Why does TV have to ruin EVERYTHING?

[Diggit]

I used to fancy myself a "picker" I did this for about 15 years, going to farms and homes, having a list of buyers, I even sold a lot of stuff to decorators for restaurants and the like. Then they made a TV show about it. When that happened, people began to see the dollar signs announced in the show, and more and more people began flooding the "picking" market, squeezing out people who had doe it for years.

I have been a long time "prepper" and light weight "survivalist", preparing for emergencies and contingencies. Then they made a TV show about it. Now the price of stuff I used to buy has gone through the damn roof.

Now they are making TV shows about "diggers" featuring two obnoxious opportunistic tools who jump around like they have tourettes and who can't say one word without trying to "shorten it" and make it sound "hip" Not to mention the fat, washed up ex wrestler who tells everyone they are going to get rich and feels the need to backhoe everybody's back yard. Now, NOBODY wants to let you dig anymore and every mouthbreathing dullard with a few hundred dollars is snatching up a detector and heading off to make their millions, making us look even more rotten, attracting the negative attentions of jealous archaeologists who think we're ALL like that and are going to steal their thunder.

I hate TV.

 

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[davest]

blow up your tv, throw away your papers, move to the country, buy yourself a farm, plant a little garden, eat a lot of peaches, try to find Jesus, on your own.

thank you John Prine.

 

[Diggit]

blow up your tv, throw away your papers, move to the country, buy yourself a farm, plant a little garden, eat a lot of peaches, try to find Jesus, on your own.

thank you John Prine.

Thanks for the snide, smartass reply. :-) Do you have anything to add? constructive criticism, or just like to troll?

 

[ELRONTIREBITER]

Man I love John Prine............I made the mistake of watching that American Diggers show the other night, what a waste! Yet another show convincing everybody watching that all the junk they have is worth a million bucks.

 

[Minrelica]

I have been a picker on and off for many years. Worked at an auction house for a while so I had a place to sell things pretty easily and it was fun. I still do it sometimes and I must admit that I do watch and enjoy American Pickers. I too was angry when the show started but you can't truly teach someone the art of picking just out of the blue. There has to be some genuine interest in the items and you gotta believe in and enjoy what you're doing to make it work. You also have to be good with people. I'm not interested in how much they pay for or claim they will ask for any of the items. For me it's just refreshing to kick back after work on a Monday night and go inside some of these homes for a few minutes and live vicariously through Mike and Frank for a while.

Now those "other" shows you speak of. I have not seen one blip of any of the new metal detecting shows and I don't plan on it. Do a little searching around the forum. There are many threads bashing the new shows and some of the contributing posters are the actual people in the shows. There's a whole lotta' argueing happening in some of them. Entertaining to say the least.

 

[Michigan Badger]

The so-called "reality shows" are anything but "reality" and the makers know it. It's all about ratings and ratings are money.
The American Pickers show supplies some of the richest and most famous people in the world with "historic" and interesting decorative items. Due to their fame and connections they can get many times what the ordinary person could ever get for a "find."

Those "screen seen" items are red hot! For example, somebody wants an old lamp. Would the average person rather have one purchased from some "nobody" or one that was seen on American Pickers? It's called "provenance" and it's hot. They sometimes pay big prices for items because they don't want to risk being considered cheaters who take advantage of people. When a seller says $10 and they say $50 the whole audience is emotionally touched. This makes for a good show. No matter what they pay for an item they can make a profit if they want but sometimes they "lose" money to make the production more exciting (the old soap opera trick).

They really are buying and selling but the average Joe has no chance of the kind of success they have. For one thing, when people sell to us they're not on television. Many who are featured on the show often almost give stuff away because they're hoping their segment will make it to broadcast.

The same ruin has come about to buying storage containers and just about every other thing that used to help the "little guy" put bread on the table. Once a little market gets flooded it then becomes the domain of the wealthy.

Think about the devastation caused by ebay, Amazon, etc. While most people love these bargain outlets, few think through the whole matter. Ebay has already destroyed thousands of antique related businesses (and countless others) that once offered American employment and paid local and federal taxes. The bay is now opening to doors to super easy trade for individuals with China and other hostile nations. One can now order direct from China and bypass even the largest U.S. retailers. This will eventually lead to the loss of many thousands more jobs in the future (discount stores, importing corps, shipping concerns, you name it).

 

[spartacus53]

Diggit, I really doubt these shows have that much negative impact on the whole for several reasons. First, is they are on cable and really don't have the viewership, or market share as network TV. As far as having their yards dug up, well I would believe they are well compensated for the exploits about to unfold there.

Personally, I'd rather watch reruns of Taxi, or the lost episodes of Sanford & Son. Now those guys are the original pickers

 

[bigscoop]

The idea for these shows isn't a new one, however, it's only now, during a depressed economy, that a much larger market is available. These shows are going make people think there's easy money to be made with a metal detector, or at least the chance of easy money, much like a lottery ticket, i.e., "you can't win if you don't play, and look at what you could win if you do play." The effects of these shows is already being realized at the consumer level, sells of metal detecting products is on the rise again and it's only going to keep increasing with the addition of a few more new shows that are already in the works. I seriously doubt the timing of Tnet's sell was an entire fluke given the anticipated rise in consumer interest in the hobby. And, the effects of these shows are also being felt elsewhere, it's just that most people haven't been made aware of these other effects, "just yet".....but it is coming. The old school thought of, "ignore it and it will go away" isn't going to happen this time. Things are going to take on change in this hobby as a direct result of the overexposure. You can count on it.

 

[davest]

tv rots your brain, how can it do anything positive?

 

[FarmerChick]

don't ruin your tv. blow up the cable company. this show isn't on 'regular' tv so the poor people who need money for food and mortgage won't be going out and buying a detector. or a backhoe. or anything else

but I get your drift. I am a coupon queen. BEFORE the shows. believe me NOW everyone is in competition at the stores....and store policies are changing on coupons making it very hard to get a great free deal like I used too. Do I blame the shows on extreme couponing. no. anything and everything is fair game in life to be butchered, changed, messed with and trampled. it happens.

 

[Dano Sverige]

These shows are a double edged sword, but what they offer us..the average person, is Knowledge! What we come away with from those shows is we know on average, just how much that old Coca Cola sign in the garage is worth. We look more closely at those marks on that old sword in the loft.
We use those shows as OUR provenance..."Didn't you see on American Pickers?...They sold one of these for $3500! You can have this one for just $2800." For example.
In the UK, it all started with "Antiques Roadshow", a show that always gave an honest opinion/valuation without any pressure on the items owner to sell. No "made for tv" BS. People turned up with crap, interesting stuff or downright "worth a bloody fortune" items. It was good wholesome viewing, and we felt happy or sad for the owners, depending on the verdict.
Unfortunately, this show was followed by a myriad others whether antique related or "cash in the attic" (American pickers type prog). What these programs did was ensure that there was a sudden explosion in old grannies and kids and all inbetween,who had commited to memory the makers marks for Sevre, Misen, Royal Doulton china etc, famous and semi-famous painters signatures/marks, and the difference between flintlock and percussion weapons and cavalry sabres from broadswords.
"Bargains" are very hard to find in the UK anymore, but without these shows, if we DID happen to come across a real bargain, then maybe we'd spot it now...thanks to the knowledge we take from them!