Let’s call a spade a spade. Pawn Stars Do America is Antiques Roadshow. Not even a repackaged or modernized version. It is literally the same exact thing simply sped up and with snazzier production. Of course, Rick Harrison and company claim its different, but their defense is halfhearted.
During a PR blitz before Pawn Stars Do America began airing, they addressed the Antiques Roadshow similarities by saying there was a twist to their approach. Here’s how Chumlee put it in an interview with Las Vegas Review-Journal:
“It really is different, because we’re out there hitting the pavement, and people are bringing in their treasures and seeing what we’ll offer them. And that’s the difference. Antiques Roadshow just tells you the estimated value of an item. They’re giving you these super-high inflated values that you might get at an auction. We tell you what we can pay for it, knowing that we need to sell it. So obviously, we’ve got to make a profit. That’s the business we’re in.”
Apparently, the twist is that the stars of the show will make a bunch of low ball offers so you can help fund their meth and guns addiction. By the way, let’s unpack what that quote really said because Chumlee buries the lede. It should read something like this:
“We are doing the exact same thing as Antiques Roadshow except for the fact we want to snipe in and buy your item for much less than it’s worth knowing we can get full value for it.”
Here’s the deal. I’m willing to look past the whole pawn business angle. That is what it is. But it’s impossible to ignore the fact Pawn Stars Do America is Antiques Roadshow apart from one airing on History Channel and the other being broadcast on PBS. There are no other differences. Hell, even the structure feels remarkably similar apart from the odd sidebar plot between Rick, Corey and Chumlee mixed in.
Speaking of Chumlee, his quote on the difference between the two TV shows was as hopelessly myopic as Vanilla Ice trying to explain how he didn’t rip off Under Pressure from Queen and David Bowie. Either own stealing the idea or come up with a better lie.
Or don’t do it at all. Pawn Stars Do America is lame TV because it is seeking to class up what is a seedy activity at its core. Watching the cast in their shop as pawn brokers trying to cut a deal is entertaining. There is nothing gripping about three dudes pretending to be experts as people bring them stuff in random locations.
Related: What’s the deal with the CarShield commercial quoting Thomas Paine?
