ABOUT TOWN WITH MARK SNYDER: Stoughton Company on National TV

A Stoughton couple, and their company, All Season Tree Company, is being featured on a national TV show that debuts in October! Brian and Laura Kittery's company will be competing against three other tree companies in a reality show called "Big Bad Wood" on the National Geographic Channel. 

Here's how National Geographic described the show to About Town in a news release sent via email:

 "It's one thing to cut down a tree in  the forest but when you're cutting down trees in an urban environment, there's a whole new set of obstacles. From power lines to irate neighbors, urban tree cutters encounter situations that forest loggers wouldn't dream of. Big Bad Wood follows four tree trimming companies in the Greater Boston area as they cut down trees in some of the most challenging and dangerous environments that a tree cutter can encounter."

Brian Kittery started his company after Hurricane Gloria took down a ton of trees in 1985, when he was 32. He bought a power saw, and things developed from there. The couple, who are natives of Wakefield, have lived in Stoughton for close to a quarter century. The company is headquartered in their Kinsley Street home. 

If you think a show about four crews cutting down trees is boring, then the National Geographic blurb on the first show might pique your interest:

“Four urban tree cutting crews take down giant trees right smack in the middle of greater Boston. The crew of All Season Tree Service starts its day off wrong when the bucket man shows up for work drunk and punches the owner. The cowboys of American Climbers have to avoid power lines and a locked, unmovable car on the street to remove a 70-foot box elder from a narrow yard. 

Specialized Rigging and Tree Care take down a towering white pine while giving a new crew member the chance to show his stuff. And a climber on the Tree Tech crew accidentally drops a "widow-maker" tree branch on the grounds men below.”  That episode of the series is entitled "Boston Tree Party." All the episodes have very clever titles.  Eight shows are titled, so far.

Sounds interesting to me!  Brian and Laura were closed-mouthed on the results of the show.  "We really can't talk about anything, unless the channel authorizes us," Laura told me. Brian, to this day, still doesn't know how he and his company got featured on the show. "We never applied.  The phone rang one night," he told me.

Residents in town might recognize some of the footage--some of it is at and around his Stoughton home. The show premieres Thursday, Oct. 17 at 9 p.m.  National Geographic Channel is seen in Stoughton in HD on Comcast Channel 821 and Verizon 621. It's in regular digital format on Comcast Channel 210 and Verizon Channel 121.