Get ready for the craziest, most outrageous highly addictive automotive show on television. That’s if and when the pilot for The Autoholics hits the air in the near future.
Crash Element Entertainment, in Los Angeles, the producers of the new show, is touting The Autoholics as a combination of the “Best Damn Sports Show” meets “Martha Stewart,” and is preparing to pitch it to the major TV networks, Creator, Co-Producer, and Co-Host Diggity Dave told Autobody News.
“We think this show would fit very nicely on Saturday right after the automotive racing. We think it’s worthy to be on one of the major networks where it can hit its prime audience every week. We feel this would be a perfect time of the weekend for automotive fans to watch The Autoholics.”
Each week, The Autoholics will feature a panel consisting of some top names in the automotive and entertainment field, including Diggity Dave (credits include Pimp My Ride, Battleground Earth); Rich Evans (Chop Cut Rebuild, Monster Garage); Comic Billy Gardell (King of Queens, My Name is Earl); Bo Butner (NHRA world champion driver), and “Flames” (Host of Ford Motors Mustang Alley/Gilpin Auto Sports).
This assemblage of automotive expertise will hold court every week on their new and amazing set at Huntington Beach Bodyworks, Rich Evans’ shop, that’s been transformed into a rock ‘n roll romper room.
Co-producer Joe Burk has co-created a show designed to entertain, inform, and instruct its viewers.
“Passion for anything automotive can become addictive and this show will provide an array of subjects—from new cars on the market, to celebrity car junkies, aftermarket gadgets, to bargain hunting for cars and car parts and accessories—and all the way to focusing on the best dealerships in the country. We want to offer information that car enthusiasts can use and bring value to their car building projects,” Burk said.
Crash Element Entertainment believes this show is both different and groundbreaking.
“As a production company, we try to approach things from a fresh perspective and coming from Pimp My Ride, I’ve always been looking out there for something that hasn’t been done yet. Joe and I are major car guys and we’ve always been trying to find a way to explore the idea of a show that hasn’t been there before. Plus, we both agree that the moment is right for a show like this. The car industry is growing despite the recession and there will always be an interest in cars, in the aftermarket and in tricking out cars. So we planted a seed and now it’s grown into this show.”
The format of the show opens with a spirited roundtable discussion called “Rattle Off.”
“We kick around topical news bits and talk about how we feel about things like the Toyota recall, for example,” Diggity Dave said. “Everyone has their own opinion on the issues of the day, and we’ll be tackling the automotive news in a big way that’s also fun.”
After the opening back-and-forth, the show will bring out its VIP guest star to discuss his or her automotive career or history as a car aficionado.
Other segments featured in The Autoholics will include Billy Knows Bling, in which the show’s guest star interacts with Billy Gardell to explore the coolest car gadgets out on the market and another segment, Dumpster Driving with Diggity Dave, Diggity digs deeply into the subject of high-quality car parts found cheaply.
Spokesperson/model Daniela Pane will also host a segment called House of Pane, where she’ll present a unique female perspective on the automotive world.
“We know that a lot of women out there are into cars, so we want to help them and educate them whenever we can. Imagine being a soccer mom and learning how to do your own basic oil change? We’ll teach them on this show. The ladies represent a significant part of our market and we recognize their role in the industry,” Diggity Dave observed.
The show will entertain, but teaching its viewers how to do vehicle customizations and revealing the tricks of the trade is a main theme of the show.
“We’ll also build a different car on every episode. It will be the ultimate do-it-yourself project each and every week. We’ll be teaching our viewers on how to do every aspect of body work and upholstery. This show will cover it all,” Diggity said.
Crash Element Entertainment was thrilled to get Rich Evans involved in The Autoholics.
“Rich Evans is the hottest thing out there right now. He’s like a new Chip Foose and we’re really happy to be working with Rich. Doing the show at his shop provides a setting that’s ideal for what we want and working with Rich is a no-brainer,” said Burk.
Evans is understandably enthused about the concept of the show.
“Autoholics will be a success, I believe, because it has a great storyline and offers a ton of useful information that the audience can implement right away,” said Evans.
“We built a 1964 Lincoln Convertible while filming the pilot over eight days. A lot of people told me that they couldn’t do it, because it’s a very involved and extremely difficult build, but we did it and the end result is amazing. My goal with this show is to use the small screen to help people with their projects and that’s what we’ve achieved with this show,” Evans said.
The process producing the pilot has been a three-month journey, but both Burk and Diggity Dave are very happy with the nearly-finished product.
“We’re just coming to the finish line right now. This is the biggest thing Crash Element Entertainment has ever done as a company. But we wanted to create a show that’s filled with useful information, so that people can watch The Autoholics and learn something that they didn’t know before. Implementing those two worlds—educational and entertaining at the same time—that’s a little tricky. We strived to make a show containing aspects that are balanced and will appeal to a wide range demographic.”
A big complement to the show will be a robust Autoholics web site.
“Viewers will be flocking to the site, because all of the behind-the-scenes videos will be there, along with the procedures for building these cars. It will be complementary aspect of the show, so we’re going to be using all of the technology available to us, with a Web site that will attract car fans from all over the world,” Burk said.
Stay tuned for The Autoholics. It should be appearing very soon on a station near you, according to some of the most engaging names in the automotive industry. If Autoholics need a different kind of program to get into, and a network distributor steps up, this show might be exactly what the public is revved up for.
Ed Attanasio