Antiques Nerdshow

This'll blow the mind of exactly nobody who knows me, but I've been a huge dork for Antiques Roadshow for years - and now I'm keeping an eye on Buried Treasure.

For those of you too lazy to click, Buried Treasure is a semi-spin-off of the Antiques Roadshow premise, if not the literal franchise; and it centers on a pair of brothers who've been part of the PBS show for quite some time.

In short, people call the Kenos when they hope they're sitting on something valuable. The brothers in turn show up, poke through those people's stuff, and tell them if it's worth anything. And I absolutely adore watching them do it.

* * * * *

Much as I enjoy the roadshow, I am acutely aware of the fact that I don't own anything worth taking to it.

I am southern, and I grew up broke. I borrowed my way through college, did time in academia - and eventually left the university with an M.A. in rhetoric, of all things ... which is to say, I'm very interested in the subtextual and connotational baggage that accompanies all forms of human interaction.1

So I could sit here all night and dissect the power intersection that occurs on programs like Antiques Roadshow and Buried Treasures; I could natter on about often-wealthy authorities colliding with the uninformed masses, and all the ways it could go bad, and wrong, and condescending (but almost never does).

Instead I will tell you that I love to watch the Keno brothers, for two main reasons.

One, they are hopeless geeks. If they were living in a box beneath an overpass, they'd still be giddy over furniture that costs more than my car, and God bless 'em for it. In a world where coolness has long meant detachment and disaffection, I am thrilled to see a couple of dudes in expensive suits literally bouncing up and down and clapping their hands at the sight of charmingly dimpled stoneware.

Sincere enthusiasm - that, my friends, is cool.
To hell with anyone who says it isn't.

And two, they are always kind. Even when dealing with people who don't understand what they're saying, or don't believe them, or openly distrust them ... I've never seen the brothers be anything but earnest and warm. It's an art form. Maybe it's a geek art form - maybe it's learned from caring passionately about a subject that's largely dismissed by others.2

Regardless, I'm glad to see them out there, doing their thing and making people happy.

Yes. Well. Anyway.

Here on the West Coast, Buried Treasure will be on-air soon - right after Jeopardy, in fact. (Double nerd points!) I'm going to go make myself a drink, sit around, and watch the ever-living crap out of it.


1 And, one could argue based upon that degree, I am not very interested in earning a steady living - but that's not true. It's not my fault I'm no good at anything but making shit up.
2 Or maybe the moment the cameras stop rolling, they turn into a pair of bookend douchebags. But I doubt it. And if you have anecdotal evidence to the contrary, keep it to yourself. Leave me my happy delusions!