TV’s version of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” is usually molded more into “if it’s worked a bunch of times, figure out a way to make more of it work.” Spinoffs are everywhere, and the latest one to get announced will serve as an offshoot of the popular Discovery reality show Deadliest Catch. Fans can expect to find a new batch of crews and a new location for the upcoming Deadliest Catch: Dungeon Cove. I kind of wish my nickname was Dungeon Cove, and I may work to make that a thing in 2016.
Deadliest Catch: Dungeon Cove will move the action from Alaska to Oregon, where viewers can vicariously visit the fishing town of Newport, which sits on the edge of the Graveyard of the Pacific. As you can imagine, this plot of water that stretches to British Columbia is known for being a dangerous place to spend any amount of time, and the show will follow the crews of the vessels that make their way through the treacherous waves and violent currents in order to bring in the goods and make some bank. It’s a spot where thousands of vessels have reportedly gone missing or been destroyed, so the “deadliest” in the title certainly fits.
But wait! There’s more! Deadliest Catch: Dungeon Cove won’t just take place out at sea, but also back in Newport, a town that’s home to generations of fisherman and those of related professions. The show will offer a better look into life on the mainland and the families of those who risk their lives to keep the community thriving, as well as some focus on residents whose family members were lost over the years. It doesn’t sound like the cheeriest way to spend part of an evening, but this will no doubt appeal to fans of the flagship series, and probably those from the region itself. (If this is successful, maybe they can make a Newport-based spinoff of this show about the deadly dangers of making wine, because mmm.)
Since its debut in 2005, Deadliest Catch has been a huge hit for Discovery, where it’s aired for 11 seasons, with the latest having wrapped up in August. I can’t imagine the budget for it is all that extreme, so there’s no big mystery on why they would want to extend the brand out. It’s more of a mystery why it took ten years for them to do it.
Discovery, which sadly didn’t give Mythbusters a spinoff before it was announced that show was ending, is planning on bringing Deadliest Catch: Dungeon Cove to audiences in the fall of 2016. Deadliest Catch proper will presumably see Season 12 showing up in March or April of next year.
