December 30, 2011, 2:13 PM Those Dang Revenooers: Virginia Agency Unhappy With Discovery’s ‘Moonshiners’ By BRIAN STELTER Once again, a reality television show has viewers asking whether it’s real or unreal. This time, the authorities are answering with a no.
The series in question is “Moonshiners,” a new entrant on the Discovery Channel that ostensibly shows people in rural Virginia who make their own alcohol and the state agents who pursue them. In an online interview one person suggested that he actually made moonshine, which is illegal; in response, the agency that regulates alcohol in Virginia said on Thursday that the show was just a dramatization. “If illegal activity was actually taking place, the Virginia ABC Bureau of Law Enforcement would have taken action,” the agency told The Associated Press.
The show sure is suggestive, though. In one episode, two people are shown apparently firing up their distillery for the first time. A Discovery spokeswoman declined to comment.
Matt Ostrom, an executive producer at Magilla Entertainment, which produces the show, said in a statement on Friday afternoon that he feels it “accurately portrays the secret life of those who make moonshine and the law enforcement tasked with capturing them.”
The state agency, meanwhile, apparently regrets taking part in the program, which it says it thought would be an “informative piece” about moonshine investigations in Virginia. It told The A.P. that Discovery had “overlooked” a request to add a disclaimer to the series.
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