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Do you want to be on TV?

E

Erik

Site Administrator
Staff member
Joined
Apr 27, 2003
Messages
3,588
Location
San Jose, CA
I just got the following in my mailbox:

I am with a documentary television company that is looking for amateurs who are able to distinguish junk from treasure, and that includes architectural and computer salvaging, dumpster divers, etc. for a pilot series for the History Channel. The show is sort of Antique Roadshow with a little bit more testosterone SO ONLY MALES 18-45.

We are definitely looking for people who can share their know-how in locating discarded items "that have lost their shine and sparkle, but not their value – or their history."
In particular, we are looking for people who do this as a hobby and have a great passion for it.

Our show is about the search for such items, the history of the item and the appraisal of the item's value.
We would be doing an hour-long show featuring three collectors and would follow each collector on their journey for their hidden “treasure."

If you would be interested in speaking with me regarding this show, could you please contact me at the number or e-mail listed below.
Thank you!

--
Best Regards,

Barbara Hughes
Film Garden Entertainment, Inc.
Phone 818-301-4551

Fax 818-301-4684
Email: bhughesNOSPAM .at. NOSPAMfilmgarden.net
Click to expand...

I've previously chatted with Barbara's boss about the show and it sounds like they are getting closer to production.

If you can help, please get in touch with these folks ASAP!

Thanks and best of luck!
 
I would love too, but I assume that you need someone on the west coast? I am on the East coast. Let us know when the show airs.
 
Give 'em a call and find out. They may be willing to send a crew anywhere. I haven't asked. . . :)
 
I'm between 18 and 45. Somewhere. But for me, being on TV once already was one time to many.....
Besides I don't think a System Administrator with former Research and Development work counts as Amateur......

-V
 
I'm within the age range and am barely going to school (comparatively speaking), so I think I qualify as an amateur... should I wear the helmet to the set? :)

I sent my email. I mean, why not?

That brings to mind when a friend's mother thought she saw me getting killed in a hurricane near Florida on the news. Freaky. Must have been a doppleganger.

Nathan
 
The part with only guys, 18-45 sounds like they're trying to picture a stereotype rather than making a serious program, but if you've been in touch with the boss, maybe they really mean something. Maybe vintage computing etc isn't interesting enough to make a TV show without the "laugh at the nerds" factor?
 
carlsson said:
Maybe vintage computing etc isn't interesting enough to make a TV show without the "laugh at the nerds" factor?
Click to expand...

It didn't sound like they were trying to poke fun at or parody anyone. They just have a target demographic and they are trying to stay within that.

I'm not going to pass any sort of judgement until I see the pilot.

If I were more of an "active" collector (i.e. out on the streets looking) I'd have gone forward with this myself.
 
oh yeah...

oh yeah...

That would be cool if I were still pulling in strays off the street, garage sales, boot sales, university property auctions...etc.

carlsson makes a good point though, I'd be sort of afraid that I'd be in some sort of Trekkies type thing. True enough Erik, I shouldn't judge it until I see it.
 
Besides, in Antique Roadshow, I believe there are experts - professionals - who travel around and value people's stuff, not amateurs. To me it sounds more like a gameshow with a bit of Scrapheap flavor.

(If the demographic are men 18-45 years old, aren't they just as likely to watch the show if a few of the featured collectors/bargain hunters were hot women who also know what they're looking for? I think that is many nerds' ulterior dream; to see or even find a babe that at the same time is a hard-core geek)
 
This is exactly why I am avoiding this tread, but now I feel compelled to say something. Erik, you say their not out to make fun of anyone, yet in the e-mail they mention Dumpster Diving, no good can come from that. (When your on TV that is.) If they mention that, then it doesint sound like their going for informational. Another thing, last I checked Discrimination is illegal in the United States.
 
Pillage???

Sack the monastary...plunder it's dumpsters of thier electronic wealth...rape the defenseless computers, strip them of all dignity, then burn thier lifeless carcasses in the village square...

--T
 
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Terry Yager said:
Pillage???

Sack the monastary...plunder it's dumpsters of thier electronic wealth...rape the defenseless computers, strip them of all dignity, then burn thier lifeless carcasses in the village square...

--T
Click to expand...
Burn? What a waste! Sledgehammer!
 
Erik said:
I've previously chatted with Barbara's boss about the show and it sounds like they are getting closer to production.

If you can help, please get in touch with these folks ASAP!
Click to expand...
After I inquired about the show, Barbara wrote back saying
that what they are developing is a "pilot" show, i.e., the
show has not been sold yet to the network. If the pilot
show interests the network, the network will then authorize
production to make it into a continuing series.

As I've always heard, networks are deluged with many pilot
shows, and the chances that Barbara's show will be picked up
is small.

Truly,
Robert Bernardo
Fresno Commodore User Group
http://videocam.net.au/fcug
 
RobertB said:
As I've always heard, networks are deluged with many pilot shows, and the chances that Barbara's show will be picked up is small.
Click to expand...

True. This isn't a sure thing.

Then again, if the show is good the Discovery Channel (or one of the similar networks) should be interested.

I'll keep my fingers crossed! :D
 
It's fitting that our resident Commodore guru Robert B should put his reservations on this question. And from California , the home of stardoms shortfalls as well. Maybe is a standard answer in Hollywood.

Vlad > Erik, you say their not out to make fun of anyone, yet in the e-mail they mention Dumpster Diving, no good can come from that. (When your on TV that is.) <

On the contrary, dumpster diving is a established as a source of computer finds. To many other poor or homeless people it is also a source of income and yes even food. I'll identify with them much quicker than the the collector who simply opens his check-book and pays outrageous prices on an item that can impress his/her friends.
Considering the "reality" shows and an "idiot" factor, dumpster diving is pretty low on the humiliation scale.

Vlad >If they mention that, then it doesint sound like their going for informational. Another thing, last I checked Discrimination is illegal in the United States.<

I wasn't sure I read that line correctly from an otherwise seemingly intelligent person. As a foreigner who happens to live in the shadow of the US behemoth and shares in common many unholy values, it seems evident that discrimination is part and parcel of US society from it's formation till the present. A new candidate has even been added to it's niggers, kikes, chinks, injuns, DPs , dagoes, greasers, mexes since 9/11.
Ragheads,musselmen, eh-rabs.

Poverty, physical or mental infirminty don't even make a glitch on the scale.
One can only consider him/her-self blessed if in his/her collecting enthusiasm, we are confused as being of the children of the gods.

Lawrence
 
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