Netflix Reality Series Gives Viewers More Than They Bargain For

If you’ve never binged through 30 straight episodes of Pawn Stars, season 14 is all you need to familiarize yourself with its premise, as it hasn’t changed for 21 seasons (675 episodes).

Pawn Stars is a reality show that takes place on the Las Vegas Strip, set primarily in the World Famous Gold & Silver Pawn Shop. Inside the shop, you’re quickly introduced to family business, owned jointly by Richard “Rick” Harrison, and his father, Richard Benjamin “The Old Man” Harrison. Adding a third generation to the mix is Corey Harrison, Rick’s son, who’s learning the family business and trying to make a name for himself as an artifact expert in his own right.

Of course, we couldn’t talk about Pawn Stars without also talking about Austin “Chumlee” Russell, Corey’s childhood friend who somehow ends up becoming the breakout star of the series even though he’s often the butt of jokes for being incredibly lazy and less knowledgable than the Harrison family.

Each episode of Pawn Stars has the same exact premise, but for some reason it never gets old. Some sort of interpersonal conflict emerges between the four men, which ultimately leads to side-quests that break up the show’s actual segments. The actual segments in Pawn Stars are the real reason you should tune in because the conflicts in question are so obviously scripted for entertainment value that they’ll make you cringe most of the time.

Underneath the scripted veneer of goofiness, Pawn Stars is basically The Antiques Road Show, but set in a pawn shop. People from all over the world bring in items ranging from retro video games, vintage guitars, and autographed movie posters, to original leafs from the Gutenberg Bible and Civil War-era weapons, and haggle back and forth for a price that all parties can agree on.

Most of the series’ entertainment comes in the form of somebody bringing in a “priceless” family heirloom that Rick and company appraise before letting the seller know that it’s absolutely worthless, and they can only give them $10 for it.

But every so often, a piece of sports memorabilia or an old toy comes through the pawn shop doors that’s so rare, it lets you know that this is exactly why they play the game.

You may be wondering why a show like Pawn Stars airs on the History Channel, and the same thought crossed my mind until I saw the light. They say that a jack of all trades is a master of none, and the same can be said for Rick, The Old Man, Corey, and Chumlee. While each personality boasts a level of expertise in their own respective niche areas (Rick is really into coins, for example), they simply can’t know everything about everything.

Throughout the series, the Pawn Stars consult a number of experts to help them appraise various rarities so they don’t inadvertently write a $100,000 check for a vintage box of Cheerios. Recurring experts include Mark Hall Patton, an expert in 20th century artifacts and museum administrator, Jesse Amoroso, the owner of Cowtown Guitars, and an expert appraiser of vintage stringed instruments, and my personal favorite recurring guest, Drew Max, the guy they bring in to authenticate autographs.

For my money, there’s nothing more satisfying than watching an expert tell somebody that their autographed copy of Led Zeppelin’s debut album is worth $12,000 instead of $22,000 because not all the signatures are on the same side of the record.

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Unfortunately Pawn Stars only has one full season currently available on Netflix, but you can also watch the series on Tubi, The Roku Channel, Hulu, and Pluto TV, to name a few other streamers.