Harley and the Davidsons

***Harley and the Davidsons*** is an American television miniseries which dramatizes the origins of motorcycle manufacturer Harley-Davidson, and how Arthur Davidson founded the company together with his brothers Walter Davidson Sr. and William A. Davidson, along with their childhood friend William S. Harley. It premiered as a three-night event series on the Discovery Channel on September 5-7, 2016.

## Premise

The miniseries charts the birth of the iconic Harley-Davidson bike during a time of great social and technological change at the turn of the 20th century. Walter Davidson Sr., Arthur Davidson and Bill Harley risk their entire fortune and livelihood to launch the budding enterprise. Each of these men face different challenges, but it is the motorcycle that unites their dreams and ambitions. For Walter, the venture is a chance to escape from the confines of society to ignore the rules and build a bike that could go anywhere and ride hard. For Arthur, it's an opportunity to finally make good on his name. And for Bill, the bike gives him hope to break free from his overbearing parents and apply his talent as an engineer.

## Cast

### Main

* Michiel Huisman as Walter Davidson
* Bug Hall as Arthur Davidson
* Robert Aramayo as Bill Harley

### Supporting

* Daniel Coonan as William "Big Bill" Davidson
* Gabriel Luna as Eddie Hasha
* Philip Brodie as George M. Hendee
* Tommy Bastow as Otto Walker
* Wilson Bethel as Ray Weishaar
* Alex Shaffer as Albert "Shrimp" Burns
* Dougray Scott as Randall James
* Stephen Rider as William B. Johnson
* Jessica Camacho as Reya
* Sean H. Scully as Walter C. Davidson
* Annie Read as Anna Jachthuber/Anna Harley
* Essa O' Shea as Clara Biesel/Clara Davidson
* Here Hilmer as Emma Rossenheim/Emma Davidson

## Historical accuracy

The miniseries is largely based on actual events and is lauded for its use of reproductions of the era's motorcycles; however, a number of creative liberties were made for dramatic effect, with the rivalry between Harley and Indian with George Hendee and the fictional Randall James being portrayed as arrogant and manipulative executives bent at defeating Harley through underhanded corporate schemes such as patent trolling and bribing.

Some of the races and other subplots depicted in the miniseries were either fictitious or highly dramatized, particularly when Hendee challenges his competitors to an endurance contest hosted by his company, culminating in a fistfight between Hendee and Walter Davidson over being bribed into exclusively selling Indian motorcycles, and a heated argument between the Davidson brothers following the dealership bribery incident.

The Motordrome sequence downplays Eddie Harsh's death, in which he collides into a wall after avoiding a fellow racer; in reality, Hasha's motorcycle suddenly turned sharply into the rail surrounding the track, killing a boy who had put his head over the rail to watch the race. The racer flew out into the grandstands, killing him instantly along with three other boys and a young man. Additionally, Hasha's involvement with the company in the first episode was exaggerated and expanded upon, although he did indeed become friends with cofounder Arthur Davidson when he worked at a Dallas dealership and raced a motorcycle loaned by the company, in contrast to not being able to represent Harley and betraying in favor of Indian as depicted in the miniseries.

Arthur Davidson's proposal of 20,000 motorcycles to the United States military in World War I was also fictionalized; in reality, Indian provided 41,000 units for the military effort while Harley produced 15,000.

While the founders unveiled their 1936 EL at an outlaw race in the third episode, a preproduction team version of the real-world EL was revealed in a 1935 dealers convention at the Schroeder Hotel in Milwaukee. Additionally, the Knucklehead moniker mentioned by Bill Harley didn't come into popular use until after World War II, when a revision to the OHV engine, later known as the Panhead, was introduced.

## Reception

### Critical

*Harley and the Davidsons* holds a score of 57 out of 100 on Metacritic based on eight critics. It also holds a score of 80% on Rotten Tomatoes based on ten reviews. The consensus reads: "Good acting and fun sequences lift *Harley and the Davidsons* from longform advertisement into a celebration of the storied motorcycle brand." Larry Lawrence of *CycleNews* gave the series a mixed to negative review, stating that it was "by most accounts a highly entertaining watch," but was critical of the highly dramatized portrayal of the company and its founders, particularly the Harley/Indian rivalry which culminated in an unresolved cliffhanger with the infringement case in the second episode and the events of the third episode, where Harley unveiled their new motorcycle in a fictional outlaw race.

The miniseries received a positive reaction from Harley-Davidson themselves. Bill Davidson, the great-grandson of the original founders, and Bill Jackson, head of the company archives at the Harley-Davidson Museum, commended the producers' efforts in recreating the motorcycles and the era, saying "the really did their homework," but noted William A. Davidson's reduced role in the story despite the latter being one of the key founders.

### Ratings

*Harley and the Davidsons* averaged 2.00 million P25-54 viewers and 4.4 million P2+ viewers, making it the most watched single cable network miniseries in three-and-a-half years, since History Channel's *The Bible* in 2013. It was also the #1 cable program across P/M25-54 (excluding sports) and M18-49 across all three nights. It also drove the Discovery Channel to its highest-rated to its highest rated Monday-Wednesday Total Day since December 2012, excluding Shark Week.

## Home media

Main article: *Harley and the Davidsons (videography)*