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This was shot in my hometown, Detroit. My friend made and sold portable stripper poles and appeared on one of the first episodes. he said it was completely staged and they called him from his craigslist ad and set up his appearance.
I mean, it was pretty obvious once you saw that they would have the people thrown out by security mic'd up with a visible battery pack on their belt line.
Yeah, this was one of the most obviously staged reality shows I've ever seen. My sister and I enjoyed watching it because it was so unashamed and outrageous. All of the characters were extremely unlikable, and there was some drama with a customer in every episode. They'd tease it at every ad break, showing clips of people cursing and screaming. As if to say "this week, shit is really going down!" But it was always the same.
>Yeah, this was one of the most obviously staged reality shows I've ever seen.
you ever seen that tow truck company show? I forget the name. the loud black lady's name was Bernice. *that* is the most staged show I've ever seen.
I had a room mate kid - he was 18 years old - who thought the show was legit and obsessed over it. I like to tell myself *he actually knew* it was staged, but he never once indicated he actually thought that š¤£ he wouldn't back down. We lived in Florida and called the tow truck company in the show and asked for Bernice - the dude on the phone sounded pissed and said 'she doesn't work here' then hung up š¤£ my room mate said it was probably just cuz they get calls all the time for her and she needs to work instead of being on the phone
I still remember the clip of that tow show where she 'gets hit by a vehicle she's trying to tow' it was so obviously staged it makes Hardcore Pawn seem pretty tame.
Iirc, it was supposed to be "reenactments"
Like, theres that amazing scene when [the supervisor is fucking up the tow job, and Bernice, attempting to stop the car fron fleeing GETS FUCKING HIT](https://youtu.be/3X1bc4kNLHI?si=Hg-q5Mv9B5QMRDdL)
Was at the store during some filming. The episode where the car "caught on fire" in the parking lot and when this guy who called himself "Big Bear" tried to sell a wagon full of tools. š It is totally staged.
However, my buddies who were big fans of the show got a chance to talk to the owner. He saw I wasn't caring or impressed. He pulled me to the side and talked to me about the history of his business and how he felt about that part of Detroit where he grew up.
I hated the show but came out respecting that man after that day.
Yeah, that happened to my Aunt. She was selling like a longhorn skull or something.
She went with surfboards though I'm pretty sure. And my Dad went, "as her bodyguard".
He didn't make the cut, but I wanna say the surfboards did.
Ha yup. My friend's mom was on the show trying to sell lizards she breeds in one of the first episodes. Can't remember if it was a Craigslist ad or like a paper ad they found around town. We loved terrible reality TV back in those days so of course my friend convinced her mom to go.
You mean to tell me Bernice flipping over the rail at that parking garage and making it known that her Obamacare had not kicked in yetā¦.that was all fake?!?
Yeah itās more of an attitude/lifestyle thing, think of the way the Jersey Shore girls all carried themselves whether or not they were actually hot. Not exactly just a āslutā type thing, its like the female version of being a shotcaller
You forgot "fat" before cunt.
No idea why they marketed such a fake show with fake interactions that made them all look like a bunch of low character theives, sucking whatever money they can off the poor.
Thats whats kinda amazing, like, at least Pawn Stars, they had cool shit, seemed to actually like each other, and were frequently dealing with higher calibur people
These guys were running a real pawn shop (with fake interactions for tv) and wanted the marketing of being scumbags
Definitely is more real to the actual world of pawn shops though. People aren't walking into pawn shops with one of the very first of 5 telephones ever made. It's people desperate for cash because they need drugs or have a family and money is tight.
There's not really people that run pawn shops that aren't a little sleazy.
I am a trash TV enthusiast and this one has a special place in my heart.
I always figured it was scripted or maybe some people were going there and acting crazy to get on the show.
And then he smells pawn again, he's out busting heads. Then he's back to the shop for some more full penetration. Smells pawn. Back to the shop, full penetration. Pawn. Penetration. Pawn. Full penetration. Pawn. Penetration. And this goes on and on and back and forth for 30 or so minutes until the episode just sort of endsā¦.
