pawn stars
Watch an episode clip of Pawn Stars, which starts on the History Channel at 9pm on Monday, Sept 20. [1]
Pawn Stars is an American reality television series on the History Channel, produced in Manhattan by Leftfield Pictures. [2]
Keep up with the latest History shows, online features, special offers and more. [3]
Facebook helps you connect and share with the people in your life. [4]
The series is filmed in Las Vegas, Nevada, where it chronicles the daily activities at the Gold & Silver Pawn Shop, a 24-hour family business operated by patriarch Richard Harrison, his son Rick Harrison (who opened the shop with his father in 1988), and Rick’s son Corey, who has worked there since childhood, and who is being groomed to one day take over the shop. [...] Thinking such shops might contain unique characters, they searched for a family-run shop on which to center a TV series, until they found the Gold & Silver Pawn Shop less than two miles from the Las Vegas Strip, whose manager, Rick Harrison, had been trying unsuccessfuly to pitch a show based on his shop for years. [...] One reviewer referencing these conflicts described the show as a version of Antiques Roadshow “hijacked by American Chopper ’s” Teutul family. [...] The series depicts the staff’s interactions with customers, who bring in a variety of artifacts to sell or pawn and who are shown haggling over the price and discussing its historical background, with narration provided by Rick, Corey, and Richard, who is known as “The Old Man”. [2]
A number of pieces of memorabilia are now sold at the pawn shop, including shirts and magnets with the company’s logo (many of which carry Chumlee’s autograph). [5]
Numerous local experts in a variety of areas also regularly appear to appraise the items being sold or pawned, one of whom, Rick Dale of Rick’s Restorations, is the star of the series’ first spin-off, American Restoration, which premiered in October 2010. [2]
Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): When the seller with the life-size red Power Ranger was in the shop, Corey and Chum were quizzing each other about the show, and claim that the original Red Ranger’s name was Jason. [5]
The series also follows the interpersonal conflicts between Richard, Rick, Corey, and Corey’s friend Austin “Chumlee” Russell, another employee of the shop. [...] Pawn Stars began with Brent Montgomery and Colby Gaines of Leftfield Pictures, who were struck by the array of eclectic and somewhat seedy pawn shops in Las Vegas during a 2008 weekend visit to the city. [...] History president Nancy Dubac, who had been charged with creating programming with a more populist appeal to balance out the network’s in-depth military programming, picked up the series, though she adjusted its storyline in order to bring it in line with the network’s brand, which included the on-camera experts appraising the items brought into the Gold & Silver, though she did not discourage the interpersonal conflicts among the show’s stars. [...] The series, initially called Pawning History, was originally to be broadcast on pay cable, though the network interested in it desired a Taxicab Confessions -style series. [2]
Sources:
[1] Pawn Stars on TV.com
[2] Pawn Stars - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
[3] Pawn Stars ‘ History.com TV Episodes, Schedule, & Video
[4] Pawn Stars on History | Facebook
[5] Pawn Stars (TV Series 2009′ ) - IMDb