Forget about the sensitive guys who blubber their way through so many scripted shows -- the nerds of "Big Bang Theory," the romantic pie baker on "Pushing Daisies," the lovelorn hero of "Chuck." These days some of the most popular shows -- usually docu-reality series found mostly on cable -- focus on more rugged types.

Call it: tough guy TV.

From the Bering Sea crab fishermen of Discovery Channel's "Deadliest Catch" to History Channel's "Ice Road Truckers" who drive 18-wheelers over frozen rivers and lakes, these burly dudes have a following. Whether they're loggers swinging an ax (History Channel's "Ax Men"), nature boys slogging their way through remote, uninhabited places (Discovery's "Man vs. Wild" and "Survivorman") or simply one man who tries assorted filthy tasks (Discovery's "Dirty Jobs"), these adventurers reflect the efforts of blue-collar workers and offer office-based employees entry to a workaday world beyond a desk and computer.

"I think 'tough guy TV' is, to some degree, a little bit of a rebellion against the feminization of leading men," said Discovery Channel president and general manager John Ford. "It's not to turn back the clock on gender relations, but rather to vicariously enjoy something that is of a male province."

Thom Beers' series stay true to his roots

On TruTV's "Black Gold," a driller named Justin.

At 10 p.m. June 18, TruTV premieres "Black Gold," a show about oil rig roughnecks in West Texas. The series is executive-produced by Thom Beers, who also oversees "Deadliest Catch," "Ax Men" and "Ice Road Truckers" and has become the go-to guy for tough guy TV series. For him, this genre is nothing new.

Beers spent 10 years at TBS working on "National Geographic Explorer" and Jacques Cousteau specials. During his tenure, TBS was also the home to "Movies for Guys who Love Movies."

"Somebody taught me a long time ago, be true to who you are," Beers said by phone this week from Long Beach, Calif., where he and a crew filmed a bridge painter for NBC's "America's Toughest Jobs," another Beers production. "I grew up in a blue-collar world."

In his hometown of Batavia, N.Y., just east of Buffalo, his heroes were his uncles, Nick, a pizza maker, and Rocky, a mechanic, "salt of the earth guys. Guys who told the truth, went to work every day and took care of their families. It's not that I saw an opening for a grand experiment. This is what I know."

-- Rob Owen

Additionally, Ford said the way these tough guys view their jobs has its own appeal.

"They have this devil-may-care approach," he said. "It's fun for people to watch to see how cavalier they are on the surface about the dangers inherent in their jobs. It's entertaining when someone at a bar talks about their dangerous job and they're casual about it. When you see them on TV they tend to have the same sort of bring-it-on attitude. People at home are like, 'Would I do that? Could I do that?' It's kind of like when you're watching a war movie and think, 'Would I run out of the trenches and attack that machine gun nest?' "

Sometimes TV trends pounce, other times they sneak up on you. Tough guy TV is more of the latter. "Deadliest Catch" and "Dirty Jobs" are in their fourth seasons, but the trend really began to ratchet up last summer after "Ice Road Truckers" drew 3.4 million viewers to its premiere episode, setting a new History Channel viewership record.

While the trend may be new, not all the shows are. David McKillop, executive producer of "Ice Road Truckers" and senior vice president of programming and development at History Channel, said "Truckers" was inspired by a 2000 episode of History Channel's "Modern Marvels." (The second season of "Ice Road Truckers" premieres tonight at 9.)

"It was the second highest-rated 'Modern Marvels' ever," McKillop said. "We just took that success we saw in a single hour and took the chance to blow it out into a multipart series."

The highest-rated "Modern Marvels" was an earlier take on what became the series "Ax Men."

"It has to do with this fascination in America with our frontier heritage," McKillop said. "Historically, we've been a country that believes if you work hard and take chances, you can make a lot of money. That frontier spirit lives on today."

Miranda Banks, a visiting assistant professor at the University of Southern California's School of Cinematic Arts, said there are few pure adventurers anymore.

"I see these guys as modern-day explorers," she said. "They are pioneers into the wild and that's a classic archetypal story of man vs. nature.

"They're the modern-day equivalent of the cowboy, so we see them as this community of outsiders, of renegades living outside society. We wouldn't have as good a life if they weren't there. We wouldn't be able to eat the snow crab we like to eat without these guys."

Of course, even tough guys make mistakes. Or their TV shows do.

Last year it came to light that "Man vs. Wild" star Bear Grylls stayed in hotels during some of his wilderness treks even though the show depicted him as roughing it outside (episodes were re-edited with new disclaimers added). In April The Hollywood Reporter noted that "Deadliest Catch" edited together footage from two different days, making a scene appear more dangerous. These blunders are indicative of the shortcut pitfalls inherent in making TV shows that seek to maximize danger and drama, which may be a primary draw for some viewers.

"People are risk-takers, but in cases like this they may be motivated by watching risk-taking in others," said University of Pittsburgh associate professor Roger Klein, who teaches media psychology. "It's very safe and not a risk you're taking directly."

Representatives for both Discovery Channel and History Channel said their audiences skew more heavily male (60 percent male for Discovery, 68 percent male for History), although Ford said a greater percentage of women watch "Deadliest Catch" than some other programs on the network.

"They're showing something that's different," said Phil Harris, captain of the Cornelia Marie on "Deadliest Catch." "People live in their own little world: You go do you job, work eight hours a day, go home and watch TV and all of a sudden you find out there are some people out there going 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The guys are tough and I think that's the appeal to women."

Harris said the appeal of "Deadliest Catch" is similar to the reason people attend air shows to watch the Blue Angels.

"It's something they can't do that they wish they could," he said. "The next best thing is to be right there and watch what goes on and put themselves in the same position of what they would do."

Of course, not all dangerous jobs make great TV. Ford said a show about a bomb squad wouldn't work because "when they're doing their job right, nothing happens." Still, more shows in the tough guy TV genre are in development.

Discovery is preparing a limited series about the Iditarod dogsled race for later this year (Ford nicknamed it "Man and Dog vs. Wild"); History Channel has "Sandhogs," about workers who dig tunnels in Manhattan; NBC offers "America's Toughest Jobs" this fall and "Shark Taggers" next summer; Spike TV is developing "River Men," about guys who pilot towboats and barges on the Mississippi River; ABC has ordered "Border Security USA," featuring border patrol agents; and this fall The CW's Sunday night will include "In Harm's Way," about assorted dangerous jobs.

"Like all things that happen in television, tough guy TV has spawned imitations and one of the things that happens many times is people will imitate a new category to death," Discovery's Ford said, mentioning ABC's over-reliance on "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire," which led to the show burning out quickly. "For now it's still gaining traction. 'Deadliest Catch' is at its most popular, up 11 percent over last year in audience. There's room for growth, we think. The biggest and best will last the longest."

As if TV's tough guys would want it any other way.