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Joined: Nov 03 2008 Location: Derry, ME Posts: 5

Check out this "Pawn Stars" analysis.

http://wegotaboombox.wordpress.com/2010/12/24/fat/

What do you guys think? I feel this is a fairly accurate representation of the show.

Posted: Dec 24 2010 05:21 pm

This show and American Picker disgust me. You have a bunch of deplorable jackasses ripping off the desperate, the stupid, and the underpriveleged. It's fucking awful.

Posted: Dec 24 2010 05:57 pm

Syd Lexia wrote:

This show and American Picker disgust me. You have a bunch of deplorable jackasses ripping off the desperate, the stupid, and the underpriveleged. It's fucking awful.

How are they getting ripped off if they're getting money? Also, they weren't forced to pawn, sell, or buy shit from the pawn shop. They did it on their own free will.

Posted: Dec 24 2010 06:14 pm

Is that a serious fucking question? THEY'RE GETTING RIPPED OFF BECAUSE THEY'RE BEING SEVERELY UNDERPAID FOR SHIT. You go into a pawn shop with a gold ring or something, you expect to get 50-75% of what the pawn shop thinks they can get for it. In shows like this, you have the buyers not only intentionally lowballing the sellers by large margins, but flatout lying about what something's worth or what it is.

Joined: Nov 11 2009 Location: Cajun Country Posts: 1511

Posted: Dec 24 2010 07:22 pm

Pawnshops are terrible.

Posted: Dec 24 2010 07:27 pm

Syd Lexia wrote:

Is that a serious fucking question? THEY'RE GETTING RIPPED OFF BECAUSE THEY'RE BEING SEVERELY UNDERPAID FOR SHIT. You go into a pawn shop with a gold ring or something, you expect to get 50-75% of what the pawn shop thinks they can get for it. In shows like this, you have the buyers not only intentionally lowballing the sellers by large margins, but flatout lying about what something's worth or what it is.

I'd agree with that in terms of Pawn Stars--that's the nature of the pawn business. Although really, I don't know that you can entirely blame the owners for that--as annoying as they may be. It's their job to get things for the lowest price they can, and sell them for as high as they can. The patron is free to not accept the offer (and at least a third of the time they don't) and take their business elsewhere *shrug*.

Ragging on the American Pickers guys I totally don't get, though. I mean, most of the stuff they buy is just *sitting* there, and would be completely worthless to the owner in terms of money because they'd have no idea who to sell it to, or how to sell it. Then the AP guys come along and offer them cash money for the stuff gathering dust in their attic/garage/whatever that would have CONTINUED to sit there and gathered dust had they not shown up. Sure they make a profit out of it--that's their job, and its what they get for building up and getting to know a clientele of people, and the general market value for things most others would consider junk. How often have they bought something *specifically* for one of their regular customers, knowing they'll be able to turn a profit on it? I'd say a profit made that way is the product of a lot of hard work getting to know people and building relationships, and learning the market, and I wouldn't begrudge them that at all. It doesn't seem to me like they're preying on people's misfortune at all--most of the people they buy from would have made exactly zero dollars on the stuff had the pickers not shown up. My two cents.

Posted: Dec 24 2010 07:44 pm

A pawn shop is at least a real business. You open your doors and if someone comes through and decides to sell you something at a fraction of its value, yeah, that's kinda the seller's fault. The seller is the one initiating the sale.

American Pickers is way worse, because they drive around LOOKING for stuff and badger the fuck out of people until they sell it. And also, what they're doing isn't a real job. They're fucking losers who made up some fake bullshit job because they wanted to "be their own boss" or some bullshit like that. They should fucking die.

Posted: Dec 24 2010 07:50 pm

Hm. I think we're gonna have to agree to disagree on AP--I really, really don't see it that way at all. I'm curious as to what other people say, and if I'm just completely off base here and missing something.

Posted: Dec 24 2010 09:01 pm

I agree with you Hawk.
If they badger you and you get sick of it, threaten them with the cops. It is YOUR property they're on. These guys are moving merchandise. For the price of driving to these places, driving back, finding buyers, etc. They deserve to earn what they make. That being said, I hate the show. Used to like pawnstars but it's just so repetitive and I am not a fan of the guys working there.

