History explores America's past

MANILA, Philippines - History opens the New Year with two TV programs that explore contemporary America, while providing glimpses into its past. 

The fascinating world and history of the pawning business is revealed in Pawn Stars (premieres Jan. 10, Mondays at 10 p.m.), the personality-driven series that takes viewers inside the doors of the only family-run pawnshop in Las Vegas.

Here, three generations of men from the Harrison family — ”The Old Man”, Rick and Corey (grandfather, father and son) — amusingly clash while running a business where everything has a history and a price. Living and breathing the pawn business, they use their sharp and well-honed skills to carefully assess the value of items that run the gamut of the obscure to the truly historic.

From a 15th century samurai sword to a Picasso painting, there isn’t much these guys haven’t seen or heard, inevitably making them experts in rare collectables — able to discern the real from the fake, decipher fact from fiction, and ultimately reveal the often surprising answer to “What’s it worth?”

In the world of antiques, it takes an expert to turn rust into riches. Part sleuths, part antiques experts, and part cultural historians— Mike Wolfe and Frank Fritz, business partners of Antique Archaeology based in Iowa, are on a mission to recycle America. In American Pickers, which airs Jan. 10, Mondays at 11 p.m., these two professionals travel cross country to salvage rare collectibles and good junk from regular folks.

The ten-part series gives audiences a look into this little-known side of the antiques business, following the adventures of Mike and Frank as they dig through junk piles, abandoned barns and neglected garages to uncover hidden memorabilia. Sometimes they make a buck, and sometimes they walk away with little more than an item's history.

The open road is their office, and as they pass through numerous small towns and back roads, each treasure hunt leads them to fascinating, quirky characters — everyday people with moving and surprising stories about their artifacts and themselves that open a window into American life.