'Lizard Lick Towing' on truTV
by Marc D. Allan
10 p.m. Mondays
truTV
For someone who writes about TV, I don't watch much TV. Part of the reason is time – there's never enough – and part is I have plenty to watch already without adding a new series. Plus, I can tell by reading the description whether I'll be interested in a show.
For example, I open an envelope from truTV last week and inside was the premiere episode of a series called Lizard Lick Towing. Am I going to want to spend an hour a week watching guys repossess cars? Not a chance.
But ... I had an hour of veg time on Sunday, so I popped in the DVD and heck if I didn't end up happier than a short-legged pony in a high field of oats.
That's an expression used by Ron Shirley, who runs Wendell, N.C.-based Lizard Lick Towing with his wife, Amy, and brother-like best friend Bobby Brantley. They were part of another truTV series, All Worked Up (which I never watched), and now they're the stars of this spin-off. Reality show spin-offs. What a world.
All three of them understand what makes an entertaining reality show – conflict, personality, confession and resolution – and Monday's premiere has all that. At the beginning, Lizard Lick gets a call to repossess the car of the baddest tattoo artist in the area, a guy who's spent 10 years in prison and surrounds himself with mean mofos. Their visit to his parlor ends badly for all concerned.
Later, the Lizard Lick crew gets called on by a violent guy who's had his car towed and needs his "medicine," which he left inside. Another ugly incident ensues.
At least, that's the way things go initially in both instances. Ron, Amy and Bobby have a way of smoothing things over. They understand compromise, even when the people they're dealing with don't know the meaning of the word. (A good bet, I'd guess.) And they come across like good people in a sea of bad-asses and reprobates, which makes them enjoyable to watch.
By the end, everyone's happier than a shoofly in an outhouse, which is another of Ron's expressions.
Will I watch this again? Not regularly. But if it's on and I have some time, sure. It's more fun than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick. Sorry – I don't know any folksy expressions.
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