Hardcore Pawn

Hardcore Pawn is an American reality television series produced by RDF USA (later Zodiak Media) and Richard Dominick Productions for truTV about the day-to-day operations of American Jewelry and Loan, a family-owned and -operated pawn shop and broker on Detroit’s 8 Mile Road corridor.[1][2]

The series premiered on August 16, 2010,[3] delivering two million viewers, setting a record as truTV's most-watched series premiere ever.[4] Production was halted and the show was canceled in 2014.[5]

Overview

American Jewelry and Loan is owned by

Cast

Leslie "Les" Gold, owner

Seth Gold, Les' son, co-owner

Ashley Gold Broad, Les' daughter, co-owner, head of Jewelry department. Left the pawn shop after series concluded to start her own online jewelry business

Lili Gold, Les' wife and office manager. Appears occasionally in the background during the first season, but is never seen or mentioned thereafter

Karen Mitchell, Les' niece, co-manager of the jewelry department (seasons 8–9)

Bobby Janiec ("Bobby J"), store employee. Left the pawn shop early in 2016, and has since posted in various social media accounts that he feels he was taken advantage of by the owner, Les Gold.

Byron, security (season 6 then became head of security in episode 1 of season 7 after Joe was caught stealing)

Hook, security (seasons 1–9)

Joe, also known as "Big Joe", head of security (seasons 1–6); arrested, then fired for getting caught on camera stealing scrap gold. The incident aired on season six finale.

Felix, security (seasons 1–6). Known for long thick beard. Left for unknown reasons. Departure not addressed on show

Rich Pyle, store manager (seasons 1–6). Store manager for 25 years. Plays in a rock band on the side. Was sent home by Les in a controversial episode for an apparently minor dispute. He returned to the store the next day and apologized, but he was eventually written out of the show and left the pawn shop altogether.

Robo, head of security (season 1). In the series premiere, he was the long-time head of security. However, he was sent home for inappropriately biting an employee. While he was brought back after his temporary suspension, he is only seen a couple more times for the rest of season 1, and is not seen again from season 2 onwards.

Jeff, jewelry technician. Responsible for setting diamonds, melting gold, etc. It was from his desk that former security guard Joe was caught stealing.

Nikki, Amber, Christina; window clerks. Christina was caught stealing and arrested in a season 8 episode.

Darren McCarty, former National Hockey League hockey player for Detroit Red Wings who appeared on the show initially to sell taxidermy animals but wound up being offered a job as an entry-level pawnbroker. Initially makes the mistake of overpaying for a couple of Red Wing jerseys but makes up for it by signing them, thereby increasing their value.

Reception

Ratings response

The show averaged 2.6 million viewers during its sixth season.[15]

Comparison to Pawn Stars

The show has been largely compared to similar reality program Pawn Stars on History, but in the vein of similar programs also on truTV (Operation Repo and Lizard Lick Towing for example), where it differs however is the focus being mainly on the human aspects of drama and interaction, rather than the actual significance of the items being brought into the shop.[16]

Due to similarities to Pawn Stars, Hardcore Pawn has been described as simply being a knock-off and a capitalization on the breakout success of Pawn Stars.[17] Les defends the show with claims that his show is a true representation of what a pawn shop does, focusing on the human element and showing that people are suffering tough times and need money for basic necessities like food and rent.[3][18]

According to Marc Juris of truTV, any similarities between the shows are coincidental. He also noted that Hardcore Pawn was in development for more than a year and two test episodes aired in December 2009. Regarding the initial identical time slot of Monday nights at 10 pm ET, opposite Pawn Stars at the time, Juris claimed the choice was made because Hardcore Pawn fit well with Operation Repo. The second season debuted in December 2010, in the Tuesday at 9 pm ET timeslot.[19]

Reality versus scripting

The first season put an emphasis on the sad stories of people pawning their possessions and on the Golds' need to arm and otherwise protect themselves in dangerous Detroit. This was deemed too dark for television, and from the second season all mention of danger was dropped, and pawn stories downplayed in favor of people selling unusual things and Les bargaining them down in price. Owner Les said at the launch of the show that there would be no staged antics, products or characters on the show.[3] However, New York Post writer Linda Stasi has opined that some situations in Hardcore Pawn are set up. Big Daddy, who was on a never-aired episode back in 2011, confirms that, although his particular segment was lightly coached and completely unscripted, he did observe at least one other guest directed in what he should say and do.[20]

starring	Les Gold Seth Gold Ashley Broad Bobby Janiec Karen Mitchell
country	United States
language	English
num seasons	9
num episodes	162
list episodes	List of Hardcore Pawn episodes
runtime	30 minutes
company	RDF USA / Zodiak USA Richard Dominick Productions
channel	truTV
first aired	August 16, 2010
last aired	April 6, 2015
related	Hardcore Pawn: Chicago

Overview

Episodes

Cast

Series cancellation

Reception

Ratings response

Comparison to Pawn Stars

Reality versus scripting

Spin-offs

See also

External links

References