of course they're all contrived...imagine driving up on someone's property in the country unannounced and ask to look around....many people would never allow it and might possibly pull a gun ....lol...
Ask yourself how the camera got there--the drive up is all staged. The homeowner had already been contacted, and permission was granted to be on TV.
No I would not do that, but it is all staged anyway.lol
What gets me about that show, them driving all over the country, the price of gas, hotels, food, etc. THEN: They buy something for $25 or so, going to POP IT for $75, well MAYBE they will.
So for a $10, 20, 50 profit (maybe), they spend all that time & money to go out scavaging. There is no way they can make a profit, UNLESS the Cable Channels are subsidizing them.
But hey, they are having fun. Worst part of Pickers for me,is that gal with all those tatoos and ill fitted clothes. Looks like a biker gal tramp. Those guys think she's cute? uggggg, I turn the channel when she's on.
“No Trespassing” doesn't mean them, it's only for other people.
If there isn't a gate or the gate is open they will drive right in past the sign.
I've had people from Houston drive into our property and act like they own the place.
I too prefer the History Channel’s shows Pawn Stars, American Pickers and American Restoration over A&E’s Storage Wars; although even those shows also have the deficits of too much repetition - from people always using the same phrases at the same point in the story, or in a segment, and the fact that instead of each show have only a single window of time, they show one segment after another, after another, after another; so “burn out” comes quickly.
At least, beside the scripted “drama” on the Pawn Stars, American Pickers and American Restoration, you can also learn a lot of American history through the things that were made, bought and sold in America in the past.