American Restoration: Volume One

Like Pawn Stars, American Restoration is a fun, fly-on-the-wall reality series that taps into the memory of our cultural heritage through artifacts that have acquired value as collectibles. The show's central figure is Rick Dale, a master craftsman who can take a pile of rusted junk and make it new again, both in appearance and function. Working alongside him are his brother, Ron; his son, Tyler; the cranky Kowboy; and the hapless Brettly. Rick's Restorations is where the world brings its broken-down treasures to be raised from the dead: a 1960s golf cart, a 1950s Hopalong Cassidy bicycle, a 1940s Hershey's chocolate bar dispenser, an apple peeler-corer made in 1829, a vintage streetlamp broken during high winds, etc. Typically, some interesting family dynamics transpire behind the scenes. Rick's mentoring of 17-year-old Tyler is rewarded in the final episode, when Tyler restores an old fan by himself as a Father's Day present to show Rick how much he's learned. One of the most interesting segments finds Rick and Ron restoring an antique fire extinguisher and a Conoco gas pump, and then praying that someone will actually take them off their hands at a profit. Of all the featured items, however, none is as weird as a 1930s machine that once took X-rays of customers' feet at a shoe store and is now a radioactive hazard. Compiling all four episodes from 2010's debut run and the first 12 from the second season, this is recommended. (T. Keogh)