Deadliest Catch
Cold War Rivals
TV Flash files “Cold War Rivals” as the first listed hour of season 16 — Deadliest Catch (2005–present) on Discovery, season 16, episode 1, aired 2020-04-14, 89 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S16E01: listed hour 242 of 380 in the Deadliest Catch guide, first listed hour of season 16. It aired 2020-04-14 (89 min). The listed hour before it is “Now or Never” (S15E21). Next is “Typhoon Hagibis” (S16E02).

Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
A dramatic change in the Russian crab industry rocks global markets and drives new competition between Dutch Harbor captains and their Russian adversaries. As crab prices skyrocket legendary captains return to claim their piece of a historic payday.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Cold War Rivals sit in the Deadliest Catch guide?
S16E01 is listed hour 242 of 380 — first listed hour of season 16, season 16 episode 1.
When did Deadliest Catch S16E01 air?
Cold War Rivals aired 2020-04-14 and is listed at 89 minutes.
Is Deadliest Catch produced danger?
Weather is the antagonist. Reality television where the danger is survived on camera more than invented for it — crab boats, sleep debt, the Bering Sea.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Alaskan crab boats, weather as the antagonist, a deck that does not care about your edit. Deadliest Catch is Discovery labor documentary as flagship — Captain Phil Harris lore, memorial episodes, reality television where the danger is not produced so much as survived on camera.
Deadliest Catch does not need a writers' room for weather. Thom Beers's Discovery series premiered in 2005 and became a long-running flagship: cameras riding with Alaskan crab fishermen through brutal seasons, nature and labor and mortality without a studio audience. Captains Phil Harris, Sig Hansen, Keith Colburn, Johnathan Hillstrand. A deck that does not care about your edit. Danger not so much produced as survived on camera. Workplace documentary-reality elevated into high-stakes seasonal event television.…
Filed against
- Phil Harris as Captain
Phil Harris was the captain on Deadliest Catch, Discovery’s 2000s Alaskan crab-boat flagship — weather as the antagonist, a deck that does not care about your edit. Labor documentary as series, memorial episodes, reality television where…
- Sig Hansen as Captain
Sig Hansen captains Deadliest Catch as himself — Alaskan crab boats, weather as the antagonist, a deck that does not care about your edit. Discovery labor documentary as flagship, danger survived on camera rather than produced. TV Flash…
- Keith Colburn as Captain
Keith Colburn captains through Deadliest Catch as Discovery labor documentary, not a produced dare — Alaskan crab boats, weather as the antagonist, a deck that does not care about your edit. Reality television survived on camera. TV Flash…
- Johnathan Hillstrand as Captain
Johnathan Hillstrand captained Deadliest Catch as Alaskan crab-boat weather — Discovery labor documentary as flagship, a deck that does not care about your edit, danger not so much produced as survived on camera. Captain Phil Harris lore,…