Pawn Stars on The History Channel...anyone watch it?

I have been there, pretty cool place, you can spend some time in it. Just recently started watching the show on demand. I liked the one where the guy was trying to sell the Playbill from the night he was shot and was trying to get $10,000 for it. But it was a fake.

Yep. I like the guy who brought in a bunch of rupees from a sunken ship Arthur C Clarke investigated and pulled up. Guy wanted $700K for it. Pawn Stars offered $200K. Three were pulled from the ocean, two are left.

I've watched it once. Guy had a stripped down Shelby Cobra body. The show was cool because of how knowledgeable these guys are about any piece of crap someone brings in.

I watch it. It is pretty good as far as the appraisals, but it is very obviously staged except for the offers and counteroffers.

A lot of the drama amongst the characters seems scripted and staged.

They seem to have a formula.

1. Chum Lee has to screw something up in every episode.
2. The old man has to be mad about something.
3. Big Hoss has to go off on his own and make a possible dumb decision on buying something.
4. Rick just "HAS TO HAVE" some piece of history.
5. Something has to be checked out by an expert.

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Also, does anyone else find it a little doubtful about some of these things being brought into a pawn shop for sale? Would you really bring in sunken treasure or a Picasso painting to a pawn shop thinking they were going to offer you more than 50% of its value?

Just got back from there. They were filming while I was there and it is so staged. Chum and Corey were negotiating with this Asian chick who had some dumb African drum from Hawaii. She wanted $500 but they were offering $300. They filmed them for about 45 mins and got maybe three sentences that will be on the show, but it is cool, you just walk around while they are filming. I offered a 1963 Five Dollar Bill and Rick looked at the bill, looked at me, and said "no" - I asked him to make me an offer and he said, "$4.99" - cool place, tiny place, heavy on jewelry obviously, but overall worth the trip.

Another funny thing...my buddy was buying a shot glass with a picture of the Old Man on it and the guy checking him out asks him if he wants a signed one, and he asks how much more it is, and the guy is like, there the same price He ended up buying the unsigned one.

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Also, does anyone else find it a little doubtful about some of these things being brought into a pawn shop for sale?

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Right, like the one with the ballloon. I suppose if you were down and out and desperate to dump it yesterday. But wouldn't you be better off going to a ballooning club or one of your contacts in the ballooning industry and not a pawn shop?

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They seem to have a formula. 1. Chum Lee has to screw something up in every episode.

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I don't think Chum really needs much prompting. That guy wouldn't have a job anywhere if it weren't for his best friend. If anything, the producers figured out that some of his screw-ups are entertaining so they started featuring that.

This isn't your ordinary neighborhood pawn shop. They're on the Vegas strip helping high roller gamblers get rid of weird stuff they won, or helping degenerates make cash to pay off debts by selling their most prized possessions.

Obviously, the guys with the cool stuff call ahead to see if Rick is interested, so the camera crew is ready when they get there.

It's a cool place. Much bigger than when I was growing up in Vegas. My mom's ex used to buy coin proofs from the Old Man every paycheck. I used to walk around and look at all the cool stuff. I think they did well because of the locatoin. Locals tend to frequent downtown more. Those with gambling problems just run right in and pawn something.