After A 10-Year Run And 233 Episodes, ‘American Chopper’ Ends With A Live Show 11 December

Discovery channel is closing a long-run family based series "American Chopper," with a live show Chopper Live: The Revenge aired 11 December, confirms The Hollywood Reporter.

"After 10 years and 233 episodes of incredible, riveting reality television, American Chopper will be ending its run," Eileen O'Neill, group president, Discovery and TLC Networks told EW. "This series was one of the very first family-based reality programs on television. Special thanks to Pilgrim Studios for over a decade of great producing. The Teutuls have given us really innovative bike builds and real drama since 2002. We wish both Orange County Choppers and Paul Junior Designs the best."

This series which ran for a decade saw many ups and downs. The show was temporarily shut down due to some rivalry among Paul Teutul, Sr.(Senior) and son Paul Teutul, Jr.(Junior). The show was mainly based in Orange County Choppers which is Teutul family's motorcycle-building shop in Newburgh, New York.

Later in 2008, Teutul Sr. fired Teutul Jr. in 2008, resulting in a legal war which and the show was temporarily canceled then. Later in 2010, a new show "American Chopper: Senior Vs. Junior," was started in TLC. With many successful episodes of this, Teutul Sr. and Jr. put behind all the rivalry and started the show again with its original name.

Teutul Jr.'s younger brother, however, stayed out of the family show for the sake of his family. "My relationship with my father won't get any better unless it's sort of off-the radar, off the television show, and not really highlighted," he said.

According to a report in CNN, Craig Piligian, executive producer said to EW.com that he enjoyed the journey and seen different phases of life through the show. "It's had a great run. We had a lot of ups and downs. There's been so much that's happened to this family over the last 10 years. We've seen them grow to a huge motorcycle shop. We've seen them fight bitterly. We've seen them sue each other. And recently we've seen them come together to open up a new business. I think the show has come full circle," he said.

Piligian recalls how they started again even after having it ended, so he still have hopes that the show will come back sooner or later. "American Chopper was canceled before and we came back even stronger," Piligian says. "It's been a resilient, powerful show. Right now they're telling me it's canceled. I can only comment: 'Who knows what the future holds.'"