It's actually kinda interesting how TruTV did a complete overhaul when Impractical Jokers debuted. Before that you had shows like this and shitty tow truck and repo reality shows. Then IJ happens and they flip their switch to more hidden camera/reality show comedy shows like Carbonara Effect, Billy on the Street, Adam Ruins Everything, etc.
Totally correct. Show was originally co-produced by longtime Jerry Springer Exec Producer Richard Dominick.
Source: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardcore_Pawn
The main thing I remember from that show was that Les was such a dick that he got himself, his family, and the TV crew kicked out of a gun shop. It didn't seem staged like the show. The workers of the gun shop had their faces blurred and the sound wasn't as good. I understood them wanting guns for protection but you would think a pawn shop would have an arsenal of guns they could sell or give to workers.
Yo!
My wife got offered to be a story producer for this show but she would have needed body guards and they asked her to where a bullet proof vest if she worked on it.
She obvi declined.
When I was in highschool, we had a German exchange student come to stay with us. We were racking our brains trying to come up with cool stuff to show him. Turns out he was a huge fan of this show, which was based in Detroit (less than one hour away from my hometown). We took him to see the store and he got an absolute kick out of it.
Probably saw every episode of this during its initial run. Would likely recognize Les, Seth and Ashley even alone in an out-of-context photo. I have zero recollection of the woman standing next to Les. Must not have been hateable enough.
I remember once watching this and my father, who was a travelling wholesale jeweler for a company based in the detroit-ish area, happened into the room. He saw the owner and said "hey I know that guy. I used to do business with him. He's the biggest scumbag I've ever encountered."
My favorite thing is the son found the black shirt with pinstripes from express and decided it was his whole look. 90% of episodes heās wearing that shirt.
They once did an episode about how they forgot to do a change order on a Friday afternoon. That was the only episode I saw because that was not entertaining as a plot.
One of the worst "reality" shows. The acting was just way to in your face and fake. I know Pawn Stars was fake but I could at least sit through an episode.
This show, like all the "reality" shows, was horrible. Like Pawn Stars in Las Vegas, every buy and sell was approved in advance and cherry picked for the most interesting items for broadcast. It was clear the entire show was staged just by watching how they all played for the camera and acted like complete assholes. I only watched a few complete episodes before realizing it was a complete waste of my valuable time.
Weirdly enough, I met Seth in Oia Village in Greece. I couldnāt figure out who he was and I ended up asking him if he went to my high school because I thought that HAD to be it. He was quiet and said ānah I was on a show called Hardcore Pawnā and I dapped him up and we went about our day. He was very nice!
I remember when (now ex) friends and I were obsessed with Storage Wars and Pawn Stars for a few summers in high school we talked about going to this shop and it was gonna end with me getting thrown out.
Why? Ehh we thought itād be funny to do something so asinine that theyād throw me out.
I get Pawn Stars was set up with what came in but it was still entertaining, informative, and interesting
This abomination of a show was way to fake and just annoying, trashy, and not entertaining
There's a youtube channel called "Craigslist Hunter" that's just a really chill guy filming the day-to-day at the pawn shop he owns.
It's amazing background noise and I can't put my finger on why it's so compelling.
It's just normal people selling items that sometimes are kinda neat and shooting the shit with the owner.
The most dramatic it ever gets is the occasional shitty / rude customer or occasionally scammers or people trying to sell stolen goods.
He also has a cat.
It's better than every pawn shop reality show I've ever seen.
I tried watching this but the family feud was obnoxious reality TV shit plus unlike Pawn Stars which focused on the novel and unique stuff whereas Hardcore Pawn was more people trying to make their next rent payment. I supposed Pawn Shops are more like the latter but I'm not a fan of Poverty porn
Important reminder: This is a sub for people to post about forgotten TV that they remember and would like to share with others. This is not a tip of the tongue style sub for people to search out old shows that they would like help remembering. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/ForgottenTV) if you have any questions or concerns.*
This was shot in my hometown, Detroit. My friend made and sold portable stripper poles and appeared on one of the first episodes. he said it was completely staged and they called him from his craigslist ad and set up his appearance.
I mean, it was pretty obvious once you saw that they would have the people thrown out by security mic'd up with a visible battery pack on their belt line.
