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Ax Men Soars to New Heights in Season 2
by Larson Hill
 Although reality comes in different forms on mainstream television, be it survival, love, health, fashion, singing , dancing, or racing, cable networks have reshaped the definition of "reality TV" by focusing on the dangers and drama of some of the most life-on-the-line industries of our society. Although there's more than enough entertainment value in the various talent competitions and fantasy weddings we've seen in recent years, HISTORY ventured into the thick forests of the Pacific Northwest to mine reality to create Ax Men, which is now in its second season. Much like the crab fishing format of The Deadliest Catch, in its first season Ax Men followed four Oregon logging companies - J.M. Browning, Stump-Branch, Pihl, and Gustafson - as they braved nature's fury and the daily dangers of harvesting logs within a highly competitive timber industry. Although Season 1 of Ax Men spent a lot of time in the Oregon woods, the series also spent time with the loggers and their families to expose how the logging industry affects not only the guys on the mountain tops but also their wives and children.
In Season 2 of Ax Men, which premiered March 2 on HISTORY, two new logging companies from Washington state joined the logging fray - S&S Aqua and Rygaard - along with Pihl and J.M. Browning. Beginning a new season of Ax Men, with the episode "Ax Men Cometh," the new Ax wielding guys at Rygaard took to the rivers to search for logs while the bucking topplers of Pihl and Browning set up shop in the woods. When the second episode of the Ax Men season, "Initiation Day," rolled around, the high logging intensity and tension was fast and furious as expensive machinery broke down, new "greenhorns" were put to the test, big money logs became high drama with Jimmy and James, and one of the most respected loggers throws in his Ax and leaves the Pihl company.
As the second season of Ax Men continues to roll through HISTORY, the third episode, "By Air, Land & Sea," airing March 16 at 10pm, picks up immediately following the fall-out from "Initiation Day." Although much of the series centers of the extreme dangers, skills, and machinery necessary to beat the competition, the dramatic heartbeat of Ax Men can be found in the lives of the men themselves. After losing the most important member of the Pihl company, Dustin does his best to lure his father back into the woods to save the season while Rygaard's new team member must confront his fears if he wants to be a logger. In other areas of the Ax Men forest, the competition gets a lot more intense when a helicopter company enters the picture while Jimmy and James fight to keep their big money log from slipping through their fingers.
Although the loggers of Ax Men don't sing, dance, walk the fashion runways with the latest log-wear, or hand out roses to strangers, they do keep reality TV "real."
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