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Pam BrownThe West Australian HARDLINERS, THURSDAY, 5.35PM, FOX8 Deadliest Catch has a lot to answer for: since the huge success of that show about the dangers of crab fishing in the Bering

Sea, there has been a string of similar productions. This one is Australian and the cameras follow the fortunes of three boats catching tuna off the east coast. There are no ice storms to

add drama but there is a pretty amazing twister that bears down on the Santo Rocco, forcing captain Tony "Chug" Lagana to cut off part of his 55km long line. The lines are hooked

and baited at high speed and played out behind the boats. Lagana's has 1800 hooks and takes seven hours to haul in. Amazingly, he comes up without a fish on his first run. The other

boats have more luck and the South Seas heads back to its home port of Nelson Bay with a $40,000 catch. There has been some wild weather off the east coast this year, which will lift the

drama quota in the next seven episodes, but the success of all reality shows depends on the people in them and so far only two of the three captains show "star" potential. GET THE

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