Making a deal

Looks like History has picked up a British import that's an odd combo of Deal or No Deal, Pawn Stars and Antique Roadshow.

Real Deal will be the title, shortened from Dickinson's Real Deal in Britain. That's because headliner David Dickinson won't be along for the ride on the American version. Basically, the format features civvies haggling with professional dealers over the value of their prized (or not so prized) antiques. If the civvies don't take the deal, the items go to auction. And the auction may or may not produce a better deal for the contestants.

Sound familiar? The clips from the British show that I've seen on YouTube look like the bargaining scenes in Pawn Stars, minus all the reality bits. In the British original, money is literally laid on the table to tempt the civvies, as the screenshot shows. Once enough bills pile up, the civvies will often but not always take the money and run.

Real Deal debuts Friday, November 25 at 9:00PM. The initial order is for ten episodes, and we'll see what develops from there. Nowadays History likes anything which remotely resembles Pawn Stars, their runaway hit. So I guess they've decided to strip things down essentially to a game show format, and leave out the cutesy-pie bickering and other phony-looking reality nonsense.