truTV Saddles Up for a Fourth Season Of Hit Series "Full Throttle Saloon"
After scoring its biggest season ever, truTV's Full Throttle Saloon is revving up its engines and heading back to Sturgis, S.D., for a fourth season of the hit series. Set to return this winter with 12 all-new episodes, Full Throttle Saloon looks at the behind-the-scenes havoc at the "World's Largest Biker Bar," Michael Ballard's enormous, 30-acre indoor/outdoor watering hole during one of the biggest biker rallies in the world.
Each year, "The Throttle" has nine days to generate enough cash to cover its 300 employees, 100 of which are voluptuous go-go dancing bartenders. The expansive venue features large and small performance stages, a burn-out pit, a tattoo parlor, a wrestling ring, restaurants, dozens of stores, hundreds of cabins for rent and parking for the thousands of bikers who come to town for the annual motorcycle fest. "This is the ultimate destination for people who love badass motorcycles, kick-ass rock and roll, beautiful women and a cold belly washer," says Ballard's partner, Jesse James Dupree.
Last season, Ballard and his crew turned up the heat to create the biggest season yet of Full Throttle Saloon. With the economy down and everyone else in Sturgis cutting back, Ballard decided to take a gamble by actually raising the level of events at "The Throttle." With a cadre of new and even hotter female bartenders, new managers and new events, including one night featuring six different bands, he thought he had it made. But nothing's ever easy when it comes to running a place like "the Throttle." This year, Ballard is determined to go bigger than ever as the show will answer two big questions: Is Angie pregnant? And after watching Jesse get shot out of a cannon and jump off the top of a 100-foot bridge the past two years, will Michael be able to stop him from doing yet another stunt?
truTV's Full Throttle Saloon, which premiered in November 2009, scored 2.1 million viewers and 1.2 million adults 18-49 in season three, making the season its best yet. The show consistently ranked among the Top 5 ad-supported cable programs in its Wednesday timeslot in both adult and male demos, climbing to #1 in the timeslot among adults 18-49 for its third-season finale.
Full Throttle Saloon is executive-produced by Arthur Smith, Kent Weed and Frank Sinton of A. Smith & Co. Productions; Jesse James Dupree of Mighty Loud Entertainment; and Arnold Rifkin of Cheyenne Enterprises. The project emerged from a newly formed partnership between Dupree and Rifkin. Dupree is the chainsaw-wielding leader of the Southern rock group Jackyl who built Mighty Loud into a multimedia empire and counts among his credits MTV's hit series Two-A-Days: Hoover High. After selling Triad Artists to the William Morris Agency in 1992, Rifkin became President of WMA in 1995. In 2000, Rifkin left WMA and formed Cheyenne Enterprises with Bruce Willis. He has since produced such feature films as Tears of the Sun, The Whole Ten Yards, 16 Blocks, Live Free or Die Hard, Hostage, Deception, Bandits and the mixed martial arts film Blood & Bone.
About A. Smith & Co. Productions
A. Smith & Co. Productions creates some of the most innovative, highly rated and high quality programming for the domestic and international television marketplace. Founded in 2000 by Arthur Smith and Kent Weed, the company has produced more than 2000 hours of award-winning programming. The company's current production slate includes such hits as Hell's Kitchen, Kitchen Nightmares, American Ninja Warrior, The Choice, Surprise with Jenny McCarthy, Conspiracy Theory with Jesse Ventura, Full Throttle Saloon, Unsung, UFC Countdown and many others. A. Smith & Co.'s library of programming includes hit shows like The Swan, Skating with Celebrities, Paradise Hotel, Trading Spaces and Pros vs. Joes. A. Smith & Co. has developed and produced the #1 show in America an astonishing 20 times and a Top 10 show over 75 times. The company has produced programs with budgets totaling approximately a billion dollars, for more than 40 broadcast and cable networks. In 2011, A. Smith & Co. joined forces with Tinopolis Group and in doing so became the leading North American television production entity within the Tinopolis organization with the ability to tap into that company's resources on a worldwide basis.
About truTV
truTV, one of cable's fastest growing brands, offers a wildly entertaining look at the real world through outrageous characters, unpredictable situations and irreverent storytelling. Currently seen in 92 million U.S. households, truTV features such popular original series as Hardcore Pawn, Impractical Jokers, Lizard Lick Towing, Storage Hunters, Full Throttle Saloon, Operation Repo, South Beach Tow, World's Dumbest... and Black Gold. In addition, truTV is a partner in airing the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship. During the daytime, the channel features expert trial coverage under the name In Session.
Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., a Time Warner company, creates and programs branded news; entertainment; animation and young adult; and sports media environments on television and other platforms for consumers around the world.
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