Pawn Stars 4

History Channel's Poor Business Plan Remains Intact
After launching the incomplete Pawn Stars Season 3 (deviously named "Volume 3") with only 16 episodes, the marketing blunder continues with the impending release of 16 Pawn Stars Season 4 episodes on 2 DVD's.

I purchased the first two full season Pawn Stars sets and fell in love with the show. Subsequent to my own purchase, I ordered three additional sets from Amazon for delivery to friends and relatives, generating four sales of the same two full season DVD sets. Negative reviews from others prompted me to delay buying Volume 3 until the producers elected to release the full 3rd season in one DVD set, as they had done for the first two seasons. This has not happened, nor does it seem likely since season / volume 4 is now following the same poor business plan as Pawn Stars season 3 did.

In an effort to entice the producers to release full-season versions of Pawn Stars DVD sets, I contacted History Channel via their web site. After two weeks had passed, their...

The Volume Debate Continues: 16 More Episodes, Half A Season And Half The Price
Quick Take: Essentially, this is half a season for half the price. A non-sale, non-discounted price of 19.95 fits in line with almost six hours worth of DVD content. A full season, had it been released that way, would simply have doubled the asking price.

Last year, History and A&E Television made the dubious decision to start releasing Volumes of their most popular shows as opposed to Seasons. I was one of the most vocal opponents of this move and some of my scathing tirades can be found on those initial releases. In truth, though, I have nothing against the idea of volume releases (especially for shows that aren't held together by continuing plot threads) as long as three things are clear:

1) They need to be priced according to content and no more expensive individually than a season set would be.
2) Don't start releasing Full Seasons and then switch tactics mid-stream to confuse unsuspecting buyers.
3) If it isn't a season, all content needs to be...

Entertaining Show
This is a very entertaining show: interesting items are brought in for sell; tough negotiations are conducted, and most customers are given fair value for their items. Sometimes the pawn shop negotiators get a better deal than expected because they themselves are not certain of the value of an item and later discover it is worth much more than expected. At other times they surprise a customer by informing the customer that their item is much more valuable than thought by the customer. This is a tough business, but these guys expertly handle it.

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