By Scott_Leighton – Wednesday January 11, 2012 – 6:54 pm
Austin-startup uShip hit a publicity gold mine when they landed in the middle of A&E’s newest reality show Shipping Wars.
The program revolves around truckers bidding on oddly shaped items to transport across country using uShip.com. Between the show revolving around people who use the site for work and commercials in heavy rotation, this could bring uShip serious amounts of attention.
But only if people actually watch the show. The San Francisco Chronicle gave the program a glowing review, saying “If television has to become overpopulated with reality shows, at least make them all as watchable as ‘Shipping Wars.'”
The Hollywood Reporter gave a more measured, but still positive, review, writing “As for the nuts and bolts of the show itself, though the fast paced editing scheme manages to keep the point-and-click bidding from feeling as droll as Internet auctions are in real life, the relentlessly quick hits of dialog and action make the proceedings feel like a teaser rather than the actual program. [The show’s producers]would do well to slow down the pace a bit, as we don’t really get to know any of our featured haulers in the premiere.”
And finally, the A.V. Club gave the show a lukewarm review, saying “the bidding scene in tonight’s première lack[s] the crackling energy of its Storage Wars counterparts, based largely on the participant’s lack of proximity… Since the bidding for shipments is run through Austin, Texas’ Uship.com©—which is in the odd position of receiving prominent product placement that could actually scare away potential business—and the participants/stars located in far-flung corners of the United States, we’re treated instead to several cut-together instances of people tapping wildly on their keyboards while muttering curses at people they’ve likely never met [in real life].”
Shipping Wars debuted last night at 9 p.m. We’ll have to wait until the TV numbers are released to see if anyone actually watched the show, but considering it’s nestled alongside the popular Storage Wars, it’s safe to assume someone did.
Read the article on AustinPost.org.
