American Pickers

I'm pretty sure that I'm not the only one watching this show. Next to Mad Men, American Pickers is my favorite show currently on television. Sure I find Mike and Frank utterly annoying but the places they go, the people they meet and the great old things that they find make the show worth watching.

As much as I like to see what they find, I am often saddened to see what they leave behind. A few episodes ago they visited a man who claimed to be a psychic picker who, like many they visit, was very attached to his finds. The "psychic picker" had an entire old police station stuffed full of amazing antiques, none of which he was willing to let go. Here is where I get sad, this man had many things that people would like to buy to put in their house and use. Gorgeous mantles, tables, chairs, you name it he had it, but what was he doing with it? What purpose does it serve being jumbled up with other antiques? Wouldn't it be better if it went somewhere it could be seen and appreciated daily? A house, a museum, somewhere other than left to rot in a dank old police station.

American Pickers makes me wonder, how much of american history and pop culture is forever locked away in dilapidated buildings across America? Sigh. What I wouldn't give to visits the out buildings of America and rescue all those wonderful items that have been hoarded, abandoned, left behind to collect dust.