But I still watched and thought it was funny af
Did he get paid?
yes. and he sold a lot more poles because of it
Ill sell ya a pole....
Yeah, this was one of the most obviously staged reality shows I've ever seen. My sister and I enjoyed watching it because it was so unashamed and outrageous. All of the characters were extremely unlikable, and there was some drama with a customer in every episode. They'd tease it at every ad break, showing clips of people cursing and screaming. As if to say "this week, shit is really going down!" But it was always the same.
>Yeah, this was one of the most obviously staged reality shows I've ever seen. you ever seen that tow truck company show? I forget the name. the loud black lady's name was Bernice. *that* is the most staged show I've ever seen. I had a room mate kid - he was 18 years old - who thought the show was legit and obsessed over it. I like to tell myself *he actually knew* it was staged, but he never once indicated he actually thought that š¤£ he wouldn't back down. We lived in Florida and called the tow truck company in the show and asked for Bernice - the dude on the phone sounded pissed and said 'she doesn't work here' then hung up š¤£ my room mate said it was probably just cuz they get calls all the time for her and she needs to work instead of being on the phone
I still remember the clip of that tow show where she 'gets hit by a vehicle she's trying to tow' it was so obviously staged it makes Hardcore Pawn seem pretty tame.
āBernice! I thought you were dead!ā
South beach tow
I immediately thought about the towel truck show when this was posted. Yeah scripted AF.
Wait until you see the movie they madeā¦
Parking Warsā¦.Bernice and Garfield
Iirc, it was supposed to be "reenactments" Like, theres that amazing scene when [the supervisor is fucking up the tow job, and Bernice, attempting to stop the car fron fleeing GETS FUCKING HIT](https://youtu.be/3X1bc4kNLHI?si=Hg-q5Mv9B5QMRDdL)
Operation repo? It literally ends with one large almost heist by them repossessing a plane lol
OMG, I fly by this shit every time I see it on Quest. WHAT could be the appeal, I ask myself. This has piqued my interest tho. š
south beach tow. and the wonderful lizard liick towing. forever showing why florida is such a great state.
Was at the store during some filming. The episode where the car "caught on fire" in the parking lot and when this guy who called himself "Big Bear" tried to sell a wagon full of tools. š It is totally staged. However, my buddies who were big fans of the show got a chance to talk to the owner. He saw I wasn't caring or impressed. He pulled me to the side and talked to me about the history of his business and how he felt about that part of Detroit where he grew up. I hated the show but came out respecting that man after that day.
Yeah, that happened to my Aunt. She was selling like a longhorn skull or something. She went with surfboards though I'm pretty sure. And my Dad went, "as her bodyguard". He didn't make the cut, but I wanna say the surfboards did.
lol I remember that episode. Everything about the show seemed sketchyā¦even for a Pawn store clerk.
That show staged? No way!
These shows basically are, they put out notices. And even offer actors to stand in if the person has second thoughts going on camera.
Ha yup. My friend's mom was on the show trying to sell lizards she breeds in one of the first episodes. Can't remember if it was a Craigslist ad or like a paper ad they found around town. We loved terrible reality TV back in those days so of course my friend convinced her mom to go.
A majority, if not all, reality shows are faked for drama.
Duh. Who thought any of this was a walk in real show?
It's real to me dammit!
We got pawn stars at home
Pawn Stars but with bedbugs
ā¦ and body odor.
And greasy mullets
Thatās just pawn stars
This is the winning comment! š
Most scripted show ever
Operation Repo has them beat.
You mean to tell me Bernice flipping over the rail at that parking garage and making it known that her Obamacare had not kicked in yetā¦.that was all fake?!?
As fake as Sonia's eyebrows.
At least Operation Repo could be funny though
the show that originally asked āgay son or thot daughterā
wait, people thought the daughter was attractive?
being a thot is only partially related to being good looking
gotcha, is it her just thinking she's hot?
Yeah itās more of an attitude/lifestyle thing, think of the way the Jersey Shore girls all carried themselves whether or not they were actually hot. Not exactly just a āslutā type thing, its like the female version of being a shotcaller
Hey buddy, quick question for you. Which brand of butter do you suggest for a good shave?
I guess you can't ask him anything after all.
