auction hunters - storage wars - american pickers - pawn stars - shipping wars - american restoration - hardcore pawn - auction kings - storage hunters

the shit they find inside units in storage wars seems 10x more real than what they come across on auction hunters

the bidding is all rigged or w/e according someone I know who once read a blog

suspect that a lot of the cool shit they find in SW is planted, and they often wildly overstate the resale value of the more ordinary stuff they find, but it still provokes those get rich quick thoughts...

roadshow is the queen of this litter. would vote for that were it an option.

and yeah, barry OTM. <3 barry. everyone else on storage wars is insufferable. it's the best show out of the options here, but that doesn't mean i like it.

i've watched a bunch of pickers eps, too, and i don't object to those guys the way some do. sure, they're trying to buy low, sell high, but the people they're buying from seem to know that and often have weirdly inflated ideas regarding the value of most of their crap.

haven't seen the rest, except for a couple episodes of the pawn shows, which i can't abide.

otm i think the dudes on pickers are kind of lame but i don't get the feeling they cheat anyone, at least on camera

the ep i saw the other nite some kid offered to take $10 for a coca-cola clock and the dude was like "hey kid, i'm gonna sell this for $120-- how about i give you $70?"

my objection to them is how lame they are

of that they are guilty as sin

Pawn Stars

barry owns, but i gotta go with pawn stars. i dig the combination of colorful cast and factoids about old pieces of junk

auction hunters is the only one that has all of the essential elements:

• thrill of the hunt/despair at a room that turns out to be a bust
• going head-to-head in a bidding war
• cool and unique items/treasures/the stories and history behind them
• bringing in experts in certain items
• "badass" "boys toys" stuff
• haggling over a sale
• dollar signs on the screen/look at this sweet profit

is there one abt estate sales

which is the one where they shoot guns in slomo in every ep

There was one about a woman who organizes estate/yard sales for people.

sounds crazy

Pawn Stars is the worst because of the extra-goofy cast of characters and the 'expert' buddies in every field known to mankind.

Cash & Cari -
http://www.hgtv.com/cash-cari/show/index.html

she's kind of WS of shame material

tango & cash & cari

which is the one where they shoot guns in slomo in every ep

― puff puff post (uh oh I'm having a fantasy), Tuesday, February 14, 2012 1:08 PM (32 seconds ago)

auction hunters iirc

What milo z said. But that makes it the best. It's like a comfortable sitcom.

lol. I have the same Dick Tracy thermos that Cari of Cash & Cari turns around in her hand at :10 in the video on that site. Pretty sure it is worthless.

but yeah, Storage Wars >>

(I would also put Brandi from Storage Wars at the forefront of my personal WS of shame).

no shame

jennifer from shipping wars imo
http://i.imgur.com/UExC7.jpg

only familiar with auction hunters and storage wars, to both of which i have been briefly addicted. the argt. for why the former seem to only find interesting stuff is that they do this all the time and the tv show covers their 5% most interesting finds, whether you believe this, enhh

barry from storage wars took up the storage bidding thing at the behest of the show's producer apparently

barry needs his own spin-off

Kickin' It With Barry

this is actually my father's job. Is it like UK antique shows where they paint this nice ideal of antiques and auctions when in reality antique dealers are pretty much scum drunks?

Yeah, Barry is apparently independently wealthy (he ran a food distributor?), and only is on the lookout for stuff he can personally collect. Allegedly, everything else he buys he donates to charity.

One thing I don't get on this show is why you almost never see anyone else outside of the core "stars" bidding.

thats prob just basic reality-tv-editing-room-floor stuff

i wonder if someone could do a gut-punch type reality show (like intervention or hoarders) abt ppl who abandon these storage units

I have only seen pawn stars but I love it.

Which should I watch next.

i would say storage wars is the least like pawn stars

but go for auction hunters or american pickers for "neat stuff"

K, thank u

There was a Southern low-budget version of this sort of thing on Turner South a few years ago called "Junkin'" featuring an aspiring standup comedian and a, I dunno, a Zooey Deschanel wannabe I guess. It was pretty bad.

xpost That's the thing, these aren't all "abandoned." Right? I think storage facilities are pretty hardcore, in the sense that once you miss a payment they don't give you much of a chance and immediately put stuff up for auction. That said, I would be curious to know to whom this crap belongs.

yeah sometimes its a business that goes bankrupt but the sad fact is that a lot of times its people who are deciding to eat or pay rent instead of pay the storage locker bill that month.

this episode of This American Life aired before any of these shows were on the air, and among others, features a guy who grew up w/ drug addict parents and had to watch a lot of his childhood possessions get bid on by strangers:

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/399/contents-unknown?act=1

...and now he makes a living bidding on other people's abandoned storage lockers DO YOU SEE?

You forgot Pawn Queens.

xpost to myself: lol when the guy kind of gets hopeful at finding an unopened bottle of charles shaw wine in a locker

My Mom likes to watch these shows and now she'll rummage through her house asking me what I think certain things are worth! It was kind of funny at first but after sorting through five boxes of comics taken down from the attic which I know nothing about, looking up other shit I know nothing about, I told her I don't know anything about antiques!!!

the place I have stuff stored lets u go 3 months I think before the pickers swarm

lagoon what would be the most tv-worthy item in your storage locker

well theres a tv in there haw haw

You forgot Pawn Queens.

― svend

good call. that's a big one

Oddities is way better than all these. Giant gallstones, Amy Sedaris, Genesis P-Orridge, Victorian hair sculptures, skull collections...

Also, no Cash in the Attic on this poll? I guess only American TV counts, huh?

Pawn Stars is my favorite on the list... the Old Man and Chumlee really make it something *extra special*

also the Kount - he always seems so stoked to work on any fucking project they give him. They wheel in any ol peice of shit and he's like "Oh man we're gonna make this POP!! Its gonna look AWESOME!!"

He obviously really loves his job, its refreshing.

I voted Pawn Stars but just as easily could've gone with American Pickers.