ideabook

Fully expected to not like this series, but, after watching it for awhile I have to admit that I enjoy it.

As noted the series theme deals with collectors who come on, banter back and forth with Ms. Whelchel about it, then get to interact with an expert who usually makes the collector a tempting offer to trade. This added game show dimension is done is such a low key manner that it's easy to accept and make our own guess.

Ms. Whelchel does a good job interacting with the collectors, who usually arrive on camera with a family member of friend and the subject matter expert about the collection, trying to get the guest collector to talk about their collection and share their enthusiasm and energy about the topic at hand. Ms. Whelchel, of course, is the poster child for those things going back to her career on 'The Facts of Life' a cute 70s ish series which allowed her to smile a lot and interact with others.

As of this date (7/2019) the series has been extended for another season and will bring back the same cast and theme. That's good because this type of series needs someone like Ms. Whelchel to propel it forward. Watching her stand there, smiling and looking excited brings energy to the show and helps loosen up the guests, who are all just regular people like us.

This is the first shot at making their own product by METV. The honchos there believe a series about collectors taps into the nostalgia craze and should be of interest to and a natural connection for the current viewers. Not sure if they'll keep it on the same night and time, but, sounds weird but even that is cute. You have to seek this series out to watch. I found it by accident, flipping the dial looking for 'The Odd Couple', which they used to air on Sunday nights. No dice, that series was sent into outer space. Probably not to return for awhile.

One thing you could always count on with this series was the shop owner, Dan, always being bent out of shape and taking nothing easy. Instead, he goes off the deep end more than Oliver Wendall Douglas on Green Acres (since both are fictional characters, why not compare them?).

In this episode Dan does a few things out of character for him. One, he actually listens to a pitch from anyone not him. This time, from an employee, a guy who literally pops out of the woodwork and pitches a restoration plan for an old Model T Ford. This alone is not in Dan's wheelhouse. As an anal guy, no way this Ford hasn't already been charted and given a project name and number, and assigned a project manager. Next, we find out who the mythical PM is: Dan's young daughter. Why her, who knows?. She's more anal than her dad, if that's possible. And, maybe for laughs, takes charge of this Ford Project. Showing Dan has a mean sense of humor, turning her loose on the rather silly woodworking PM wanna-be promises to let her expose the abundant supply of testosterone she inherited from the old man. Third, Dan really gives his fictional series TV character a direct drilling in the caboose, and states for all to hear that he has somehow managed to forget a project and let one of his men take it on. This stirs confusion among his troops. They all cringe at the thought of it happening to them. To top it off, working under the bosses little girl. Sack and all.

As we watch the other car done for this episode with no interest, we focus on the Ford Project with all of our well earned knowledge of this fine series. We're confused as well because this episode is so un-Dan like. Whoever wrote this episode was either promoted or lined up before a firing squad. Or both. Or married to Dan's offspring.

What really blows this whole deal is when the rapidly losing altitude woodworker gets a call with a quote for parts. The call is not only done on speakerphone but right in front of the bosses little girl. Try woodworker guy tries to dig out of his hole ('can I have a military discount?') and fails, then gets reamed by the girl and PM and bosses daughter. All fake. The daughter acts as bad as she comes across, as a poster child for the Virginia Republican Party (no offense).

This scene alone is so fake and contrived that only a complete mindless ape couldn't figure that out. The poor woodworker, forced to bend over and take it over nearly each of his 'management decisions' drawing insults from Ms. PM never overcomes his lack of este nagales and hears a muted mush sound later when he tries in vain to clank them together.

Tail between his legs, at the end he faces the boss who spares him. As a true fictional character on this fictional TV series, big time Dan let's woodman off the hook but warns him his future as a member of the management class is in peril, as is his chance to get a crack at his daughter. Woodman, of course, understands this. But, he also knows he is headed for failure city, all because he let them use him in this episode. Soon enough, he'll be changing spark-plugs at a Jiffy Lube in Arlington, or even worse, Stafford, Virginia.

'Full Custom Garage' (FCG) is a unique series, airing on a cable channel which is a poster child for running series that are all the same. FCG brings a talented metal worker, welder and artist (not a mechanic, he tends to avoid that topic) together will junk yard odds and ends with the result usually being some sort of strange looking small vehicle, truck, car or 3 wheeler. Ian, the host, as many have noted here and he often let's us know on air doesn't use blueprints or other normal work guides. Instead, he works thru visions in his head and crafts whatever those might be.

Ian uses props as guest persons, usually some old timer from the hills of Northern California who need something done to a vehicle they own, and usually 'right away'. this, or course, adds the element of time, running against the clock and the dynamic, or friction, to get the project done before the episode ends. This is the aspect of the series I'm not a fan of. Ian is a unique entertainer whose skills alone can carry most episodes. Running it against the clock knocks the series down a lot, taking it from something possible special, certainly unique, to just another version of the never ending battalions of the channels other series. Those all feature the usually over tattooed and over weight and bearded mechanics who labor away each day with a camera stuck in their face and are directed around by recent Film School losers under the hyper watchful eye of their respective boss/owner. The running 'against the clock' theme runs heavy with them. Each episode features some project that highlights the services the garage provides, the owner standing outside of the work and workers dropping by only to comment on the time element. These series have, for the past several seasons, been using the theme of the business and how they are all driven by making a lot of money, etc.

Perhaps the worst of these series I the 'Graveyard Cars', which appears to just be a one hour feature series on old Detroit power cars logistics and supply chain functions. The owner of this garage and program host stands out because he is a certified nut, totally insane and out of touch with reality. Things on his show have gotten so bad that he can only employ and feature on the series family members. Most of the actual mechanics blew this guy off, finding working for him too much to endure.

Finally, the only other series on this channel that was close to reality and not driven by the clown show characters of the rest, Fantomworks garage, was cancelled last season. Although still in reruns it was axed when the owner wouldn't turn his garage into a clown show, aka 'Graveyard Cars' and start stocking his place up with fat white 20s tattooed bearded figments who