Exterminators get down to business on A&E’s ‘Rambug.’
You'd expect a show about a family of pest exterminators to have a high Ick! factor, and Rambug delivers.
The stars of Rambug are a Brooklyn family, and near-family, headed by Robert Mercante. New Yorkers may have seen them riding through the streets, since their van with the giant red cockroach on top is nothing youd confuse with your everyday Ford Focus or Honda Accord.
Rambug becomes the latest in a long and growing line of reality shows that hone in on jobs most people wouldn't want to do, from The Deadliest Catch to Ax Men.
The producers look for a small group of people who do that job and have enough ham in them that they dont mind cameras following them around.
The Rambug team, who in the show simply become Big Rob, Lil Rob, Rose and so on, fill those requirements.
The Mercantes could pass for extras from The Sopranos, guys with big arms and the ability to look menacing at will.
Presumably, if you want someone to do battle with bad things that live in your house, its not a bad idea if the guys you hire as your executioners look like they take no prisoners.
In the case of the adversaries here, no one wants prisoners. You want the enemy KIA.
Like most family-business reality shows, Rambug offers entertainment on two levels. One is the work, the other is the internal office drama.
Work means wading into situations that give every New Yorker, and probably almost everyone anywhere, nightmares.
Theyre called to tackle bedbugs who have so thoroughly infested a room that maggots are feeding on the dead ones. Theyre called to remove rats.
Their battle strategy follows the path youd expect, and sometimes it involves putting on hazmat suits. That sounds ominous, but through it all they remain relentless optimists. In the first few episodes, at least, they vow that one way or another, these pests and critters can be vanquished.
Back at the office, meanwhile, the clan does what almost all reality show families do: bicker.
Big Rob, who runs the place, tries to keep everything on schedule that is, professional. Rose, who nominally keeps the books and does the scheduling but in reality sort of runs the place herself, has the same goal.
Lil Rob, on the other hand, is the class goofoff. Starting time is 9 a.m. and he rolls in around 11, saying gee, sometimes its just hard to wake up in the morning.
This infuriates Ralph, Big Robs older brother, who at one point decides he needs to settle this thing once and for all.
It doesnt come to mayhem, except for the rats, but this ongoing tension does create the reality equivalent of a continuing plot.
At the end of the day, youre glad the Rambug guys are on our side in the war against ick.
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