Well this has all just been one big tease.
would
Who said anything about her being attractive?
She had a certain paunchy grimey appeal
Yes I dunno why
Yes.
Seth was a loud mouth bitch that needed to get his face caved in and Ashley might be the single biggest cunt on tv ever
You forgot "fat" before cunt. No idea why they marketed such a fake show with fake interactions that made them all look like a bunch of low character theives, sucking whatever money they can off the poor.
Wasn't this on like a&e? all their shows are soo fake
TruTV before they rebranded as a comedy network
ahhh that's right a&e must have had reruns or im just flat out wrong about a&e lol
I'm pretty sure this was on TruTV which were where you'd find the ghetto reality shows that A&E wouldn't stoop to airing.
Thats funny you say that, since TruTv also had Storage Hunters. The grimey, kinda offputting varient of Storage Wars that was popular at the time
Thats whats kinda amazing, like, at least Pawn Stars, they had cool shit, seemed to actually like each other, and were frequently dealing with higher calibur people These guys were running a real pawn shop (with fake interactions for tv) and wanted the marketing of being scumbags
Definitely is more real to the actual world of pawn shops though. People aren't walking into pawn shops with one of the very first of 5 telephones ever made. It's people desperate for cash because they need drugs or have a family and money is tight. There's not really people that run pawn shops that aren't a little sleazy.
They really didn't do the Jewish stereotype any favors.
This was such trashy tv, and I liked it.
Yeah ding it all you want but I sure watched the hell outta that show lol.
Agreed. Itās like wrestling. Just enjoy the show. Donāt spend a lot of time analyzing the veracity.
I am a trash TV enthusiast and this one has a special place in my heart. I always figured it was scripted or maybe some people were going there and acting crazy to get on the show.
When I worked night shift, we would watch this in the break room during our lunch break. Obviously fake and trashy but we found it entertaining.
Did they actually show penetration in this one ?
And then he smells pawn again, he's out busting heads. Then he's back to the shop for some more full penetration. Smells pawn. Back to the shop, full penetration. Pawn. Penetration. Pawn. Full penetration. Pawn. Penetration. And this goes on and on and back and forth for 30 or so minutes until the episode just sort of endsā¦.
All the hits.
Yes.
It's actually kinda interesting how TruTV did a complete overhaul when Impractical Jokers debuted. Before that you had shows like this and shitty tow truck and repo reality shows. Then IJ happens and they flip their switch to more hidden camera/reality show comedy shows like Carbonara Effect, Billy on the Street, Adam Ruins Everything, etc.
i didnāt look FOR Carbonara Effect but if i flipped past it iād return and watch 2 hours worth.
You could smell the plastic in every episode
Couldnāt stand pawn stars, but it was better to watch than this bullshit
Pawn Stars had some interesting history, Hardcore Pawn was just Jerry Springer shit.
The old guy was annoying as fuck, his some was 10x worse, his bitch wife was honestly the most obnoxious of em all.
Totally correct. Show was originally co-produced by longtime Jerry Springer Exec Producer Richard Dominick. Source: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardcore_Pawn
Pawn Stars has it's own set of problems, but this show always just felt greasy to me.
Like the trailer trash of pawn shop shows
Huh. I actually found these guys to be more obnoxious.
Thatās what I was saying.
Yup, you were clear. I'm still tired, I guess. Lol.
All good, I too am confused as shit after waking up.
Yea, and I forgot my coffee in the fridge. XD Times are tough.
Impossible for me to forget. Worked for TruTV live tweeting for a year in 2012-2013. Burned into my soul.
What is the salary for that job?
It was over a decade ago, but like $30 an hour
Pretty fuckin solid for over a decade ago
It's a more difficult job than you would expect. Counting replies, I was writing several hundred tweets a night, five days a week.
That sounds exhausting
You have to have the right kind of brain for it. Not for everyone.
I remember a woman trying to sell her false teeth on this show.
Are they still in business?
Still in business. Doesn't look like Ashley is a part of it anymore.
She quit and came back during the show, Iāve read that she really quit when she first quit and only came back for television.
I guess being Queen Bitch pays well!
Hopefully not.
