Competition Eventually Visits Every Product/Market

I wrote a post last year involving History Channel programs featuring a pawn broker and two Iowa-based "pickers."


Both History Channel programs have already spawned competitors.

The pickers now have competition on Lifetime. The new series stars two pretty young Southern sisters, Tanya McQueen and Tracy Hutson, who call themselves Picker Sisters. They differentiate themselves by focusing on the storefront gallery they run, and how they envision transforming their derelict picks into trendy furnishings. Their refurbishment guy is often included to discuss how the piece will be treated to arrive at the sisters' desired look.

Unlike the Iowa pickers, Frank and Mike, who seem to mostly just recycle their picks as-is, the sisters' and their program seeks to engage buyers' and viewers' sense of style, fashion and interior decorating.


Pawn Stars has provoked a low-rent version of itself on another network. The name escapes me, but it's pretty much a direct rip-off, but with far less humor, drama and educational value.

But it just goes to show that, even with what you'd think would be fairly innocuous products, like quirky cable television special-interest programs, knockoffs arrive with surprising speed.