Is It Me? Or Did American Pickers Just Jump the Shark?
Is it just me, or did anyone else find last night’s William-Shatner-interior-design-themed American Pickers episode a wee-bit odd? I settled in last night as usual to watch Mike and Frank search America’s heartland for rusty gold, when two specific things threw me for a loop:
First – a commercial for Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups starring none other than Mike and Frank! On one hand, this is a positive sign for the guys demonstrating the growing popularity of American Pickers and its netting them an advertising gig. Thing is, this type of ad is a slippery slope resulting with product placements dropped in the middle of the show, as seen on the likes of stellar TV like The Biggest Loser where, seemingly out of nowhere, one of the contestants or trainers will say something along the lines of, “You know what I need to help me solve this puzzle? Some Jennie-O Turkey or a stick of Extra Sugar Free Gum”. These strategically placed product ads always make me snicker for their sheer goofiness. When I saw the American Pickers in a commercial for Reese PB Cups, I immediately glimpsed the future and realized we could be a few weeks away from Frank saying, “Mike will you pass me the flashlight with the Duracell batteries so that I can jump into this mega-pick…nothing helps me to find rusty gold like Duracell.”
The second and more egregious jumping-of-the-shark incident occurring in Monday night’s show was Mike and Frank becoming personal shoppers/interior decorators for William Shatner and his wife. Don’t get me wrong; I get it — it’s William Shatner — if he called me and asked me to jump rope and do cartwheels around his compound for a little extra cash, you’d better believe I’d go — but that’s not what the AP audience wants to see. We want to see treasure hunting; whacked out hillbillies living in abandoned theme parks who, for whatever reason, happen to be in possession of several rare fill-in-the-blanks and are “darn tooting not going to take a plug-nickel less than $1000 for their thingamajig” We don’t want to see endless Spock and space jokes as Mike and Frank spaz out over William Shatner.
Was Shatner’s AP decorated study cool in the end? Yeah.
Did I learn what a pie safe is? And do I now want one? Yeah!
But still. I guess what I’m saying is that the more famous these guys get the more this kind of stuff is going to happen. Many of the people Mike and Frank visit are already starting to use their catch phrases (‘honey-hole’, ‘mega-pick’, ‘junk drunk’ etc.) and their anonymity may have been part of the shows charm.
Will I keep watching? Of course.
Great article, but I disagree. I think that AP jumped the shark on their very first episode when they talked and old WWII veteran into selling them his war memorabilia for next to nothing and then making a ridiculous profit off of it. I know that (likely because of viewer outrage) they went back and gave him more money but I still don’t forgive them. That was awful!
You do realize that there is some irony here because those Samurai swords were looted from someone else during the war. They have gone back subsequently to that guy and given him multiple things though, so you may be on to something.
I too had the feeling that I was being duped or somehow transported, (sorry), away from the core theme of the show, from gettin’ dirty and finding the unusual. Also, I do not have a problem with Mike and Frank getting some of their artifacts for so cheap, most of these sellers know what they’ve got and sell accordingly. I’m still going to watch but one more goofy episode like that and they will suffer the same fate as Pawn Stars, lose all credibility!
I loved this episode, although I did miss the commercial. The scariest part for me was the realization that William Shatner and my father look almost like twins… other then Shatner has more hair. I thought it was a nice break from the normal things that they do, in which you went over. Sometimes we need to have a little spark of something different. But is Frank ever asks for the flashlight with the Duracell Batteries in it… I’m going to freak out, I might even have to type in all caps and unleash the fury on the page, lol. My only problem that I had was the fact I work at DISH network at nights, so I never get to watch any live TV, always have to DVR it and hope the roommates didn’t decide to record something else, so I looked into getting a Sling adapter for my receiver, so I can stream my actual live tv to my HTC wherever I am, which comes in handy for more then just watching the live airing of American pickers, I would think, now you are going to ask if I have, and umm, yes, yes I have. I watched the news one day, but I’m getting ready for lunch right now to go watch American Pickers.
It’s not just you! My SO and I are big-time American Pickers fans, and we both fear that the Shatner episode is the beginning of the end for the appeal of the series, unless the producers get back to basics and avoid messing with form and substance of the series. Here is a short list of my issues with the episode:
1) The episode felt very scripted and devoid of much of the spontaneity that other episodes at least appeared to provide.
2) There were myriad lame Star Trek puns and references that just felt forced. Each time we heard a new one, my SO and i would look at one another with a meaningful eye roll. If I had heard one more “out of this world” reference I would have hurled. The Shatner’s black dog reminds the boys of Nimoy/Spock? Really??
3) I did not believe for one minute that Danielle has had a crush on William Shatner since she was 5 years old. This felt like disingenuous, scripted, gratuitous ego building for the guest star.
4) The pacing seemed slower than normal, as if there was a new producer, and it also seemed like Mike was told to turn down his trademark enthusiasm.
5) The entire structure of adding a celebrity guest who sends the pickers on a mission to find specific items for his country home feels gimmicky and forced, like the producers are grasping at new ways to keep the series fresh (and failing miserably, IMNSHO). These guys are treasure hunters, not decorators, and it is more interesting and exciting to have them making unexpected discoveries than going in search of items requisitioned by a well-heeled client.
