So I usually spend my time making fun of these kinds of reality shows ("Alaska - The Lat Frontier" with the millionaire Kilchers who live closer to a full service grocery store than I do being a prime example). However, yesterday I stumbled upon the NatGeo series, "Port Protection Alaska", about the community of Port Protection. A fairly isolated community in Southeastern Alaska of around 100 people who spend a lot of time getting places via boats.
Obviously there are still embellishments, and from what I read, tourists wander into the place (if you have gift shops, you're not that isolated), but from the first few episodes I watched, they seem to at least try to be realistic. As in, they don't pull the whole, "If I don't shoot this bear, I'll starve this Winter" thing. They show residents buying frozen burritos at the local trading post, and also show them driving their vehicles (parked at a boat launch some distance from the village - you take your boat to your vehicle) to a town around 100 miles away to do regular grocery shopping and the like.
I find it (so far) kind of a neat look at a small, somewhat isolated community. For the wood cutters here, there's lots of chainsaw action. Also, this is one of the best filmed of these types of series I have seen. The scenery is absolutely breathtaking, and well presented by excellent cinematography.
If you've got time to kill and NatGeo, check it out.
