By Paul Gable
According to the latest information from inside Horry County Government, a reality show looking to film during a bike rally won’t become a reality in Horry County.
A production team from PSG Films, the group that films “Alaska State Troopers”, initially got approval to ride along with Horry County police during last week’s fall bike rally.
However, there was not enough time to sell sponsorships, so planning moved to the 2014 spring rally.
Then some Horry County officials not necessarily sympathetic to bike rallies heard about the plans. You know, ‘Take Back May’ and all that.
According to our information, HCPD police chief Saundra Rhodes, who initially approved the ride along, was called on the carpet and, by the end of the session, it was pretty well established that the planned show was now a ‘no go.’
Maybe it wasn’t just the fact that the show was going to be based on a bike rally.
Lately, the Grand Strand area has become reality show heaven, but not necessarily with open arms. “Myrtle Manor” was less than enthusiastically endorsed by the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce. (None of that $22 million is used to help promote the show).
Plans for a second season for “The Dirty South”, filmed in a house in Murrells Inlet, are currently held up in court.
We had a visit from “Honey Boo Boo”, and some contact with “Sixteen and Pregnant” and “Army Wives.”
But, we don’t want any more. The Dunes Club card room crowd doesn’t believe that all tourism attractions are the same – witness bike rallies and strip clubs. They must be very concerned that there really is a reason we’re known as the ‘Redneck Riviera’ to much of the rest of the country.
Maybe it would have been different if Sarah Palin shooting out of a helicopter was included in the script.
Speak Up…