American Pickers-standard tinplate

The whole thing was set up in advance and not by Danielle. The producers looked specifically for this ( vintage toy train) It took several takes to get the scene of coming to the door right.

So much for reality tv. I was very disappointed. Its one of my favorite shows. Still is. All of this was related by TCA members. How much of this show is real and what is not is anyone's guess.

Bruce

I thought they got burned bad in a previous episode by a toy train deal.  They went back for more?

They filmed a segment in my area not too long ago, which some friends witnessed. They were shuttled to the site from the airport and the van was delivered separeately, for filming at the site. Several other details of the visit told to me all just confirmed the myth of "reality" in reality TV.

German

I don't consider myself to be a naive person but I was genuinely surprised that they did such a great job in pulling the wool over my eyes. I don't doubt for a second, what you are saying and it's another confirmation that the whole thing is a set up. It's on the same wavelength as Pawn Stars..which was easier to spot as a staged set up.

Bruce

I still enjoy seeing what they come up with, but it has become real obvious the show is fake.  If you watch the items they discard or walk by, you see that they allready have certain items picked out for that particular show.

I think it is pretty obvious you don't drive from Iowa to alabama and buy stuff you estimate you can make $1000 on and be ahead.   You can't pay UPS or truck freight to move stuff half way across the country and sell it for $100 more than you paid!  

Probably the fakiest show they had was the 57 Chevy episode that included ricks Restorations and  Counting Crows custom car shop.  They argued with a seller over an additional $1000 for a ragged out 57 chev, finally bought it for $7000. Than they paid the Count Crow guy $77 thou to fix it!

The show that had them buying for the Nascar Hall of Fame was also pretty fakey, as was the same format for the civil War musem in Gettysburg.   I imagine Nascar and the Civil War museum probably pay to be on the show and try to drive up interst in their money loosing operations!!   

I would imagine that a lot of the show is still real. There is a lot of editing. I imagine that people send them in some pictures of what they have to give them an idea of their collection and then they go from there.

I love watching this show and Pawn Stars at the very least to see all of the cool old stuff that is out there.

My wife and I were on Undercover Boss last year, and after seeing the episode on TV they did a lot of editing to get to the finished product. The crew filmed them coming into my house at least 6 times.

The next thing you know Ill find out American Restoration subs out their rebuilds. 

Thats another favorite and it seems more grounded but alas, I have my suspicions. All of these shows beats most of the inane fodder on the idiot box, whether the shows real or not. Another favorite on HGTV..You Live In What? The wildest one had a guy turn a dumpster into a hotel room. Some cabooses and passenger cars were done. One woman lives in a airliner body. Go figure.

Bruce

Agree with all of the above.  At least there is interesting stuff on some of these shows.  I do believe all of the action is staged, though.  The pickers, the pawn shop, the alligator hunters, all of these guys are making more money than they ever thought of because of TV.   All this "reality" tv is really cheap compared to what it costs to make the trashy half hour sit-coms that rule the networks.  It is pretty sad how far the writing talent has fallen since the days of Newhart, WKRP, Mary tyler Moore and similiar shows from 30 years ago or so.  Those shows used to be funny without resorting to gutter humor.  Sorry for the rant!

I had a friend who was shown on American Pickers here in Northern New England. His name was given to the show by a referral of an antique collector in our area. Everything in his case was choreographed; there is an advanced team that comes out and scouts the place ahead of the two pickers and everything is signed off for confidentiality and the person cannot reveal that the pickers came to his location until right before it airs on the History Channel. In this case he was a free lance pick, everyone seemed surprised when they showed up to add abit of drama. Either way I still like the show.

The only show that struck me as real reality was Deadliest Catch but since Phil died, I lost all interest. For me, he was the real deal. No acting. Issues with the kids. Temper flare ups. Divorced. One heck of a challenging profession he loved. Still miss the guy though I never met him. I guess thats the other side of the coin. I think it was last night my wife flipped on what she thought was a new episode as she likes the show . There was Phil, chain smoking, stressed  intense, worried about his kids and as funny as heck. "Shut that gd camera off!!"

Bruce

<hands over ears>....na....na...please don't ruin it for me.  I thought these guys just drove around the country picking, really thought they had an adventurous life.  Now maybe not so much.  Don't care.  As long as Danielle is on the show it could be about picking cow dung...I would still watch. 

ChessieMD

Danielle, cow dung..collecting? An incentive?..Nah, I cannot imagine why.

Now why was it we gave up the hobby in our teens? Somehow curvature had a new meaning beyond rail radius?.  Who needs images from York..

Bruce

Nice picture of Danielle. I'm pretty sure that she owns a Burlesque act somewhere. She would do good at that!

Oh, we got off topic.

what were we talking about again? .....

I think costume changes would be difficult.

I heard that her westbound train travels on the eastbound tracks.  Not that there is anything wrong with that!

I forget.

Jerry

The very same woman, dressed for a game of roller derby.

nice cabin car....