I had seen some references to Apocalypse PA on Facebook, but had no clue what they were about. I come to find out it is a new TV pilot that aired on the History Channel featuring a family that lives in the Nazareth area according to an entertainment post in the Morning Call (read it here).
From the post I learned, the family lives on a fairly large property, and the star of the show is a father who lives with his wife, son and daughter and is described as a modern day Franklin. Dad, Frank Belcastro, enjoys inventing and tinkering and the premise of the show is his being able to live a self-sufficient lifestyle.
I didn’t see the episodes that aired recently, so I can only respond to what was written on the post. Apparently, Belcastro owns a construction company that works on television shows such as Trading Spaces, which gives him the means to have a large plot of land in the area and this isn’t mentioned in the show. The show only says they live ‘somewhere in PA” without mentioning they are 60 miles from New York City and Philadelphia. If this develops into a full-blown show, the authenticity is at risk because one doesn’t typically view a successful businessman as a survivalist or the suburb of major cities as the wilds.
At any rate, I will try to catch an episode or two because the inventions and tinkering do seem like a good bit of fun and as the post notes, should be more the point of emphasis than the preparation for the collapse of society into a Road Warrior world.
3 comments:
"Apparently, Belcastro owns a construction company that works on television shows such as Trading Spaces, which gives him the means to have a large plot of land in the area and this isn’t mentioned in the show."
This is frankly misleading and irresponsible journalism on the part of John Moser. Frank has done behind the scenes work for a number of television shows (which Moser probably would have also posted had he done any research) but last I checked Trading Spaces has been out of production for several years.
Frank is self-employed, but to say he "owns his own construction business" is misleading. He's a construction business of one.
Lastly, to suggest Frank's work with production companies gave him "the means to own a large plot of land" is so false it borders on libel. Frank has lived in the same house for decades, and works hard to keep the roof over his head.
Moser seems at best a lazy journalist (his initial interview was online for a week before he - or more likely, someone else- noticed he had failed to spell the family's name correctly) and at worst a liability for his employer. And his "review" is the work of someone who couldn't figure out how to separate a phone interview with a professional criticism of the show. Did he stop for one minute to think the town wasn't named within the show as a measure of preserving Frank's privacy? Nope.
Frank is good people. It's my hope that you would watch the actual program rather than judge it on the dodgy writing contained within the Morning Call. Journalists, even when writing puff pieces, are obligated to maintain a standard of responsibility.
I didn't think the article was negative toward Frank and sounds like you did.
I do think the title and description make it sound like it is a rural, separatist, waiting for the world to collapse around him, maybe not militia type person, but someone on the fringe, and the bigger point in the article was that he didn't take Frank to be that kind of person and thought it should focus more on his inventiveness and curiosity.
Again, I'll be watching as I'm interested in seeing it for myself.
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