UsaSatsui's Youtube Channel · Posted: Dec 24 2010 09:21 pm

I'm not sure that people realize that a pawn shop isn't primarily a place to sell things. It's a place to get a loan by handing your stuff over as collateral. In theory, you're supposed to come back in a few weeks, pay off your loan, and get your stuff back. That's why they give you so little against what your item is worth. They're only supposed to sell your stuff if you don't come back to claim it within a certain time, but I think it's understood a fair amount of people just ain't coming back.

Joined: May 22 2008 Location: Goshen, VA Posts: 6544

I think the American Pickers guys come off as snooty and intrusive. It always feels like these city guys talking about how quaint Farmer Joe's tractor parts are so many years old and blah blah and it never seems that any of the people really enjoy them being there.

Posted: Dec 24 2010 11:29 pm

joshwoodzy wrote:

I think the American Pickers guys come off as snooty and intrusive. It always feels like these city guys talking about how quaint Farmer Joe's tractor parts are so many years old and blah blah and it never seems that any of the people really enjoy them being there.

Exactly. And they always fucking brag about what a good deal they got. "Ha! I can't that believe that yokel actually sold me that wooden frame bicycle for $100, I'm gonna sell it for $2000."

Posted: Dec 25 2010 12:16 pm

Syd Lexia wrote:

This show and American Picker disgust me. You have a bunch of deplorable jackasses ripping off the desperate, the stupid, and the underpriveleged. It's fucking awful.

I feel this exact way about Parking Wars and every reality cop show.

Joined: Oct 01 2009 Posts: 5316

Wow, of all the reality shows on the History Channel to pick on, you pick on the two best? Yeah, they have their faults, but they aren't as bad as shit like Ice Road Assholes and Ax Men...and Swamp people? At least with shows like Pawn Stars and American Pickers, I might have a chance to learn something, and being the kind of person to go antiquing, it's a lot of fun at times.

My problems with Pawn Stars begins with too much emphasis on the characters, especially Chum Lee, fuck that guy. Rick seems to be the most knowledgeable guy there, so usually I enjoy most of anything he has to say. The Old Man is alright, but he's so one note and swears so much, it's cliche. Big Hoss is like a combo of the two, but even so, he interacts with Chum Lee so much, I tend to hate him out of principle. I hate when they bleep every other word, if there's one thing I hate about reality television, is the fucking bleeps. Also, the Pawn Star guys do some of these people a favor by having exports come in and get things appraised, sometimes even finding out the items are worth more than what the people were asking for it. As someone touched on before, these guys are in a business, they aren't really ripping people off since you have to still find a person who would buy these things, so are you really going to offer them a lot of money, not knowing if you're even going to break even on the item if it sits on the shelf for 6 months? It's just a common business practice, these people don't have to sell if they don't want to. Besides, practically every business in in the country in existence is screwing you in one way or another.

American Pickers is alright. I don't like it nearly as much as Pawn Stars, especially since the guys are pretty smug. However, these guys do more than just drive around. They follow leads or schedule an appointment with someone, they hardly ever just wander on the property like it tries to imply, that would just be stupid. And yes, they do badger people, but they're the first to admit it, there was even one episode where they are feel guilty for over pushing their time with some old dude. But again, if anyone ever feels threatened by these guys, they could call the cops. But from what I've seen on the show, most people come away very happy by having these guys come by.

Posted: Dec 26 2010 08:28 am

Being the first to admit something doesn't make it any better in any way whatsoever. Example:

"Look, I'm the first one to admit that what I did last night was probably date rape. But you gotta do what you gotta do."

Posted: Dec 26 2010 09:32 am

The American Pickers rescue rare and historical pieces of Americana that would otherwise disintegrate in some hillbilly's barn. They're heroes!

And besides, "a bunch of deplorable jackasses ripping off the desperate, the stupid, and the underprivileged" is the American way... its how we acquired the country from the Native Americans. The pickers are just continuing the tradition.

