“Storage Wars,” one of A&E’s most well-known television
series is on its fourth season and is high ranked in the reality television
show world. The show consists of four main buyers that try to bid out one
another on abandoned storage units through various areas of California. The
show focuses on Barry, Darrell, Brandi and Jarrod. Each episode is set up the
same way; first, they introduce the characters with the famous theme song,
“Money Owns This Town,” which was made for the television show and was written
by Alabama 3. Then, a preview of the episode you are about to experience plays
for a brief moment. There are two parts to the show; the first part is the
“friendly” competition component. The storage units are dramatically unveiled
and the buyers only have five minutes to look at the unit. The rules for the
unit is that they cannot touch anything or go inside of it. This heightens the
tension of the buyers because they are dying to know if the unit is worth it to
gain profit. The action of bidding begins and the intensity starts to build.
With Dan, the auctioneer spewing out numbers and the camera panning back and
forth between the players, the footage keeps you on the edge of your seat. The
music becomes faster and finally someone wins the unit. The second portion
shows the buyers, what they find in their units and seeing if they can make a
profit from their discoveries. They always find an item in the unit that needs
to be checked out by an expert and that is always near the end of the episode.
The episode wraps up with what the profits were for the units the contestants
bought.
The contestants are what make the show engaging. Each player
has a nickname associated to them and that is how they are introduced in the
show. Barry Weiss is known as “The Collector” and he is the older buyer with a
sarcastic personality. Darrell Sheets is known as “The Gambler” and he is very
enthusiastic, loud and usually brings his son along with him to the storage
auctions. Jarrod Schulz and Brandi Passante are married and they act like it
with all the bickering and arguing they do. Jarrod is nicknamed “The Young Gun”
because he is young and always wants to jump the gun on buying a unit. Brandi
keeps him in line and reinstates that they don’t have the money to buy every
storage unit. They own a second hand store and put the valuable items from the
auctions in their shop. The players all have distinct characteristics that
allow the audience to create a relationship with each one, whether they love
them or hate them.
“Storage Wars” reveals how the competitive nature works in
our society. In some cases, the competitiveness comes off as greed. People are
obsessed with monetary gain and when anything has to do with wealth and money,
people become competitive and will do anything in their power to essentially
“win.” These matters occur constantly on “Storage Wars.” All of the contestants
will do anything to get the unit they want; whether it be mocking the other
contestants and playing mind games, or having a cocky attitude and thinking
they are the best. When people succeed at being competitive, it only fuels
their greed to want more and more. If you win something once, you will become
more arrogant and selfish. When competition comes into play, you see the
person’s true colors. In one of
the episodes in the fourth season, Barry runs up the bidding on a unit that he
doesn’t even want just so his competitor will end up with spending more money
and he has more opportunities to find out which units are better; his just
proves that everyone is working for themselves. As humans, we love competition;
we love participating in it, watching it, and starting it. Television shows
that portray our cultures interests will instantly grab the viewer.
People do become greedy when competition gets extreme. We
are all aware of the viscous “Black Friday”; this day shows how our society
really thinks. People dispute for hours on materialistic items that they want
on this day and physical fights even break out. It seems excessive when people
are fighting for something that will probably end up in one of these storage
units. Hopefully, when viewers watch this show, they can realize how silly it
is to compete this much over a used item. However, this is what makes it a
great show because people can relate to it. The show is relatable to our
culture, even if some of our cultural views are skewed.
Storage Wars also reflects our buying culture in America. On
the show, they cannot even see most of the items in the storage unit, but they
buy them on a whim hoping that it will satisfy their every want and need. This
is how we buy things; we blindly know what we are getting. Many times we buy
things on impulse, especially things we don’t need. However, the buyers on
Storage Wars usually know which units have potential and which units don’t.
This show is more than just getting drunk on the Jersey Shore; it’s about
knowing what you are about to purchase. It’s about knowing how to make a smart
decision and maybe letting a unit go to someone else once in a while. These
people have to be knowledgeable; that is what is so great about this show. The
audience is not just watching incompetent people buy used items, they are
watching people that know how to buy unwanted items because they have educated
themselves on what is worth something. There are times that they don’t make the
right buying decision, but let’s face it; they are human. They know what items
could have potential after going through the new unit and they take it to an
expert to clarify if they made a good buying decision. As Americans, we pay for
things we don’t need. People buy these storage units to hoard the items they
will never use again. Sadly, individuals are paying a pricey fee every month to
store this junk. The buyers on this show are making the smart move when the
person that owned the unit was not.
Reality television comes with having cheesy one-liners. This
is when you have to draw the line between reality and reality television. The
audience needs to ask themselves, “Is it scripted?” When the characters are
having their one-on-ones with the camera man, I am sure that they are given
certain lines to say because one person cannot be that cliché. In one of the
episodes, Darrell comes across an item that is used to teach students about the
solar system. He took the gadget to a planetarium society and was in search to
find out the value. In the “confessional” he says, “I’m hoping the value is
astronomy sized (with emphasis on astronomy).” This is just one example where
the contestant says a cheesy line. Aside from silly one-liners, the show is
very real. They are regular people that do this as a hobby or as a living.
After watching this show, viewers can see themselves doing this as a hobby or a
way to make a profit. If the stars on the show can do it, anyone can do it. The
audience realizes this and that’s why people watch it. It is easy to relate to
the characters and we can do what the stars are doing.
This addictive television show does wonders on the mind. It
motivates the audience to want to sift through their own items and see what
they have of value just like the “Storage Wars” stars. It creates a new mindset
in the average consumer’s mind. It may make them want to spend less and focus
their attention on what they already have instead of buying without thinking.
The viewers can make this a family activity just like
Brandi and Jarrod do as well as Darrell and his son. It can create stronger
bonds between family and friends. You can start making storage auctions a
tradition. Eventually, the present of seeking out storage units will become a
fun memory that you shared with the loved ones in your life.
This show will motivate you, make you laugh, and have you on
the edge of your seat with the suspenseful music, the outlandish characters,
and the shockingly valuable items. It will educate you on items that you would
never know were priceless. It will teach you how to identify the relationships
with your own items. The personalities will keep you guessing and you won’t
know what is to be expected next. The best part about the show is they have
traits that we can all relate to. They are not billionaires, they are the
“average joe” type that is just trying to make money like everyone else. After
watching this show and becoming addicted to it, it even motivated me to look
for used items that can have a large profit. I am very into photography and
anything having to do with it; lenses, flashes, and camera bodies. I have a lot
of knowledge around photography just like the “Storage Wars” stars have around
many different items. Last summer, I was with my family at a multi-family tag
sale and spotted a Nikon Speedlight Flash that was brand new. Immediately, I
asked how much it was and bought it for $20. After posting it on Ebay and
watching the bids skyrocket, the winning bid taking it home for $418 and I was
thrilled. After experiencing the same feeling that the Storage Wars stars
experience, I could relate to them even more as well as the show itself.
Bidding on storage units is what makes them happy. It’s exciting to watch a
television show where they are doing something not only for the profit because
they love doing it.
