TLC’s ‘American Chopper’ Runs Out of Gas

Family squabbles, diminished pop culture buzz lead the network to stop production on the motorcycle – themed docudrama

"American Chopper" is going to hog heaven.

TLC has quietly decided to stop making new episodes of the custom motorcycle-themed reality series, confirming over the weekend that this Thursday’s episode will be its last "after six successful seasons."

"The Teutuls will always be a part of the Discovery family and we congratulate them on a tremendously successful series run," the network said in a statement.

TLC posted a promo on its website Saturday revealing the finale. Click here to watch it.

The news comes as the bike shop at the center of the series, Orange County Choppers, has become rocked by financial and family squabbles over the past year. Last year, one of the "Chopper" family — Paul Teutul, Jr. — decided to leave the family business, setting off on his own.

That led some fans to complain the series was essentially over.

"Dear TLC, won’t you PLEASE cancel American Chopper?" one fan wrote last summer on the official TLC message board for the series. "Seriously. We’ve loved the show since it first aired, but now it’s a train wreck. It’s deader than the XFL. And Paul Sr. killed it."

According to reports late last year, things took another turn for the worse when Teutul, Sr., decided to sue his son over a stock options deal. The video below contains unedited, NSFW footage of the Teutuls going at it (yes, a chair gets thrown!)

"Chopper" began on TLC sister network Discovery back in 2003. Original episodes shifted to TLC in 2008.

 

 

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