That irked me too in the little bit I saw of it. I can only assume they’re trying for a “U.R. There!” feeling, but it just gives it a home movie of a reenactment feel. (At least they didn’t go with the 300 feel where George Washington is running around in a loincloth with washboard abs hacking down Hessians as blood spews in fountains like they did in that ancient battles show they aired a while back.)
The same person (Nancy Dubuc) has been running The History Channel for over three years, and in that time she’s moved it into the top 10 in key demographics groups, and the channel got its highest ratings ever in 2009. So this is something longer-term in the works, and whether it’s ‘history’ or not, it’s successful.
She’s also about to take over the Lifetime Channel, FWIW. Who knows how that will change…
That image had me until I saw Dirty Jobs classified as “a show to entertain rednecks and drunks”
Anyone who doesn’t like Dirty Jobs can screw off. And anyone who compares Dirty Jobs to Crab Catching Warrior or whatever can screw off and die.
Over here they are showing something about “War of the Gods” or such- some mythical clashes. in between rerunning Churchill’s Bodyguard every frigging day (or so it seems).
We’re obviously in the minority, but around Casa Silenus, Pawn Stars is at the top of the Tivo list. The guys are all characters, and it’s fun and interesting seeing all the different stuff that comes into the shop. As for spoke-'s complaint about “swindling people out of their collectibles,” well, that just isn’t true. Rick doesn’t go out looking for stuff to buy. People come to him because they want to sell something. Og forbid he actually turn a profit. That would be un-American!
I like Pawn stars too. What is funny is the expert says an item is worth $1000 and the guy wants $1000 for it - how can the store make a profit like that?
I read recently that the American version of Top Gear will be coming to the History Channel. I guess if they do reviews of classic cars and maybe some challenges involving broken-down beaters, it counts…
Up here in Canada, the History channel has a government mandate to have a certain percentage of, you know, historical programming.
The regulator made them pull the CSI franchise they had been playing as a ‘historical’ show.
Yeah, I find the show entertaining and occasionally even informative – usually when there’s an expert on. If the expert says your civil war document would get $2000 at auction and the Pawn Star guy wants to give you $800 for it, then either sell it for $800 to him, attempt to get $2,000 yourself or keep it for the grand kids. I don’t see a real problem.
The one thing that does get me is when they put a customer through the motions when it’s obvious from the start that they have no interest at all in buying their object.
That’s when you shift into “sociologist” mode and study the people trying to sell garbage.
“Why do they think anyone would want this?”
"What were they smoking before they came down here?’
“Did Chumlee just fart?”
NBC asked Leno to do an American top gear, but he said no. He said they would not do a good job with it. He has appeared on the BBC version.
It was a flippant remark.
I have seen very little of Pawn Stars, so I don’t know how they work things on that show. But in general, pawn shop owners make a habit of swindling the desperate out of their valuables. (When they are not fencing stolen items.) Real pawn store owners don’t bring in experts to advise those pawning their goods. If that’s what happens on the show, well, not very realistic.
As for American Pickers, I have seen that show, and it is very definitely about swindling the poor and ignorant out of their collectibles.
Neither show belongs on a channel calling itself The History Channel. Their presence on that channel just reinforces the need for PBS.
I get the impression that this is a fairly unusual pawn shop in that it has a lot of unique or historical stuff. The owner does ask people if they want to pawn or sell something but probably 95% of them want to sell it outright. They just go to this place because they can find a quick buyer for things that to sell “right” would require a lot more time and effort.
There’s a fair amount of history in the show, particularly when they bring in experts for early Colonial history items or Civil War artifacts, etc. You’ll see some guy discussing how the paper was made or how you know it’s authentic because of the strike marks and how it was printed. There’s also a lot of fluff and stuff of dubious historical value but compared to Unveiling The Lost Druid Mysteries of the Chupacabra Code, it’s downright educational.
And God help us all, even NOVA has been dumbed down the past few years.
Not to mention National Geographic, which has become heavier on the eye candy and insultingly overdramatic narrative, much thinner on educational/informative content, and now calls itself “Natt Geo.”
I swear just the other night one of the satellite “Learning/History/Science” channels was talking about crop circles. Didn’t they get the memo all those years ago?
I need a drink.
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Yes! I think that show is despicable. Watched only episode, thought it was interesting enough for about a half hour before it dawned on me how exploitative and unethical it is.
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Lisa Ling is not “eye candy.” She’s a meal in herself. 
The show is a realistic depiction of what happens in this pawn shop. It’s a nice looking shop that features antiques and collectibles that real collectors would be willing to pay money for. That might not be what happens in a pawn shop in a seedy part of town between a liquor store and a payday loans establishment and across the street from a strip club, but that’s a different pawn shop.
Well, at least they don’t have Rod Blagojevich and Sarah Palin…yet.
Pawn Stars shop also uses Ebay to sell items which I would think is very rare for a pawn shop. Their shop is way more upscale than any of my local pawn shops. My local pawn shops mostly sell old crap that I would never buy.
I’ve pretty much decided to stop watching it now because of this. Particularly because they make a point of comparing the purchase price with the “appraised value” just to show off how much they ripped off the sellers. At least on Pawn Stars they’re upfront with the sellers about what the item is worth, and even have gotten burned a few times.