''Cold Water Cowboys'' is a Canadian documentary/

reality series Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 19 ...

developed by Tyson Hepburn and

John Driftmier John Driftmier (November 24, 1982 – February 24, 2013) was a Canadian documentary director. His works included ''Dangerous Flights'', ''Licence to Drill'', and ''Ice Pilots NWT''. Early life Driftmier was born in 1982 in Calgary, Alberta to pa ...

. It aired on Discovery Channel Canada for 34 episodes and 4 seasons from 2014 to 2017. The show was filmed in

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...

and tells the story of six local

captains Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

and their crews. Outside Canada the show is known as ''Cold Water Gold'' (

National Geographic UK ''National Geographic'' (formerly the ''National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as NAT GEO) is a popular American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. Known for its photojournalism, it is one of the most widely ...

and international) and '' Cold Water Captains'' ( The Weather Channel). It is available globally on

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

under its original title.

Synopsis

Set in several locations of

Newfoundland and Labrador Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...

, ''Cold Water Cowboys'' shows the life of fishermen after the Collapse of the Atlantic northwest cod fishery in 1992. Those who remained in business had to switch to

crab Crabs are decapod crustaceans of the infraorder Brachyura, which typically have a very short projecting "tail" (abdomen) ( el, βραχύς , translit=brachys = short, / = tail), usually hidden entirely under the thorax. They live in all the ...

shrimp Shrimp are crustaceans (a form of shellfish) with elongated bodies and a primarily swimming mode of locomotion – most commonly Caridea and Dendrobranchiata of the decapod order, although some crustaceans outside of this order are refer ...

turbot The turbot (''Scophthalmus maximus'') is a relatively large species of flatfish in the family Scophthalmidae. It is a demersal fish native to marine or brackish waters of the Northeast Atlantic, Baltic Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. It is an im ...

herring Herring are forage fish, mostly belonging to the family of Clupeidae. Herring often move in large schools around fishing banks and near the coast, found particularly in shallow, temperate waters of the North Pacific and North Atlantic Oceans, i ...

mackerel Mackerel is a common name applied to a number of different species of pelagic fish, mostly from the family Scombridae. They are found in both temperate and tropical seas, mostly living along the coast or offshore in the oceanic environment. ...

and other species. The show has a local flavour and some episodes have

subtitles Subtitles and captions are lines of dialogue or other text displayed at the bottom of the screen in films, television programs, video games or other visual media. They can be transcriptions of the screenplay, translations of it, or informati ...

to explain Newfoundland English. Richard Gillett, one of the show's captains, said the show is not only about fishing but also about "the communities and the families and the relationships between the fishermen and the communities."

History

The ''Cold Water Cowboys'' concept was developed by a Canadian producer Tyson Hepburn and director

who were friends since film school. In fall 2012, the two went to Twillingate to film a demo reel and discovered fifth-generation fisherman Richard Gillett. For 10 days when Driftmier worked at St. John's, Hepburn filmed Gillett's team and their work. Hepburn and Driftmier produced a

demo reel A showreel (also known as a demo reel, sizzle reel, or work reel) is a short video showcasing a person's previous work used by many kinds of people involved in filmmaking and other media, including actors, animators, lighting designers, editors, a ...

in late 2012 and presented it to

David Paperny David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

who agreed to produce the show with Cal Shumachter and Audrey Mueler at Paperny Entertainment. The concept received support from Discovery's vice president Ken MacDonald and director of commissioning, Edwina Follows. A month before the shooting, Driftmier died in a plane crash in

Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

filming ''

Dangerous Flights ''Dangerous Flights'' is a documentary-style reality television show that airs on the Discovery Channel. The show follows the pilots of C.B. Aviation as they ferry light aircraft to their new owners across distances the aircraft weren't design ...

'', so Hepburn and the team continued without him. The first season was shot in

between April and September 2013 with the filming crew spending up to 3 week aboard. ''Cold Water Cowboys'' premiered at midnight February 25, 2014, gathering one of the highest first-week ratings in Discovery Canada's history. Season 2 premiered on March 10, 2015, adding newcomers Andre and Michelle Jesso, and Morris Anstey. For the launch Discovery developed an HTML5 fishing simulator video game ''Atlantic Empire'' with characters from the show. Season 3 premiered on March 8, 2016 with a new captain Rick Crane joining the show. Returning captains were Andre and Michelle Jesso, Conway Caines, Paul Tiller, Richard Gillett and Morris Antsey. Season 4 premiered on April 18, 2017 and featured Paul Tiller, Morris Anstey and Rick Crane. New captains on the show were father-son team of Calvin Kerrivan and Kurtis and Lee Pond.

Controversies

''Midnight Shadow'' Captain Richard Gillet was arrested in October 2015 and convicted in September 2016 for the assault of a dock worker while filming season 2 of the show. He received a conditional discharge and a year of probation in court. Gillet received national attention in April 2017 when he staged a hunger strike in front of the federal

Department of Fisheries and Oceans Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO; french: Pêches et Océans Canada, MPO), is a department of the Government of Canada that is responsible for developing and implementing policies and programs in support of Canada's economic, ecological and sc ...

building in St. John's to protest against the actions of the DFO in its governance of fisheries. As the vice-president of the Federation of Independent Sea Harvesters of Newfoundland and Labrador, he demanded a meeting with the fisheries minister over quota cuts to shrimp and crab. The hunger strike lasted 11 days and ended with Gillet being taken to the hospital. In September 2017, Gillett was fined $14,000 for the 3 violations of the Fisheries Act in 2016. Another star of the show, '' Nicole Daniel''s captain Toby Young faced charges in August 2015 for failing to comply with the condition of a fishing license. In August 2016 ''Sebastian Sails captain Morris Anstey faced charges for an assault committed the same month. In February 2017, he was convicted and sentenced to 12-months probation period.

Awards and nominations

In 2015 the show was nominated for the

3rd Canadian Screen Awards The 3rd Canadian Screen Awards were held on March 1, 2015, to honour achievements in Canadian film, television, and digital media production in 2014.Ice Pilots ''Ice Pilots NWT'' (known in the UK and the US as ''Ice Pilots''''Ice Pilots''
at Quest TV) is ...

'' show.

Cast

Episodes

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 3588984
“Cold Water Cowboys” page at Discovery Canada
Discovery Channel (Canada) original programming Television shows filmed in Newfoundland and Labrador Fishing television series Fishing in Canada 2014 Canadian television series debuts 2017 Canadian television series endings 2010s Canadian reality television series English-language television shows Television series by Entertainment One