 2020 spinoff ''Deadliest Catch: Bloodline'' is set in the waters off Hawaii. During a refitting of ''Cornelia Marie'', Josh Harris and Casey [=McManus=] investigated Hawaiian fishing charts left behind by Josh's late father Phil, and went to Hawaii and teamed with veteran local fisherman Jeff Silva to focus on yellowfin tuna.
** TheWildWest(ish): 2012's edition takes place in Colorado, where the captains went horseback riding, river rafting, and a bit of bull riding (John Hillstrand broke five ribs).

** Get complacent and turn your back to the ocean, get smacked by a wave. Keith was particularly unnerved going shellfish picking in Hawaii since it's nothing ''but'' turning your back to the ocean. Sure enough, a wave hit him so hard he almost fell face-first into a rock. Fortunately, his facemask protected him--presumably, ''that's why they wear one''.

* FrontierDoctor: The captains need to know general first aid as part of certification, but their duties on the boat exceed this. Captains on the show have lanced infections, done basic stitches on injuries, dispensed antibiotics out of the ship's pharmacy (when they have them...). Especially since the nearest hospital is in Anchorage and the clinic in Dutch Harbor is, for all intents and purposes, a glorified urgent care.

** Season 12 premier: Johnathan's reaction as he realizes he accidentally set his pots 40 minutes early (risking a quarter-million dollar fine and him and his crew being banned for fishing forever) because a Coast Guard helicopter was right on top of him.

** Wiki/TheOtherWiki notes that people had a problem with Sig making a deal to endorse crab sold by Wal-Mart, which was acquired from the Barents Sea fishery. Sig severed the relationship when it was discovered the manufacturer was selling crab caught by poachers.

*** ''Saga'' shifted to pursuing black cod, and ''Wizard'' to bairdi snow crab.

One prominent boat is the ''Cornelia Marie'', formerly captained by Phil Harris. Among its crew were his sons, Jake and Josh, and current ''Wizard'' deckhand Freddy Maugatai. Phil [[DownerEnding suffered a stroke and died]] during the sixth season (2010 opilio season). His sons tried to work toward buying their dad's boat in the seventh season, but friction with new captains thwarted that. They went to different boats in the eighth season--Josh to the ''Time Bandit'', and Jake to the ''Northwestern'' (where he spent a few weeks on a crew exchange in the sixth season, 2009 King Crab). Jake also has serious recurring drug issues; in the ninth season, at least during the King Crab season, he left the crab grounds to "deal with his demons". Josh has since bought the ''Cornelia'' outright and the boat returned to the Opie grounds for the 2014 season, with longtime Harris family friend Casey [=McManus=] recruited as captain until Josh gets some experience. For the 2021–22 season, when Alaska shut down the red king crab fishery, the ''Cornelia'' secured the bid to fish for golden king crabs, and Josh's long-estranged older brother Shane joined the crew.

''Cape Caution'' was no longer featured after Season 12 when Wichrowski moved to ''Summer Bay'', which took the former's place as a featured boat. ''Brenna A'' was no longer featured after Season 15. The fleet was rocked at the start of Season 17 when it received word that ''Summer Bay'' deck boss Nick [=McGlashan=] died of a drug overdose in Tennessee. Season 18 sees the fleet struggling with Alaska's shutdown of the Bristol Bay red king crab fishery for the 2021–22 season, the first such closure in 25 years.

** A Downer ''Opening'' for season 17, when Wild Bill is notified of Nick's death by phone.

*** Sig launched perhaps the most complex plan, deciding to continue pursuing red king crabs half a world away in the waters off his parents' homeland of Norway.[[note]]Presumably, his family heritage allowed him to do this; even if he hadn't already held a Norwegian passport, the process would likely have been relatively easy.[[/note]] This also involved assembling a new crew and converting an old Coast Guard ship into a fishing vessel.

** The ''Seabrooke'' returned after a four year absence, as Captain Scott Campbell Jr. was off dealing with health issues.