The Colony on the Discovery channel at 8pm on Tuesdays has sucked me in. I’ll gladly bite on whatever hook that promises survival and post apocalyptic themes, and to smack 10 strangers right in the middle of it and air it on TV? You might as well start reeling me in. If you’ve been missing out on this show, as it is a couple of episodes past the mid point you should start watching now, set your DVR or TIVO and catch the past episodes that have already aired.

The premise of the show is that there was a viral outbreak in the United States, nearly all of the population was killed off, and chaos has ensued. “The Survivors” as the contestants are called are first isolated and sleep deprived for 30 hours to wear them down and get them into a state of shock. They are unleashed into a barren section of Los Angelas and told to find their sanctuary a massive warehouse with a yard that has been fenced in. Their first task was to raid what was left of a supermarket, and eventually raiders and other looters crashed the party and made off with some of the goods. They’ve encountered others as they’ve gone out and scavenged for food and water, which always seem to be in dwindling supply. They are tested multiple times when raiders attack the warehouse, some sneaking in the back door, stealing supplies and destroying whatever they couldn’t take. The bonds that form between these real people who have been thrown into a ‘survive or die’ situation has been interesting for me to watch. You can see which people are distancing themselves in their work, and others who feel the need to shout the loudest whenever an obstacle is thrown in the way. When a Colonist goes missing during a savaging hunt at a hospital bringing the group down to nine, you can see some of the people breaking downside, as if that person were really gone for good, and haven’t just left what they all know somewhere in the back of their head that this is just an experiment and not real.

I think what I find most interesting about the show is how the Colonist tackle those obstacles. One of the first things they build is a water filtration system, to filter the water that comes from a river a distance away. Using a large plastic container, they grind some charcoal that was found in the yard, and layer it with sand, they pour in the water, and what comes through the holes in the bottom is very purified water that only needs a boil to drink. I’ve learned more than I could ever have thought possible about making simple tools and equipment that would vastly help my survivability rate if I were to ever find myself in this type of situation. Building a miniature Tesla Coil and capturing the Ozone from it to turn it into a water purification system? Awesome. Building a transmitter and receiver from scratch to send out Morse Code and being able to receive radio transmissions from copper wires wrapped a jar and hooked up to a TV to hear the audio? Super Awesome. Using essentially “Wood Gas” from burning a fire in a contraption and hooking up the hose to a generator that makes it run to produce electricity? Wickedly Awesome. Getting a broken down flatbed truck to start working so you can make it a “Battle Wagon” to get the hell out of the city? Now, that is just bad ass. The official Colony website over at discovery actually has a page on how they built some of their equipment.

Though those things are just some of the snippets that have suckered me in, I’m a people watcher by nature, and watching these people who now seem to have a mindset that they really are living in the destruction of society makes me more curious. Currently, they have barely any food supplies left, exhausted the last of their propane, are physically, morally, and mentally exhausted. Though, judging from the last set of episodes yet to air, they are going to be tested even further.

If you’re the type that thinks that you have what it takes to survive in an apocalyptic setting, you need to watch this show. Just from the information and techniques gained you’ll be enveloping yourself in a world of knowledge you never knew existed. If you’re a casual type that wants to break the cycle of horrible ‘reality TV’ shows, this is your mallet to break that up. Hell, if you are like me, and always thought you knew you had what it takes to survive, and after watching some of these episodes find out that you’d be the first to kick the can, your brain is calling to bring you up to speed. Though, the show isn’t some kind of instructional video (which I wish they would do on some of the builds that these people create) you’re not going to be able to just go off the grid and start hacking things on your own because you watched this show. There are no guns, so that small bit of realism has been removed, these people don’t have to worry about killing to survive (Except as we saw in the last episode of rats for dinner and much needed protein). I strongly suggest that you at least record a couple of episodes and watch it when you can get around to it, I don’t think you’ll be let down, and you’re bound to learn a thing or two.