Many are eagerly awaiting tonight's premiere of SpikeTV's new documentary-style reality show "Coal," but at least one reviewer says it lacks insight about issues in the industry. Aaron Barnhart of the Kansas City Star measures the documentary against Barbara Kopple's "classic 1976 documentary Harlan County U.S.A. and concludes that while "Kopple made a brave film about mine workers fighting for a better life and future for their families, 'Coal' is a formulaic, context-free hour about hazardous duty that shuttles the viewer brilliantly from one adrenaline rush to the next."
The show's creator, Thom Beers, told Barnhart in an interview last fall that he had looked for "a family business" that was "barely making a living" for the show. Beers found Cobalt Coal's Tom Roberts, who was hired in 2010 to restart the Westchester, W.Va., mine, the setting for the show. Roberts says he has "blown a couple of fortunes in coal," but that conclusion is misleading, Barnhart writes. Roberts' money is not "on the line here. In fact, he’s on salary and got a signing bonus of 500,000 shares of stock, according to the website of Cobalt, which is owned by a giant Canadian energy concern," Barnhart reports.
"Men’s lives and livelihoods are on the line, which makes 'Coal' a perfect fit for Spike, the cable channel well-known for its ultimate fighting bouts," Barnhart writes. "But 'Coal' is so focused on the daily operations at the Westchester mine that it ignores the larger drama facing the area around it, devastated by 150 years of coal mining." McDowell County's population of 30,000 is a far cry from the 100,000 during the height of the coal boom in the 1950s, it has the highest poverty level in West Virginia, and the state took over its school system in 2001. Barnhart concludes, "If 'Coal' won’t give you the lay of the land, do yourself a favor and download or rent Harlan County U.S.A." (Read more)
The show's creator, Thom Beers, told Barnhart in an interview last fall that he had looked for "a family business" that was "barely making a living" for the show. Beers found Cobalt Coal's Tom Roberts, who was hired in 2010 to restart the Westchester, W.Va., mine, the setting for the show. Roberts says he has "blown a couple of fortunes in coal," but that conclusion is misleading, Barnhart writes. Roberts' money is not "on the line here. In fact, he’s on salary and got a signing bonus of 500,000 shares of stock, according to the website of Cobalt, which is owned by a giant Canadian energy concern," Barnhart reports.
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