Without question, storage auctions, the business practice showcased in Storage Wars, is a legalized form of gambling. What makes it fun to watch, however, is that it’s one of the few forms of gambling where a little person with nightvision goggles attached to stilts is a winning tactic. True story. The series follows four auction enthusiasts as they go from one storage complex to the next bidding on abandoned units after eyeing them over for five minutes. Sometimes they win and sometimes they lose, and while there’s a bit of excitement to be had when they uncover treasures hidden within, you have to endure lots of their posturing and bluster to get there. Do you care enough about what the bidders might find inside to invest your time? Or would you be better off spending your time elsewhere?
The show labels its four characters according to archetypes: Dave the "Mogul", Darrell the "Gambler", Jarrod the "Young Gun", and Barry the "Collector". Of course, the only two titles in that bunch which have any strategic significance are “The Mogul” and “The Young Gun”, in that the former means Dave can outbid and bully anyone he wants with a lump of cash, and Jarrod has to hope that the other three guys don’t run up the price on the lesser units and he can get one or two for cheap. As far as the other two characters go, their monikers have more to do with their peculiarities and poor planning than anything else. “The Gambler” just means Darrell tends to get suckered into buying a unit he doesn’t want by Dave, but then gets lucky with a hidden treasure inside. Barry just trusts his gut a lot and hopes he’ll find some sort of memorabilia worth anything at all.
As far as actual personalities go, Dave is the business savvy guy who tends to have a better eye for identifying the storage units with obvious value, but his financial security and ability to run up bids with $10,000 rolls in his pocket make him a bit of a bully and lets him buy stuff just to piss other people off. Darrell, the redneck San Diego man who’s planning for his daughter’s future tuition, often ends up on the short end of the stick when Dave baits him, but has a general knowledge of obscure niche items which helps him get a few good finds. Barry, who seems to have modeled his appearance and personality off of Michael Douglas’s Gary Gecko, tends to take the longshot based on little details, but he’s easily the most amusing character in the bunch. Why he thinks midgets on stilts and psychics give him an edge, I don’t know, but he tends to lighten the raging ego fest that pervades most of the episodes.
What Storage Wars really comes down to is an Antique Roadshow or American Pickers with an added step of discovery. The added element of mystery and the risk factor of having to spend money before you discover the trinket that may or may not give you your pay-off feels more like a hassle than it does a necessity, because the real fun of the show is when a contestant finds a cache of valuable action figures or shrunken heads. Up until then, it’s a lot of unnecessary drama. Really though, if there’s any overarching story to speak of, it’s the day to day struggle of Jarrod and Brandi (his wife) as they fight for any unit they can get to refill the shelves of their thrift store. Their story definitely gives the season a human story to carry it, and it badly needs it to pad the thrills that can only follow it so far. The camera definitely follows them more often than anyone else, with Barry and Darrell as the close secondary focus.
DVD Bonus Features
There aren’t any extras to be found here.
"Storage Wars: Season One" is on sale August 30, 2011 and is not rated. Reality.