6) The producers also seemed to be trying to crib plays from the Clean Sweep/Clean House/Designer Makeover-type shows, having the pickers work with a designer to create a special space for the Shatners, followed by a “reveal” where the Shatners get to ooh and ahhh over the transformation. Blecchh!!!!
7) Towards the end, when Mike referred the Shatners as their “first important celebrity customers,” I shuddered. If the show follows this new-found approach going forward, they will lose viewers, and I will be among them.
Well, all in all, William Shatner did look great…
Really? I like William Shatner and I don’t think it made him look that great?
my son makes “authentic reproductions” of pie safes from the design of the one my mother inherited from her cousin. it was made in about 1920. so i LOVED seeing the pie safe. best i could tell, the shatner’s is about twice as large as the ones my son crafts. i really enjoyed seeing the pie safe and millstone! coooool!
Hi June,
Does your son have a URL for the pie safes that he creates? I have seen a few online but would be intersted in seeing more…
Do the American Pickers have a store in Iowa? Where is it located? Thanks
Hi Elaine,
The store in the show is in LeClaire, Iowa I also read somewhere that they are opening a second store in the south; I believe Nashville.
Jumped the shark when then producers thought the fans would be interested in William shatner, l.a., or NASCAR . The show was good because of the ppl they would meet , not for this Hollywood bullshit
I agree completely I was almost going to do another post about the Nascar episode ….
Last nights American Pickers (7/9/2012): You think the above was bad, the overt placement of Subway was the worse case of product placement I’ve ever seen, on TV or the movies, and has soured me on a program I loved. VERY poor taste. I can’t express enough how discusting this was to see. Did anyone else get the same reatcion?
Ted Williams
You know I thought the exact same thing when I was watching last nights episode… Sadly, Subway loves making these kind of commercials …. and I have also seen them featured on Pawn Stars etc. I think Pickers is best when they are just picking. Leave all the product placement, movie stars,cross promotions and wacky plot ideas etc. out of it.
That episode just aired. My coworker and I were watching it in the break room, and thought it was awful. The scene after that, back in the truck, was even worse (“I sure am glad I decided we should get something fresh!” or something like that).
The History Channel has some interesting reality shows, but the blatantly scripted scenes irritate the hell out of me. Same reason I can no longer stand “Pawn Stars”.
I’ve deleted my season pass for the show. Can’t take it anymore. Last episode had a 5 minute Subway infomercial. Seriously?? Or how about them “arguing” on the Hatfield/McCoy episode…a few days prior to the History Channel mini series. Their cross-promotion is nauseating
what was the name of the company from TN that did the actual room set up.
I believe the name of the Interior designer was Alexandra Cirimelli and her store is called Serenite Maison
I may be wrong and I / we will probably never know – but I do not think that William Shatner liked what Frank and Mike did with their room. When he first walked in he looked around and to me looked very disappointed in what he saw.
He also made NO comment while in the room. Then the camera cut away from him very shortly after he entered the room. They also did NOT stay or say much more while in that room. At the end William Shatner was looking off to the side and not at the camera and he commented on the mill stone ONLY and NO mention of the room as if he was being nice.
In Mike and Franks defense I do think that the Shatners probably thought that they were interior decorators and probably knew nothing of their show. Now after defending them, I think that they (Frank & Mike) should have and on camera, disclosed to the Shatners that they were NOT decorators and made them fully aware of what they actually do.
Maybe I am reading that all wrong but as I said I do not think they were happy with the room.
If we were to see that room today – I would bet that it has been re-done.
Well I have to agree with some of the shine coming off the Picker persona. I live in Canada and don’t get the same episodes, but there was one aired recently where the boys decided to get away from junk food and highlighted their trip to Subway………… oh man. Not sure if it was the same episode, but there was an item Mike picked in Kentucky at the Pioneer Playhouse that he had never seen before and just didn’t know what the heck it was. Frank bets it’s a magic box. If you look at the piece of paper that was with the box at the Playhouse you will see it says used in a photographic studio and when they get it appraised at the end of the show, the name of the item is marked on the case. It turned out to be some sort of antique slide projector case. Surprise, surprise! Last night, Danielle was used in another Subway ad written into the show. She saved so much money eating at Subway that she could afford to buy her cowboy boots. Yipppeeeeee.
“Thing is, this type of ad is a slippery slope resulting with product placements dropped in the middle of the show”
Oh my god did you call it!
Was just searching to see if anybody else was as shocked as I was, glad to see I wasn’t alone. Granted, I was the kid that since the age of 10 refused to wear clothing with logos on it because he didn’t want to be a walking billboard. And in my adulthood I only listen to non-commercial radio stations and watch non-commercial TV. I’d love it if America had the same sort of support for programming as the BBC and other European networks, and didn’t rely as much on an advertising model. Even the emerging model of release to Itunes/downloadable content for $1 per episode/whatever is susceptible to embedded advertising. Remember how cable wasn’t supposed to have commercials because we were paying for the programming directly? Whenever a studio can make more money, it will, and so advertisers offering money will always be there pushing themselves in front of our eyes.
It’s nothing new, just evolution, but I’m glad to see it was finally enough to push some people here over the edge into non-participation.