User Reviews

I really enjoyed this show and what I find unbelievable are some of the things other reviewers say. Sure, maybe not everything that happened was a hundred percent "real" in the sense that some things the characters did may have taken longer than shown, or maybe they got more help than was shown or whatever. But as a show to watch both for edification and entertainment I think it hit the mark.

Out of the four stories, I found that Dan Burton on Beaver Island was the least remote and difficult, and closest to living a "typical" American life. In fact during the second to last episode, when each character faced an extreme survival challenge, the one Dan Burton faced was actually someone else having a problem, an elderly neighbor got stranded out on the lake and Dan took it upon himself to find the guy, because the people there help each other out.

Bear Claw struck me as someone who may have taken a few too many hits of LSD in his youth, and, totally sincere. I don't know how anyone could think any of his story was made up. Sure, maybe the visits with his friends were arranged for the TV show, but so what? The visits seemed perfectly natural and possible, and I'm sure, do occur without TV cameras.

I found both the Leveretts and Joe Ray to also be perfectly believable. I'd imagine they all got paid quite well to have people and cameras come into their spaces, but again, so what? Until Joe explained that he was "caretaking" someone's property I was questioning what gave him the right to be in those caves, but then he gave the explanation which made sense and is believable.

As a person who also loves both nature and solitude, I take my hat off to the people shown in The Boonies. They have my utmost respect and thanks.

Bear claw is the only character worth watching...the rest are just fake and lazy...

This show had great promise. I'm guessing someone was watching The History Channel's "Alone" and thought "What if we made this a TV show?", which is not a bad idea, considering that the US is large enough of a country to allow for many people to experience "off the grid" living, giving an ample source of potential subjects for the show. We end up with a tv show that follows 4 groups of people who live outside society, a cave dweller, a couple living in the trees, a "mountain man", and a guy who lives on Lake Michigan. After the 4 groups are all introduced, you quickly learn this show was (obviously) going to be called "Off the Grid" or "Beyond the Grid" or something like that, because narrator Michael Madsen (yup) goes out of his way to say "off the grid" like a guy playing an "off the grid" drinking game. At this point you're also introduced to an annoying habit of narrator Mike saying "grid" as it relates to the subject, i.e. if the topic is the cave guy, Mike says "under the grid", if it's the tree dwellers he says "above the grid", which is factually just...dumb. Even if the tree dwellers moved to the ground, they're still off the grid, so stop saying "above the grid", okay Mike? Around the introductions to the 4 groups, the show also unveils this ultra-cheesy way of transitioning from group to group. It's just...lame. That's the only word I can think of to describe it. The show will be focusing on one group, and then suddenly, you hear a weird "spark" sound, they briefly "flash" a translucent image of the person they're moving their focus onto, and then they flash the person again, before making the transition. It's hokey, unnecessary, and turns an interesting documentary style show into...Ghost Hunters? I'm not really sure, it's just dumb, and they do it every. single. time. they make a focus transition from group to group, it's incredibly distracting. I'm not sure if it's done because NatGeo attempts to appeal to a younger crowd for educational purposes, but I really hope no kids are watching this show! "Why" gets me to my next reason for really disliking this mess: the cave guy is not some off the grid risk taker, he's an emotionally damaged man who obviously needs psychiatric help. Two years ago his wife died, two years ago he decided to go live in holes surrounded by his dead wife's possessions. Hmm, maybe he needs to talk to someone? At times the premise of the show itself is a bit tested. For example, if you do not reside in NYC or LA, you'd know Beaver Island is not in any way isolated, the guy is a 10 minute boat ride from a city. Just look at any map and you'll see what I mean. Again, good premise for a show, poorly executed. The fact that it only lasted one season tells me the production costs probably far exceeded the audience. Good riddance. And please get that guy some help, okay?

I personally like the show a lot. I have read a ton of reveriews and majority negative discussing the fakeness and staged-ness of the show. I literally came here to say that in episode 5 when Dan the boat guy can't find his dog...he's talking about..."he will come when he is ready"...and the dog is LITERALLY in the background! He is walking around In the reeds. Then they act like he spent a whole night with the dog missing AFTER that. Sorry but that was hilarious and does speak to how staged the show is. I just really needed to tell someone lol I do enjoy the show and really adore Bear Claw. He has such a sweet spirit. :)

Definitely some beautiful scenery. I wanted to like the show, I've always been drawn to places of solitude and would like to think I share some kinship with those wishing for it.

That said, instead of focusing on how these people live day to day or from season to season in isolation, we instead are presented with "dramatic moments" that ring resoundingly false.

