I have watched this show since the very beginning, and this whole situation really depresses me. After 6 seasons, the whole catching the crab angle is totally played out for me, but I've continued to watch because I've come to care about the captains and crews of the core vessels. With Captain Phil of the Cornelia Marie gone off to that great fishery in the sky, and with the Time Bandit and Northwestern boys now gone from the show, it sure doesn't leave the producers with much. Keith and the Wizard crew hardly make for compelling, must watch television.
I am hoping against hope that somehow the Hillstrands, Sig Hansen, and the Discovery folks can work out their differences in some way to allow them to continue with the show, but realize that with about one week to go before King crab season starts, it is very unlikely. I have no interest in seeing new boats and crews. None of the other "filler" boats from previous seasons were at all interesting to me. I think that if there were some great untapped captains and crews out there amongst the Alaskan crabbing fleet, the Deadliest Catch producers would have found them by now.
Sigh.... Without Lost and Deadliest Catch, I am left without even one show that holds my interest.