MotorTrend Productions has shut down

[Greg]

'Roadkill' Is Finished as MotorTrend Productions Reportedly Shuts Down

The show just finished filming its 13th season, and one of the hosts confirmed it's not coming back for a 14th.

www.thedrive.com

Pretty crazy, but it seems like the writing has been on the wall for awhile. I hope Freiburger can retain the rights to Roadkill, that's been a long time favorite. DF also made an official statement about the situation, sharing his personal YT channel.

David Freiburger

Gearhead adventures, car rescues, builds, tech, horsepower, history, Americana! Freiburger is the TV host of Roadkill, Roadkill Garage, Engine Masters, and the $3K Hooptie Challenge. He's the former Editor In Chief of the magazines HOT ROD, HOT ROD Deluxe, Car Craft, Rod & Custom, and 4-Wheel...

m.youtube.com

 

[Hickey]

I’m surprised they lasted as long as they did.

 

[Greg]

MotorTrend Production Studio is being closed in response to Discovery/Warner Brothers (who own MT) being 41 Billion dollars in debt.

 

[spaggyroe]

Just cancelled my Discovery + subscription. Without M.T., I don't have much use for it.

 

[Kevin B.]

Dammit, I JUST discovered that MT stuff was on the wife's Disney sub. This is lame.

 

[Thursty]

I’ve watched Roadkill and related shows since the beginning. I was a huge fan until the many changes began regarding viewing platforms and paid subscription stuff hampered my viewing ability. I continued watching whatever “pirated” episodes ended up on YouTube. They had a damn good run and was always surprised it kept going. I’m glad all the hosts have solid gigs going (at least the ones I’m aware of) and this likely won’t affect them much. Really excited to see what this frees them up to do. I hope the same is true for the production staff. 41 billion in debt is CRAZY!

 

[Greg]

 

[Thursty]

If feel like this post would equally be at home in the Mental Health thread but here we are.
I’m glad to see David put a video out so quickly and set things straight as much as he could. It’s cool to hear about the effect Roadkill had on so many people, myself included, so much so that it brought some back from the brink of suicide. Amazing! I know it helped get me through some pretty bleak times. Great to hear the continued support from Marty and the Might Car Mods family. As I mentioned I found Roadkill very early on and it was a staple source of entertainment in my home. Two of my daughter’s first phrases were “Stubby Bob!” and “Smokey Burnouts!”. David’s philosophy of “Don’t get it right, just get it running.” was life altering to me. I had a ‘64 Ranchero back in the day that I could get on the road until I “got it right”. That project became a monkey on my back and that car went away, but that philosophy is the reason I have my ‘65 C20 - Green Beans. We will continue to abide by that logic with my wife’s Fairlane. It sucks that Roadkill is likely gone, but I’m so glad it came when it did.