''Hillbilly Handfishin''' is an American

reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring ordinary people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 1990s ...

show about noodling, the sport of

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment (Freshwater ecosystem, freshwater or Marine ecosystem, marine), but may also be caught from Fish stocking, stocked Body of water, ...

for

catfish Catfish (or catfishes; order (biology), order Siluriformes or Nematognathi) are a diverse group of ray-finned fish. Catfish are common name, named for their prominent barbel (anatomy), barbels, which resemble a cat's whiskers, though not ...

using only bare hands and feet. The series aired on

Animal Planet Animal Planet (stylized in all lowercase since 2018) is an American multinational pay television channel focusing on the animal kingdom owned by the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks unit of Warner Bros. Discovery. First established on June 1 ...

from August 7, 2011 to August 5, 2013. The show starred

Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...

fishermen A fisherman or fisher is someone who captures fish and other animals from a body of water, or gathers shellfish. Worldwide, there are about 38 million commercial and subsistence fishers and fish farmers. Fishermen may be professional or recr ...

Skipper Bivins and Trent Jackson, self-proclaimed "

hillbillies ''Hillbilly'' is a term historically used for White people who dwell in rural, mountainous areas in the United States, primarily in the Appalachian region and Ozarks. As people migrated out of the region during the Great Depression, the term sp ...

" who take tourists from cities on noodling expeditions in muddy lakes, rivers and streams. The Bivins family runs Big Fish Adventures, a noodling-exhibition company based in

Temple, Oklahoma Temple is a town in Cotton County, Oklahoma, United States. It is south and east of Walters, the county seat. The population was 862 at the 2020 census, a decline of 14.0 percent from 1,002 at the 2010 census. The town is named for the celebr ...

. Although officially set to premiere in August 2011, a

pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its Aircraft flight control system, directional flight controls. Some other aircrew, aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are al ...

for the series first premiered on Animal Planet on September 24, 2010. At the time, it averaged 630,000 viewers, which was 44 percent better than the timeslot average at the time. Subsequent encores of the pilot on December 9 and December 22 drew viewerships of 653,000 and 722,000, respectively. Before the series premiered, ''

Field & Stream ''Field & Stream'' (''F&S'' for short) is an American magazine focusing on sport hunting, recreational fishing and other outdoor activities. It was a print publication between 1895 and 2015, and became an online-only publication in 2020. After ...

'' magazine writer Chad Love criticized the premise and concept of the show, expressing particular concern that it would portray

and its residents in a

stereotypical In social psychology, a stereotype is a generalization, generalized belief about a particular category of people. It is an expectation that people might have about every person of a particular group. The type of expectation can vary; it can ...

and negative light. Love wrote, "Here's one from the 'Do We Really Need A Reality Show For This?' files." Episode 2 featured three pairs of participants, including Tony and Nick from Chicago, Ken and his daughter Natalie, and retirees Valerie and John. Episode 3 featured Hiliary and Kerry, a newlywed couple, Georgia friend Terisa and Tenia, and brothers-in-law Brad and Jim.

References

External links

*{{IMDb title, 1738350 2010s American reality television series 2011 American television series debuts 2013 American television series endings Animal Planet original programming American English-language television shows Fishing television series Television series about hillbillies