Really dealing

History Channel brings a Brit import to Sunday night with Real Deal. The premise is simple. A contestant brings in a more or less valuable item. A pro dealer tries to negotiate a deal for the piece. If they can't agree the item goes to auction, and the contestant's haul may or may not exceed the dealer's final offer.

In practice, the show comes off like the negotiation scenes in Pawn Stars, without all the cutesy-pie "reality" bickering between Chumlee and the Old Man and the rest of 'em. Since those reality bits often bore me on Pawn Stars, I like how Real Deal strips things down to the essential game show. Take the deal or risk the auction.

The four pro dealers on the first two episodes were personable enough. Sometimes they seemed flat-out incredulous over what the contestants asked, like the twenty grand for the Spiderman necklace. (I was pretty dumbfounded by that initial demand, too.) My favorite character on the show was actually the auctioneer, though. A heavier version of Mr. Clean, he really milked his audience for every dollar.

The first two eps showed all three possible outcomes: agreed deals between the pros and the contestants, auctions that produced more than the final offer, and - the zonk outcome - auctions that yielded less than the final offer. The hour passed quickly thanks to a brisk pace, and the items were often interesting for historical reasons. It's a nice addition to History's lineup.