🍿 My favorite TV shows of all time: Pawn Stars & Forged in Fire [Film/Series review #3]

Along with the tens of movies seen monthly either online, on TV or at the cinema, on the same line, there are even more episodes watched on TV either if we are talking about game shows, reality shows, or these based on challenges or competitions that do gather lots of curious eyes behind the small screen.

Anyway, even if the name of the community is Movies & TV Shows, there are very few people who are writing about TV shows, so the community is currently hosting a contest where you can enjoy some free writing while letting the others know about the shows you are watching and love the most. You can read more about it, HERE.

Personally, I'm a big consumer of TV shows and I mostly watch these on television rather than movies because the platforms like Netflix and HBO are already doing their job pretty well when it comes to watching a film, but I never thought about sharing my favourites. Happily, there is no better occasion than doing so other than now, so here we go! 😊

Introduction

The first TV show that conquered my heart was actually discovered while I was visiting my boyfriend who was watching it and it aroused my curiosity pretty fast too.

Pawn Stars is an American reality television series that has a total of 18 seasons released with over 630 episodes that people can watch and there are rumours that the 19th season is under making. However, it seems like this one will be a little bit delayed due to all the moments when the filming was interrupted by the pandemic, so I'll assume that we have to wait a little bit longer until we'll see some fresh episodes on TV.

The cast was mainly formed (from left to right) of Corey Harrison (Rick's son), Rick Harrison, Austin Lee Russell known as Chumlee (Corey's childhood friend) and Richard Benjamin Harrison (Rick's father), but since Mr Richard Benjamin Harrison passed away in 2018, people can see these days on TV episodes both with and without the old man.

Description

The TV show is entitled pretty simple "Pawn Stars" and it's based on the daily activities happening in the World Famous Gold & Silver family business from Las Vegas that it's focusing on buying, selling and appraising all kind of items people are bringing with a historical value. However, even if the business itself started before having the TV show presented on the History Channel, people could enjoy the first episodes of the series since 19h July 2009.

The family business started back in 1989 and it was running 24/7, being operated by Mr Richard "Old Man" Harrison. Along with the years, Mr Richard decided to pass his family business to Rick who's now the main CEO of the Pawn Shop and it turned out the whole thing into the network's highest-rated show.

Along with the many things you will see brought to the shop to get the expertise of the Pawn Stars family, from time to time these will call experts from various fields of activity to make things clear if we are seeing a fake or real item, and what its real value is. However, even if for example an item is valued at $10,000, don't expect to see the same amount being paid because the shop is selling further what they are buying from their customers so a negotiation will be held until both parties consider finding a fair offer being made.

Occasionally, there will also be moments when you will see things being renovated and brought to life and client's interest, as well as some bidding being organized from where the Pawn Stars will make more or less profit.

You will literally be able to see anything from guns to cars, from art to history pieces, from toys to books, and a lot more.

Opinions

I like how a pretty basic family business that perhaps is running in many places from each county was turned into a successful TV show. In plus, there is no episode from which you can't learn something new because along with all the objects the clients are coming with, there will be shared lots of valuable details about those pieces that will add some extra information to your knowledge and you never know when you'll impress someone sharing it further.

Another thing that I appreciate is how both professionalism and fun are mixed together coming with funny moments but also with those where you can be 100% sure of the things you are seeing on TV. Since mass media is perhaps the worst thing a person can consume while watching TV, there is also this kind of show where you can be sure that every information shared is honest and real.

Introduction

The 2nd most-watched TV show which I enjoy seeing pretty often is called "Forged in Fire" and it's an American competition series that can also be seen on the same TV post, "History Channel".

Forged in Fire appeared first in 2015 and it comes with a total of 9 seasons including over 210 unique episodes where some of the most skilled worldwide blacksmiths are competing against each other on the way to the final where only one will be the grand winner and return home with $10,000 in his bank account.