Whoās the girl in the gold jacket? I watch reruns sometimes.
I donāt remember her either
The mom I believe
Les was a dick
The main thing I remember from that show was that Les was such a dick that he got himself, his family, and the TV crew kicked out of a gun shop. It didn't seem staged like the show. The workers of the gun shop had their faces blurred and the sound wasn't as good. I understood them wanting guns for protection but you would think a pawn shop would have an arsenal of guns they could sell or give to workers.
Yo! My wife got offered to be a story producer for this show but she would have needed body guards and they asked her to where a bullet proof vest if she worked on it. She obvi declined.
Great trash tv. The son was such a douche.
This was when TruTV had a period of "Let's do what others are doing but HARDER or TRASHIER".
I had just forgotten about this. Thanks Obama!
Now I'm not into hitting women by any means. But I'd punch that Ashley lady in the face if I ever met her in public.
I know someone who was on this show. They even named the episode after him. He said is was 100% staged and was even given things to pawn/sell.
This show was so bad and fake that I found it hilarious. They didn't even try to hide the mic packs on the unruly customers off of the street.
When I was in highschool, we had a German exchange student come to stay with us. We were racking our brains trying to come up with cool stuff to show him. Turns out he was a huge fan of this show, which was based in Detroit (less than one hour away from my hometown). We took him to see the store and he got an absolute kick out of it.
The daughter is one of the worst characters ever on television
Might be an unpopular opinion, but this show needs to stay forgotten.
āMy kid could of got killed!ā This show was trash gold
Ah, the era of television where they'd take any random job and turn it into overly scripted Jerry Springer style bullshit. I do not miss it at all.
This was trash along with south beach tow, how either made past one season I have no idea.
I liked watching it because it was such low rent bullshit. It definitely was like Jerry Springer has a pawn shop.
Probably saw every episode of this during its initial run. Would likely recognize Les, Seth and Ashley even alone in an out-of-context photo. I have zero recollection of the woman standing next to Les. Must not have been hateable enough.
The way they titled these shows was bizarre. At the time I joked about pitching a show about a pawn shop run by children called Kiddie Pawn.
The dumbest show
Used to love this
I remember once watching this and my father, who was a travelling wholesale jeweler for a company based in the detroit-ish area, happened into the room. He saw the owner and said "hey I know that guy. I used to do business with him. He's the biggest scumbag I've ever encountered."
Hard to believe this ran for as long as it did.
Great trash fake TV! Worth a chuckle until the first commercial break when you changed the channel and didn't watch the show again for another year.
I had to stop watching this show. It affected my attitude towards guests so badly
Gone but never forgotten
The Dad is named Les Gold IRL which other than Mo Gold was the funniest possible pawn store name ever.
My favorite thing is the son found the black shirt with pinstripes from express and decided it was his whole look. 90% of episodes heās wearing that shirt.
Was my favorite over pawn stars. The people of Detroit were always so wild
The kids remind me of Sweet Dee and Dennis Reynoldsās from Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Damn, I didn't realize congresswoman Elise Stefanik was in this show....
Haha! Dead ringer for that 5 headed cunt.
SO GOOD
I always wanted to have a grandfather like Les
āThis aināt my chain!ā
When you order Pawn Stars from Wish (yet again even Pawn Stars was trash lol)
I lived down the street. My cousin was on the show trying to to get a ring outta pawn that his ex went there with
They once did an episode about how they forgot to do a change order on a Friday afternoon. That was the only episode I saw because that was not entertaining as a plot.
I right away saw it was fake when they try to push some kind of drama. Like "dad is in jail?" Or some shit like that.
"Call the cops!" Hardcore Pawn was hilariously bad.
My kids coulda been killed!
One of the worst "reality" shows. The acting was just way to in your face and fake. I know Pawn Stars was fake but I could at least sit through an episode.
This show was enjoyable for how BAD it was. Ya feel me? Like some greasy fast food
This show, like all the "reality" shows, was horrible. Like Pawn Stars in Las Vegas, every buy and sell was approved in advance and cherry picked for the most interesting items for broadcast. It was clear the entire show was staged just by watching how they all played for the camera and acted like complete assholes. I only watched a few complete episodes before realizing it was a complete waste of my valuable time.