Joined: Nov 03 2008 Location: Derry, ME Posts: 5

So did you guys read the article? It pretty much describes why the show is so deplorable.

http://wegotaboombox.wordpress.com/2010/12/24/fat/

Posted: Dec 29 2010 09:51 am

Watching the one episode of American Pickers at the in-laws house that I did, I have to say I came away feeling really dirty from the episode. Like, I had to go shower because of all the old garbage they were going through. To be really honest, I'm never going to watch another reality show again unless it happens to be directly in my face at someone else's house. None of it encapsulates actual reality anyhow, given the fact that most non-gameshow reality programs are all pay for appearance based. I don't feel like Joe Ticketcop from Parking Wars is a 'real' person because any other traffic cop doesn't get paid a grand or five grand or whatever to schlub out tickets. There's a big amount of disconnect for those 'stars' that seems really disingenuous. You know what a non-paid reality star is? A fucking documentary subject.

Posted: Dec 29 2010 11:49 am

I completely agree with aeonic.

Look what reality TV did to Jon & Kate.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kate_Plus_8

They were two normal people who had the fortune/misfortune of having a massive chuck of children in one pop. They did what they could to make ends meet. And, the stress took it's toll on them, but they made it work.

Then, a TV studio comes knocking, and says "Hey, we'll pay you a bunch of money if we can tape your lives."

Kate, who was already a control freak, now realized that she is famous and becomes an ego-maniac.
(See: http://www.usmagazine.com/moviestvmusic/news/kate-gosselin-acts-like-a-major-celebrity-on-dwts-insists-on-bodyguard-201074 & http://www.mommymusings.com/reasons-i-hate-kate-gosselin/ & http://blog.zap2it.com/frominsidethebox/2009/05/kate-gosselins-brother-jon-kate-in-a-sham-marriage.html )

John, who was the whipping boy, but at the same time, the bread winner, now realizes that he no longer has to work to provide for his family. They can now survive without him, and so he flies out the door. Not to escape his children, but to escape his now, 10x worse, wife.

Now, that their 15 seconds of fame are mostly over, they have both pretty much forgot all about their children and are doing everything in their powers to remain on TV and still be "paid" celebrities.

In five years these people went from being people you watched, felt bad for, but cheer them on as they honestly struggled through their lives, into worthless sacks of trash, who you no longer respect. And, the only people in the family you feel bad for are the children, who are going to grow up and now resent their parents for using them as nothing more than cash cows.

Did the studio give a shit? Nope. The problems that they caused only made for "better TV", and they continued on, until they destroyed this family. (Proof: The highest watched episode was the one in which Kate and Jon announced their divorce.) Then, after the studio milked it for ever last bit, they dumped them and moved on.

Posted: Dec 29 2010 01:58 pm

Now, Knyte, if only we were in TV programming! Remember the Family Guy episode where the Griffins got a reality show? On some level, everyone is affected by the presence of cameras in a similar fashion. You're not seeing real people, you're seeing formerly real people become caricatures.

UsaSatsui's Youtube Channel · Posted: Dec 29 2010 02:13 pm

You know what reality show I like? Billy the Exterminator. I don't know why, but just seems more "real" than other shows of it's type, even though Billy overacts at every opportunity. The guy is just plain charming. Plus, he doesn't play the "ignore the cameras" game, I've seen him actually ask the camera crew for help when shit goes bad...I know fourth-wall breaking in reality TV is a no-no, but it seems more honest when things like that happen.

Posted: Dec 29 2010 03:36 pm

Yeah, Billy is enjoyable to watch.

But, even then, you know there is some studio pressure trying to create drama with Billy's wife vs the family, which probably wouldn't happen if they weren't there.

UsaSatsui's Youtube Channel · Posted: Dec 29 2010 03:53 pm

Knyte wrote:

Yeah, Billy is enjoyable to watch.

But, even then, you know there is some studio pressure trying to create drama with Billy's wife vs the family, which probably wouldn't happen if they weren't there.

Billy's wife supposedly resigned the show in the first season, though she's still in the credits. My guess would be, because of this.

And yeah, I'm not naive enough to think the "drama" portions of the show are heavily influenced by the presence of cameras. But they do a good job of downplaying it, if you ask me.

Joined: Oct 01 2009 Posts: 5316

I found this pretty funny: