Reality TV is coming to collecting in a big way as eBay teams with Columbia TriStar to create a TV series 'tapping into the stories behind the collecting phenomenon.' The show will air daily beginning in Fall 2002. It will be syndicated, and is designed to appear five times a week in afternoon and early-fringe time slots. The show will feature stories of items traded on eBay and other venues.
The new series will be co-produced by eBay and LMNO Productions, a 150-person studio that says it's 'one of the foremost providers of reality-based programming for network, cable, and syndicated television.' Among LMNO's credits are Boot Camp, Kids Say the Darndest Things, Behind Closed Doors with Joan Lunden, and more, mostly in the reality or quiz show formats.
This will not be the first attempt by eBay to take its formidable community of collectors (34 million registered users) offline. In 1999, eBay partnered with collector magazine publisher Krause Publications on a magazine, which was supposed to take the eBay lifestyle into print. It was quietly shuttered last year after what must have been disappointing results.
One problem will undoubtedly be how to satisfy the varied collecting interests of eBays diverse users. One option would be to make it a freak show of the weird stuff people are buying and selling on eBay. While that would probably make for better television, we're betting on stories of the, 'Isn't it great that Cathy found that Barbie she lost in the flood twenty years ago,' variety. Regardless, if the show can popularize collecting, it will be a good thing for pop culture retailers, who are after all the local authorities on collecting in each city.