“Strange Days” debuts in Daytona Beach

If you live in Florida, joining a motorcycle club is as ordinary as joining a baseball team in Peoria, IL or a bowling league in Erie, PA. This is one of the things we do here for recreation, given the beautiful, mild, dry sunny weather, endless stretches of open roads, liberal biker laws, and more importantly, the seemingly out-of-place eclectic and adventuresome frontier-like culture. Florida is not just the place to retire. It is the place to let go, ride like the wind, and live your dreams, perhaps on the wheels of a Harley Davidson.

Each October and March, leather clad bikers from the far reaches of the world descend upon Florida to participate in two festivals: Octoberfest and Bike Week. Last year, actor/comedian Bob Saget joined the swarms of bikers in order to film the first episode of his new documentary series, Strange Days. The pilot will air tonight on A&E at 10 PM. (Channel 42 for those of you who subscribe to Brighthouse Cable in Central Florida.)

Rather than operate the vehicle himself, he hitches a ride in a sidecar with several members of the Iron Order Motorcycle Club, making a trip with them from Nashville, TN to Daytona Beach, FL.

I’ve read the reviews of Strange Days and a few of the writers seem to be rather confused, believing that the biker lifestyle must be outrageously humorous, perhaps composed of bug and gravel-eating backwoods rednecks. They are disappointed that Saget has instead discovered that bikers are a rather intellectual and ordinary bunch of civilized human beings, composed of both men and women, who care strongly for each other’s welfare, and are usually quite gainfully employed (it takes a lot of money to own and operate a Harley).

I watched a wonderful interview of Bob Saget on Conan last Wednesday on Nov. 24. Saget explained that the Strange Days series is actually an exploration of different lifestyles, some of which seemed strange on the surface, but turned out to be rather fun. His goal is to educate, rather than confirm stereotypes. The humor in this case is in the irony.

I hope we can all take the time to watch Strange Days premiere tonight. In the second episode, airing at 10:30 PM, Saget will go on the hunt for Sasquatch in Washington State. Now, that is strange!