For example, a man living in isolation on Beaver Island. His motorboat's prop breaks and maroons him on a small speck of land surrounded by Lake Michigan. What they don't tell you is that Beaver Island is a settled island and vacation destination with 2 airports, golf course, etc. It's kind of obvious that living in isolation with a gasoline powered boat requires civilization nearby.

They have a spelunker who lives like a caveman. Except they don't show how he lives, only him trying to navigate a series of caverns that are flooding. Now, the basic code of ethics for Spelunking is to leave no trace and do no harm. For example, you should wear gloves because the oils from your hands can permanently damage cave formations. You also don't go caving when flooding can occur. It is INCREDIBLY dangerous. Basically, by showing this guy, they are spreading bad ideas regarding a unique resource, something I thought NatGeo would have done better.

They have a couple living in a treehouse, but they make the guy sounds totally paranoid and dangerous. Perhaps he was, but it was more disquieting and disturbing than interesting.

Each case presented in the first episode had some element of drama, where survival apparently hinges on the actions of these solitary heroes. Yet, these little dramatic moments come across as incredibly forced and contrived. The show focused on these things and totally ignored the kinds of things I wanted to know about. Nothing really education was presented, if anything, you're presented bad info..

I am not interested in watching this show again, which is a shame, because I liked the initial premise.

The cave guy spends all of episode 1 saving his belongings from flood, then spends the first five minutes of episode 2 denouncing materialism. OK. But....you just spent the entire last episode saving all your belongings you have scattered around the caves.

The boat guy, who says right off that there's a community on the island and "if they don't like you, they won't let you stay" (THAT'S telling, isn't it? It's not a big mental jump to figure out who they will and won't like) gets stranded on an uninhabited island.....and he has to radio (wait for it) OTHER PEOPLE for help.

Tree house guy is a joke. I disagree with the person who called his wife "obese" but yeah, it's pretty obvious these people aren't living a survivalist diet. He tells us they've done as many as 2 weeks without touching the ground. OK? But.....why? Does "off the grid" now also include a 24/7 game of "the floor is lava"? Then he gets mad that someone else has a tree house half a mile from his. I want to know.....is this his land? Whose land is it? State land? Hate to tell you this but it's not trespassing unless it's YOUR LAND.

And the drama. Oh, the drama. We have dramatic fade ins from scene, dramatic music, gravelly voiced narrator. And people contradicting themselves at every turn (I don't need a house....oh crap all my belongings are wet because I keep them in a cave.....also belongings are bad....and I live an independent lifestyle I don't need people.....just as soon as I'm finished radioing for help that is)

Barftastic.

Living on an island with an airport, stores and 600 permanent residence is not off grid. McDonough's Market is closer to him than going to Garden Island. There's a reason his neighbor is tge last logger on the island. Most of the land has been bought for vacation homes. As for the big storm, 35 mph winds? Really? Move to South Dakota and that's called any given day. As they showed 1 fallen tree from the storm, a chainsaw cut is clearly seen and is obviously the means for the tree coming down. So bad at bow fishing, they stopped showing it.

Voted most likely to hook his fishing buddy before an actual fish.

The tree dwellers are thieves. Going through and taking items from the other plot of land that someone had started building on is stealing. And he gets all upset that someone else might be living in his woods. Get over yourself dude.

They look like they were voted most likely to have eaten the missing hikers.

Arkansas mole man. He hides stuff deep in multiple caves that flood. How does that make sense? When getting the wood to build his bridge, he pulls boards off a dilapidated shed. The boards had nice shiny nails and were nailed into new furring strips. Completely staged.

This guy was voted most likely to know where the bodies are buried.

Mountain man. I like this guy and he truly lives in a sparsely populated area. One big thing is how he was tethering his horses by the leg or foot. That's bad animal husbandry and likely what caused the injury to his pack horse.

Voted most likely to be boycotted by PETA.

First thing you have to ask yourself if this was real is this, how did these people know they were planning a show about off grid "living"? If these people were really living like this, they would have no clue to the shows planning stages!!! "Bear Claw" has "breathing problems" but "living" out in the wild? "Doc" is a city slicker who was "in the navy" 16 years? He & his wife been have been living like this a few years at filming, then where did the oil come from & other things you get from the store?

Common sense tells you it's all fake!! This reminds me of Survivorman or that other "survival" show that was on where the guy was saying he slept on these outings but was caught at a hotel when he was supposed to be in the wild!!

Most of the other reviews summed this up. This is the least realistic show of it's type. For example, the guy in the cave finds an "old" perfectly preserved pistol, just laying on the floor of a cave, but you can see water streaming down the walls in the background. Obviously staged. Don't take my word for it though, just think about it.