I was just watching Antiques Roadshow. Owners bring in hopefully valuable antiques. An owner tells an expert what he or she knows about the object and what they paid for it and any other idea they might have about how much it might be worth.
Next, the expert tells the whole truth about the object to the owner who reacts to the appraisal with pleasure, pride, disappointment or like a stupid goof. That's the highlight moment of the show.
I watched this tonight with usual very mild amusement and then it occurred to me what I would find to be extremely amusing.
After the expert tells the whole truth about the object and the owner reacts, the owner is not surprised as the expert then picks up a baseball bat, ax, blow torch or etc. and dutifully destroys the object, bringing its value very close to or below zero. The owner of the object remains calm and of an unchanged attitude since the budget of the program pays him the appraised value of the objects. He is then presented with a check and the show moves on to the next object.
I told my idea to MB, who often likes the Antiques Roadshow better than other shows in the surf. She laughed even though now usually numb to my humor.
Clearly this show would be a hit within today's entertainment value system.-- Mustardface, Feb 04 2005 Antiques Roadshow http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/roadshow/ [Mustardface, Feb 04 2005] (?) Hugh Scully http://www.bellydancer.org.uk/scully.jpg [calum, Feb 04 2005] (?) Emily Howard http://www.bbc.co.u...s/characters7.shtml'She' is actually a rather unconvincing transvestite with a deliberately fake, posh lady-like voice. [Jinbish, Feb 04 2005] Broken Antique http://kerfuffle.net/Content/151TechTV accident, smashing an Edison recording cylinder [gardnertoo, Feb 08 2005] anything that can be done to make the program interesting is worth a try.-- neilp, Feb 04 2005 The one time I saw the show I thought it interesting and a bit fun.-- bristolz, Feb 04 2005 Stay away from my Stradivarius.-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Feb 04 2005 [bris] the last time I watch it I was about 11, for some reason it seemed to be a family activity on a Sunday evening for most of my childhood (why I didn't just get up and go read a book I've no idea), my objection was more against the posh people they have on the program than against the format itself. "Why Mr Hughes, I had no idea that my teapot was worth 1.5 million pounds, I'll never sell it, it makes such a lovely vase" (best Emily Howard voice).-- neilp, Feb 04 2005 Surely 'Mr Scully' [neilp]!-- gnomethang, Feb 04 2005 I love the look of hidden disappointment when they realise their painting is worth £2.50-- po, Feb 04 2005 Particularly when they "only" paid £80 for it.-- angel, Feb 04 2005 Didn't the Taleban try something like this with tanks and large statues?-- AbsintheWithoutLeave, Feb 04 2005 :) Appraiser: "I'm glad you brought this in! This is actually a T'ang Dynasty porcelain flower vase, as you can see from the sculptor's mark on the - Whoops! " [SMASH*] ...Do you have any idea how much that was worth?"
Customer (faintly): "No, not the faintest idea."
Appraiser: "I estimate that at auction that item would have brought at least 4 million dollars."
Customer: "Oh my god, I can't believe it!"
Appraiser: "Thank you so much for bringing it in."
This would be very, very cute for an April Fools Day episode.-- phundug, Feb 07 2005 Saw it happen (most of you probably have too, but I've linked it anyway) on Tech TV, but not on purpose. Not long after saying "there's no other one like this particular one in the world", the guy smashes it to a million pieces in his hands.-- gardnertoo, Feb 08 2005 Changed title, makin 'Antique' singular and adding 'Road' in.-- Mustardface, Apr 17 2010 There was an episode of Antiques Roadshow where a small child accidentally destroyed an apparently valuable statue as a prank (it was a set up and the statue was actually worthless).-- DrBob, Apr 19 2010 random, halfbakery