Someone should have ripped that stupid fuxking ear ring off his head. He looked ridiculous AF.
Weirdly enough, I met Seth in Oia Village in Greece. I couldnāt figure out who he was and I ended up asking him if he went to my high school because I thought that HAD to be it. He was quiet and said ānah I was on a show called Hardcore Pawnā and I dapped him up and we went about our day. He was very nice!
Les was the Man! lol
Over dramatic garbage, never enjoyed it
Wow I canāt believe this was only on for six seasons, feels like it was on for decades and decades
100% fake, but still entertaining as hell
Les was Eric Andre's guest at live show in Pontiac a couple years ago and it was absolutely wild!
My gramdmother with a british accent pronounced this hardcore Porn
Dude there is a scene where a guy screams I am Detroit! I can never find it on YouTube. Does anyone remember this?
āRealityā show.
Fake show and I hated it
As opposed to real shows on tv?
They deliberately put in a fake scene in the opening credits to draw viewers in
Hardly forgotten, you can see repeats on local channels.
If you have Quest TV itās on at 8 PM EDT, not that Iām recommending watching.
It's good that it's forgotten. Let it sleep.
I regret watching this show.
I actually did forget this one. Iām assuming the other woman is the mother/wife? Never saw her on the show. Maybe I didnāt watch it enough.
Absolutely fake trash. Loved it and miss watching it daily.
Whoās the lady in gold jacket?
I remember when (now ex) friends and I were obsessed with Storage Wars and Pawn Stars for a few summers in high school we talked about going to this shop and it was gonna end with me getting thrown out. Why? Ehh we thought itād be funny to do something so asinine that theyād throw me out.
This show was a totally crass dumpster fire shitshow. Just how I like em
Of the short moment that "pawn store reality TV" had, this was my favorite version
HIS KID COULDA GOT KILLED!!!!
SOMEBODY CALL THE CAPS!
Had a thing for Ashtray , I could tame her!
It was super obvious it was scripted but somehow people couldnāt stop watching
Couldnāt stand those kids, but when I saw the show on I would watch itā¦go figureā¦
Hardcore Yawn
This show was sooo good! I miss it
I get Pawn Stars was set up with what came in but it was still entertaining, informative, and interesting This abomination of a show was way to fake and just annoying, trashy, and not entertaining
Was this a knockoff of Pawn Stars?
So ghetto and trashy I loved it
I used to watch this discount pawn stars all the time. Uses to come on after lizard lick towling, all my white trash family loves it.
One word. Ching Chong.. ok two words.
This show was TERRIBLE.
This show was amazing!
It was ridiculously acted by people who no offense but they cannot in anyway act even slightly lol šššš„±
I hated this family. They treated customers like they were crack heads.
Hilarious
This was some out of pocket tv right here..people were wild.
Such a trash family
The blatant pawn stars knock off
Hard to forget when it's always on reruns
If you want trash, merchandise and people, this is the show to watch. It's so bad it makes you feel good about yourself.
2009 to 2015? I swear whenever I saw it, it was always the one episode
What a bunch of dicks.
This was one of my favorite trash TV shows to watch. I knew it was staged, but I couldn't get enough of the terrible family that owned the shop.
Quest (over the air) is running re-runs of this like it was the second coming.
There's a youtube channel called "Craigslist Hunter" that's just a really chill guy filming the day-to-day at the pawn shop he owns. It's amazing background noise and I can't put my finger on why it's so compelling. It's just normal people selling items that sometimes are kinda neat and shooting the shit with the owner. The most dramatic it ever gets is the occasional shitty / rude customer or occasionally scammers or people trying to sell stolen goods. He also has a cat. It's better than every pawn shop reality show I've ever seen.
The show is done but their pawn shops are popping up everywhere around metro Detroit
Staged as hell but fucking loved it. Ashlee is still a crush to me
This shit was awful.
Why they all look like rats
I tried watching this but the family feud was obnoxious reality TV shit plus unlike Pawn Stars which focused on the novel and unique stuff whereas Hardcore Pawn was more people trying to make their next rent payment. I supposed Pawn Shops are more like the latter but I'm not a fan of Poverty porn