Pawn Stars

I thought this show was an inspired mix of Orange County Choppers and Antique Roadshow. That's a bit like mixing beer and milk, but it works.

I Tivo it... near the top of my list actually. But, it is getting stale.

I have a little pet peeve I work around with the fast forward button, and that is any scene with Chumbutt. It kind of gets to me when someone purposely acts stupid and annoying just for the attention. I mean, more power to him getting rich with this schtick. He is clearly stoned and/or drunk in many scenes. Drooping eyebrows, messed up hair, slurred speech.

And you had better believe this is a scripted show. Rick is the only one that can read from a script in a believable way. But, it has to be that way, you can't have a crew sitting around waiting all day for an interesting scene.

I do like the beard of knowledge. I would love to see someone pump something fresh into the show. I'd love to see more outside the shop stuff, like the episode where they did the bar trivia challenge. I'm still watching, fast forwarding around chumplee and I hope they find a way to keep it on the air a few more years.

I like reality shows about interesting people going about their daily routine especially when it too is interesting. This show revolves around a pawn shop in Las Vegas and there are apparently a lot of strange things that happen there so there are going to be some interesting things for people to want to sell. So we get to see during each episode some interesting stuff people bring in, some rare stuff, and some just plain strange things. You also get to see people haggle over price, people getting mad when they are told their stuff is not worth all that much money, and people get really happy as they find their stuff is worth a fortune. The show centers around a dad, his father and the son. It also has a guy called Chumlee who I just can not believe he is as stupid as he appears to be. All the guys are interesting, it is fun to watch when one of them buys something not worth anything and then the others pounce. The show is humorous to go along with seeing all the interesting things people bring in. Things that people have sold on the show include very rare coins, hot air balloons, numerous cars and a whole bunch of other stuff. Things they have not bought include a car that was obvious crap that the guy who was trying to sell it got ticked off when Rick (the dad) backed off after a person with mechanical experience looked at it. All in all a fun show to watch.

I was interested at first, but as I learned that the show is fake and uses actors and items that are from museums, I was set back. Also REAL customers have widely reported that the main characters are usually not there and show up only when the show's been shot.

For me, I am interested to see old items and learn their history, but this show is an anticlimax fest where almost non of the items are real or valuable or even rare. And using items from museums and private collections, it's just pathetic.

I don't like their attitudes and the show is overall sort of vaguely interesting, but its fakeness makes it difficult to watch.

Why is everyone in the family obese? 1000s of guns but not one vegetable at dinner?

To comment on classicalsteve from Oakland, CA's post. The most important point was, as with ANY business situation. : Do your homework on current market values! I don't think in the case of Pawn stars that these guys necessarily make an offer based on what YOU think you should get for it, but rather, what they think or know they can get for the item. No different than any other wholesale to retail business.

Although there are similarities to antique roadshow, these guys are offering INSTANT CASH in most cases. When they are unsure of an items value, they bring in experts in their field, and they do it while the customer is there. It is funny when the expert says an item is worth 3000 retail and then the customer expects 3000. As Rick says over and over, I can't stay in business paying retail.

As to Steve's comments on collectibles; I don't think they are making 10x what an item is worth. Anyone that stupid to sell so cheaply deserves to get hammered in my opinion. If you are a collector, then you should be doing your own homework on channels to sell through, and there are plenty of them. If you feel your best option is to sell to a pawn broker, then what would you be expecting? Steve, I'd like to know in your opinion, what exactly the value of "culture" is, as you state in your post. They are pawn brokers. That's what the show is about. Your post suggests that the SELLERS of the items are not interested in the money, which is clearly not the case. Every single person is most interested in what they can get for their item. And I also don't agree with your assessment of "the poor seller at their mercy due to lack of knowledge." Knowledge is something that can be acquired, and sellers should obviously have acquired some concerning their items value before entering the arena of buying and selling. Also how could they tell the buyer what they intend to resell the item for when they really never KNOW what they're going to get. Market forces are constantly at work. Personally I think you paint a picture here that these guys are crooks, when in reality, this is business as usual. Buy low, sell high. You are clearly not a businessman. The interaction between the characters is highly entertaining, and somewhat informative as well.

Mike