Continued...

One of the characters to watch is Gemma Teller-Morrow played by Katey Sagal. She appears to be a loving mother to Jax, devoted wife to Clay (the leader of the Sons of Anarchy) but different and not necessarily ‘Martha Stewart’ sides of her personality come out to further the ever-moving plot. Like a smooth run through the gears as you pull away from the lights, Katey Sagal effortlessly adds layers to her character in surprising moments where she easily steals scenes.

Hollywood experts often say a big actor is needed for a powerful role with the term used for presence, power and commanding a scene just by being there. Ron Perlman does all of this playing Clay Morrow, the current leader of the Sons of Anarchy from low key scenes in parks and diners, to telling a corrupt policeman just how future illegal agreements will play out. 

Famous for his roles in Beauty and the Beast, Enemy at the gate and Hellboy 1 and 2, Ron Perlman takes the violent, scheming and vindictive Clay from the script to the screen with a natural ease, playing a conductor leading a symphony of illegal activities. 

As mentioned before, every actor finds their rhythm in the unique character they’ve been written; Mitch Pileggi known for his role as Assistant Director Skinner in the X-Files perfectly falls into his white supremacist character who leads a rival gang, Drea de Matteo last seen as the sister on Joey uses the little screen time she has convincingly as Jax’s junkie ex-wife and Sprague Grayden transforms from the sweet school teacher in Jericho to a struggling wife of a former gang member trying to stop her husband from going back to his ‘brotherhood’. 

Passing the biker test
As smart as the writing may be and as sharply as the show is directed, bikers tuning into FX will most likely wonder how many of the actors rode before starring in ‘Sons Of Anarchy’ and how much of the riding are they actually doing in the show? 

Aside from Mark Boone (Bobby Munson) and Charlie Hunnam (Jax Teller) no one in the cast had ridden a motorcycle before shooting. But the riding actors didn't necessarily have it easy either, Hunnam's motorcycle of choice is a sportsbike and not the cruisers used in the series. 

As mentioned earlier, all the motorcycles used in ‘Sons of Anarchy’ are Harley-Davidsons and word from the set is that the bikes may look warn and battered because they actually were. It seems everyone had their embarrassing moments and actor Johnny Lewis’ (Half-sack Epps) came when he managed to drop his motorcycle twice in twenty minutes while hardly moving during the first series. Just as with anyone who has had a similar experience, the only thing injured was his pride. 

The entire riding cast received motorcycle instruction and the production crew has an experienced road captain to give ongoing advice and hints. Clutch and Chrome was told that everyone does all of their own riding in the show with only Hunnam and Perlman prohibited by the production’s insurance policy from riding during stunt scenes. 

It wasn’t surprising to learn that most of the actors who didn’t ride before starting on ‘Sons of Anarchy’ have taken it on as a passion off of the set as well.

Riding to enjoyment
When the general public watch ‘Sons of Anarchy’ they’ll most likely mentally paint all bikers with the lawlessness seen on the screen and some may switch off. Indeed, bikers who are sensitive to being painted with the 'motorcycle gang' brush could take insult to the way riders are portrayed and not watch the pilot in its entirety. 

There's no doubt however bikers or not, the viewers who make the effort to watch any episode for any length of time will want to stick around and see where the intriguing story leads. As far as television drama goes, there hasn’t been anything like Sons of Anarchy and the show continues to stand out, if not simply for its great acting and sharp writing. 

Now this article is written with the bold disclaimer that no one in the Clutch and Chrome office has ever pitched or decisioned a prospective television series. The closest anyone here has come to Hollywood is living in Los Angeles and spotting someone who they thought was ‘somebody’. But quite frankly, it was hard to tell as they were wearing a hat and sunglasses while sitting behind a tinted windshield. 

But we have wondered what it was like to be at that meeting where the idea was proposed of having a drama based in the world of a motorcycle gang. After all, current motorcycle entertainment is all over the board with reality bike building shows having family tiffs for excitement and Ewan McGregor using the force to get himself and a former roommate around the world safely, not once but twice. (Judging from Charlie Boorman's mishaps he obviously never made it past Padawan). 

However, to our credit one of the first articles written in these two wheel loving pages discussed the motorcycles starring role on the small screen. At the end of the article we noted ‘With so many different types of bikes as well as the range of riders on the road, the opportunity tell a plethora of different stories about people with a variety of backgrounds is a huge resource for the entertainment industry. Of course it’s up them to go off the well-walked pathways of story telling and bring something new to the viewing audience before they get bored with the 'cruiser with a cause' show.’ 

As if written as a prescription for the ’motorcycle TV show blues’, ‘Sons of Anarchy’ was not only developed and proposed, but thankfully it was approved and produced. While the creative team need to follow the road to to its dramatic destination, its still up to the riding viewers to pull up beside the Sons of Anarchy as they take this trip down unknown roads and check out the drama's destination.

And a fine trip it has been.

The second season of Sons of Anarchy averaged 4.5 million total Viewers, with those coming from 3.16 million Adults 18-49 and 1.98 million men 18-49.  Competitively, Sons of Anarchy ranked as the most watched basic cable scripted series of the year in the male age bracket of 18-49 and second most watched by adults 18-49. 

But where Sons of Anarchy rode away with viewing numbers was in the growth of viewers. Achieving numbers never seen before with either cable or broadcast television, Sons of Anarchy showed the largest season-to-season growth in adults ages 18-49 with 81 percent more people tuning in and 80 percent increase in males 18 to 49. The total number of viewers for the show grew 72 percent.

With numbers like these, it was no surprise when FX ordered a third series in December 2009 with creator Kurt Sutter has signing a two-year deal to continue as the man with a plan.

“The success of' Sons of Anarchy' is very gratifying and the show has become a bona-fide hit,” said FX president and GM John Landgraf. “The critics have recognized 'Sons' as one the best series on television, and the show has earned its place alongside FX’s great drama series."

All of the success puts to bed the concerns on how well the show would represent the everyday biker. Besides, if the average rider managed to get as close to a real motorcycle gang as viewers do with Sons of Anarchy, complaining about stereotypes would be the least of their problems.