About the Show
“Officially Rugged with RD” has been on the air since 2002. One of the more original shows, the format is a comedy-based program geared to the average guy or average gal sitting on their couch at home. You won’t see host, RD, “The Rugged Dude” driving a $50,000 boat or using a $2000 rifle on the show. And, there is little, if any, educational content. It’s not that type of show.
You won’t see RD wearing one of those fancy shirts (or bowling shirts as he calls them) with a 100 logos plastered all over it either. This dude is well known to go against the grain and debunk, or even poke fun at, the entire outdoors television industry. Many people have called RD the most down-to-earth television personality in the business. He sure doesn’t care about the antler size…
The show has become very popular especially in the United States, where, at its highest point, boasted a distribution of 50 million households. The show was ranked as high as 7 out of over 1000 shows by Back Channel Media Research in Massachusetts and on January 3, 2006, the show was the third most viewed program in all of the Turner Media Group’s line up of shows on DirecTV, Dish Network and cable across the US. In RD’s home town of Thunder Bay, Ontario, the show routinely sees a market penetration of 12% (meaning out of every 100 homes, 12 are watching the show when it’s on the air.) The industry standard is below 2%.
Most episodes are taped in various locations throughout Canada, with the occasional show taped in the US. There is both fishing and hunting content and the kill shots are shown, but tastefully. Popular segments include the weekly “Rugged Quiz” where RD and a guest review emails sent in by viewers listing things they believe to be either “rugged or unrugged.” RD also does a lot of campfire cooking on the show, as he just loves to cook!
There is almost no commercialism in the show, with the occasional mention of a product being the exception. In fact, a few sponsors in the past have complained that RD is not pushing their products enough. RD will simply not turn his show into an infomercial, as they’re called. If the sponsors don’t like it, that’s too bad.
There are full length episodes on line and they are free to watch. Have fun and stay rugged. Get the Orville “Rugged-Butter” popcorn out too!