The main cast of the reality show featured David Baker (Historic Weapons Re-creation Specialist), Doug Marcaida (Edged Weapon Specialist) and James Neilson (Master Bladesmith). However, along with the 9 seasons, there were a few changes on the judges' table bringing the two-time Forged in Fire champion Ben Abbott and Jason Kight after James Neilson suffered a surgery on his hand, but also the TV host Wil Willis who was replaced by Grady Powell after Wil became a father and decided to focus more on the family rather than the TV show he hosted for the first 7 seasons.

Description

Most of the episodes start with presenting the 4 participants and their background in crafting blades and weapons to whom is then presented the blade they should reproduce. There is a huge variety of items that will be crafted from the most common knives to the historical ones or even a mix between more blades. The round comes with 10 minutes to draw the design of the blade and then three hours to create the weapons which then will be carefully studied by the judge and eliminate one of the four participants based on their crafting, durability, design and quality.

The next stage is to add handles to their blades and fix the issues the judges noticed, like not having a straight blade or not being well hardened. There are also three more hours dedicated to this round which will be concluded with a test for the blades that have to resist in front of three challenges (chop, slash and stab) such as chopping bones, ice blocks or other hard materials, and then pass the sharpness test by cutting nicely materials, meat or even sugar canes.

These are just a few tests which you will meet more times in the episodes because the main judges always get new ideas on extreme tests they should try the blades out such as hitting an armour, logs or even against bullets shot from a riffle.

As soon as the 2nd stage is concluded, there will be only two participants left which will get to the final that comes with the need of reproducing a historical blade or weapon that takes a lot more time to be crafted so they will have around 4 days to craft this one in their own workshops. Over here the participants won't be limited to creating knives anymore but also blades, crossbows, spears and a lot more.

Of course, this couldn't end up with the same tests but both of the weapons crafted will still get through 2 or 3 extreme challenges that will make the judges decide which is the champion of the edition. This is also my favourite part of each episode due to the unique weapons we get to see being required to be crafted, along with the most powerful tests the weapons are part of.

Opinions

While crafting weapons might be a common thing in some parts of the world, this is still a rare thing in Romania, so getting to see all the process the creation of a blade goes through, is definitely a very satisfying thing.

In plus, I've always had a guilty pleasure for blades and weapons in general but never got the chance to put my hands on one, nor to learn what it's like to create one of these gems. Getting to see a step-by-step guide along with the story behind each blade is definitely a very scientific and educative way of spending time in front of TV and learn about weapons and materials used. Though, do keep in mind that all these blades are part of some of the most extreme challenges and not for a few times the blades broke or even injured the jury.

This is a TV show that I ran accidentally into while waiting for the Pawn Stars to start but due to a television schedule change, Forged in Fire became part of my routine and I always try my best not to miss an episode. 😀

Conclusions

There is no doubt that both Pawn Stars and Forged in Fire are two educative shows that are mostly based on presenting historical items which not only that will teach you about how they were produced but also help you discover their story, importance and value.

While watching TV is a pretty time-consuming activity, I always considered that it's important to spend it far from the mass media that is barely presenting real cases, but rather by watching documentaries or reality TV shows that you have something to learn from. Happily, most of the shows that are currently running on the History Channel are based on important fields that do add quite a lot of information to your backpack of knowledge.

Also, since Pawn Stars is not limited to a specific category of products, as diversified Forged in Fire is, coming with lots of elements the participants can use for their blades but also challenges like picking themselves the materials they want to work with that will be taken from either a crashed car, chairs, train rails, and a lot more. You will literally realize that every piece that at first seems not to be useful anymore can become the main material for a great weapon!

Are you a fan of any of the presented TV Shows?

If so, what is your favourite part?

I've read quite a few feedbacks that as fun and entertaining the Pawn Stars TV show seems, as bad the experience turns out to be if you visit the place in real life. There are people saying that all the sellers are very rude and unprofessional and that not everything shown on TV is real. Is it here anyone who visited this place and can make things clear? 🤔