''American Pickers'' is an American

reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 1 ...

series that premiered on January 18, 2010 on

History History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

, produced by A&E Television Networks in collaboration with Cineflix Media. In the series, the hosts travel across America in search of rare Americana artifacts and national treasures that they can buy from the collectors to add to their personal collections or sell in their antique shops.

Overview

The show follows

antique An antique ( la, antiquus; 'old', 'ancient') is an item perceived as having value because of its aesthetic or historical significance, and often defined as at least 100 years old (or some other limit), although the term is often used loosely ...

and

collectible A collectable (collectible or collector's item) is any object regarded as being of value or interest to a collector. Collectable items are not necessarily monetarily valuable or uncommon. There are numerous types of collectables and terms t ...

pickers Mike Wolfe and Frank Fritz, who travel around the United States to buy (or "pick") various items for resale, for clients, or for their personal collections. Danielle Colby runs the office of Wolfe's business, Antique Archaeology, from their home base in LeClaire, Iowa, and more recently at a second location in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and ...

. They originally traveled in a

Mercedes-Benz Sprinter The Mercedes-Benz Sprinter is a light commercial vehicle (van) built by Mercedes-Benz Group AG of Stuttgart, Germany as a large van, chassis cab, minibus, and pickup truck. In the past, the Sprinter had been sold under the Mercedes-Benz, Dod ...

van A van is a type of road vehicle used for transporting goods or people. Depending on the type of van, it can be bigger or smaller than a pickup truck and SUV, and bigger than a common car. There is some varying in the scope of the word across th ...

and now in a

Ford Transit The Ford Transit is a family of light commercial vehicles manufactured by the Ford Motor Company since 1965, primarily as a cargo van, but also available in other configurations including a large passenger van (marketed as the Ford Tourneo in ...

. Fritz sells his acquisitions at his own shop, and on his website, Frank Fritz Finds, upriver in Savanna, Illinois. The men go on the road, not only following up leads that Colby has generated but also "freestyling" – stopping at places that look like they might hold items worth buying. They also pick some places more than once. The series introduction is narrated by Wolfe and Fritz. The first three seasons used a lengthy introduction, but beginning with Season 4, a shortened version began to be used: Mike and Frank explore people's homes, barns, sheds, outbuildings, and other places where they have stored antiques and collectibles. They call upon amateur and serious collectors, hoarders, and also people who have inherited overwhelming collections of items that they don't know what to do with. Wolfe, who has been picking since age four, has a particular interest in antique motorcycles,

air-cooled Air-cooled engines rely on the circulation of air directly over heat dissipation fins or hot areas of the engine to cool them in order to keep the engine within operating temperatures. In all combustion engines, a great percentage of the heat ge ...

Volkswagen Volkswagen (),English: , . abbreviated as VW (), is a German Automotive industry, motor vehicle manufacturer headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1937 by the German Labour Front under the Nazi Party and revived into a ...

s (pronounced “votes-wagon” by Wolfe), old bicycles and

penny-farthing The penny-farthing, also known as a high wheel, high wheeler or ordinary, is an early type of bicycle. It was popular in the 1870s and 1880s, with its large front wheel providing high speeds (owing to its travelling a large distance for every r ...

s, while Fritz has a fondness for antique toys,

oil can An oil can (oilcan or oiler)Honda is a Japanese public multinational conglomerate manufacturer of automobiles, motorcycles, and power equipment, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, reaching a producti ...

s, with a special love for peanut-related items. They have purchased old advertisements and commercial signage,

film poster A film poster is a poster used to promote and advertise a film primarily to persuade paying customers into a theater to see it. Studios often print several posters that vary in size and content for various domestic and international markets. Th ...

s, a rare 15-gallon visible

gasoline pump A gasoline pump is a machine at a filling station that is used to pump gasoline (petrol), diesel, or other types of liquid fuel into vehicles. Gasoline pumps are also known as bowsers or petrol bowsers (in Australia), petrol pumps (in C ...

, and a

Piaggio Ape The Piaggio Ape (; is ), initially marketed as VespaCar or TriVespa, is a three-wheeled light commercial vehicle, manufactured and marketed by Piaggio as an adaption of the company's Vespa scooter ( being Italian for 'wasp' instead). It is in co ...

(pronounced: ''ah-pay'') that one of their friends told them is probably the only one of its kind in North America. In December 2011, ''American Pickers'' revealed that Antique Archaeology had leased part of a former 1914 car factory in

, which originally made the ''

Marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of , usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There are also wheelchair div ...

'' automobile, for a second business location to decrease the distance required to haul their finds from the southern states. On March 13, 2018, Mike Wolfe made a cameo as himself on Season 15, Episode 17, of '' NCIS'', titled "One Man's Trash". On July 21, 2021, The History Channel announced that Frank Fritz would be departing from the cast of ''American Pickers''. On July 21, 2022, various news outlets reported that Fritz was hospitalized with a

stroke A stroke is a disease, medical condition in which poor cerebral circulation, blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: brain ischemia, ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and intracranial hemorrhage, hemorr ...

after Wolfe posted about it on social media.

Reception

The series debuted on January 18, 2010. The premiere episode of ''American Pickers'' had 3.1 million viewers, making it the highest rated History channel debut since '' Ice Road Truckers'' in 2007. The September 8, 2010, episode "Laurel & Hardy" garnered

Nielsen ratings Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the Nielsen rat ...

as high as 5.3 million viewers in the 25–54 age group. As of that episode, the show retained the title of #1 new non-fiction series of 2010 among all viewers and adults 25–54.

Australia

American Pickers has also been a hit in Australia, where it can be viewed on Channel ''

7mate 7mate is an Australian free-to-air digital television multichannel, which was launched by the Seven Network on 25 September 2010. The channel contains sport and regular programs aimed primarily to a male audience, with programming drawn from a ...

''. In 2013 An Australian version of the show called ''

Aussie Pickers ''Aussie Pickers'' is an Australian reality television series which premiered on A&E on 9 May 2013. It is an Australian adaption of American series ''American Pickers''. The show follows Lucas Callaghan and Adam McDonald as they travel aroun ...

'' premiered on 7mate. The series ran until 2014, lasting two seasons. In 2019, Road to Riches was launched on A&E Australia

Episodes

Home media

In other media

*In the '' NCIS'' episode, "One Man's Trash", Gibbs and Ducky watch ''American Pickers'' and see an antique war stick from a 16-year-old cold case. Mike Wolfe guest stars as himself in the episode.

References

External links

*
History's "Meet the Pickers" cast bios

Official Antique Archaeology website

Official Frank Fritz Finds website
*
"American Pickers": The Inside Story of the History Channel’s Surprise Hit
Jeff Ignatius, ''

River Cities' Reader The ''River Cities' Reader'' is an independently owned alternative newspaper based in Davenport, Iowa. The newspaper was founded in 1993 and is circulated throughout the Quad-Cities metropolitan area and outlying communities. ''The Readers form ...

'', 17 March 2010 {{Authority control 2010 American television series debuts 2010s American reality television series 2020s American reality television series Antiques television series English-language television shows History (American TV channel) original programming Television shows set in Iowa Television series by Cineflix