Coal to get the reality television treatment

Thom Beers, the man behind the popular reality television series Deadliest Catch and Ice Road Truckers, is now producing a series about coal mining in Appalachia.

Coal premieres on Spike TV this spring with the first show airing at the end of this month. You can already see episodes on Spike TV’s website.

Coming from the man behind the Emmy Award winning Deadliest Catch, Ice Road Truckers and Ax Men, the new original series Coal explores the vital American industry through the eyes of Mike Crowder and Tom Roberts, part-owners of Cobalt Mine in Westchester, West Virginia as well as the area’s hard-working miners, families and community members. Crowder and Roberts face pressure every minute of every day to not only keep the mine up and running, but also to keep their workers safe in a highly dangerous environment where one wrong move could prove deadly. The duo leads more than 40 machine operators, foremen, electricians and coal truck drivers in one of the most dangerous workplaces on the planet, underneath the mountains of Appalachia.

Michael Allan McCrae wrote this story. You can contact him at [email protected] or @michaelmccrae.