[jtraven42]

I first heard about this here on the Beckett News, and set my DVR accordingly. The premise of the show centers on Grey Flannel Auctions, a sports memorabilia auction house run by Richie Russek and his two sons. Each show centers around 3 memorabilia items which the Grey Flannel team has to authenticate. If you're on this board, reading this message, this at least sounds interesting, right?
Truthfully, you couldn't be more wrong.
First, Russek, ostensibly the main character on the show, is about as unlikeable as you can get. After he puts a dollar value on each item, he says "And that's a lot of money for Grey Flannel Auctions!" AFTER EACH ITEM. It began to feel like an infomercial had mated with a slow-witted reality show.
Speaking of which, the first main "celebrity" was Dennis Rodman. Apparently, Rodman had his agent contact Russek to sell some of his memorabila from a Jersey storage facility. So Russek heads down there, hoping to find the Rodman Wedding Dress, which Russek referred to as a part of American Pop Culture. What's that, you ask? Rodman wore a wedding dress? A scant FIFTEEN years ago, Rodman signed books at a Barnes and Noble wearing a wedding dress. And this is part of Pop Culture? I think not. One can only hope that Russek does not overvalue his memorabilia like he overvalues cultural iconography.
And he doesn't even find the dress in the warehouse. Instead, we're treated to a one-on-one conversation between Russek and Rodman, which apart from its alliterative value, was about at lively as a current Wizards game, with far more F-bombs. (Where have you gone Gilbert Arenas?) Eventually, Russek asks Rodman if he'll agree to consign the material so it can be sold. Cut to commercial. Oh, the drama! Will there be more money in the pocket of Grey Flannel Auctions? It was an agaonizing 120 seconds for me, but I was pleased to see Mr. Rodman nod his head is subtle acquiescence. Yes, indeed, Russek, there will be several thousand dollars for Grey Flannel Auctions.
Richie Russek seems to embody most of what is wrong with current sports memorabilia dealers. It's all about the dollars for him. I may as well have watched a show about a guys selling pork belly futures. Russek comes off as an empty figure, solely concerned about the bottom line. Where's the love? That's why we watch sports, because we're passionate about the teams and the players. And as collectors, we get joy from owning a small piece of that. There was no love in the show at all. (Except making money for Grey Flannel Auctions. And really, why would you name your business after a cologne you can buy at Rite Aid? Why not Old Spice Auctions? Perhaps people would think it was for washed-up female British pop band memorabilia. But I digress.)
All-Star Dealers is borderline unwatchable. The dramatic moments are fabricated and the characters are unlikable. The only joy I got was from seeing the autographed balls or sports jerseys. Will I be watching the show again? Well, I certainly don't watch Modern Family each week to see Cam's new, colorful shirts.

[ricelynnevans75]

Heard about it but didn't know it had started. What channel/time is it on? Watched the State of the Union Address.

[shezdoni]

I first heard about this here on the Beckett News, and set my DVR accordingly. The premise of the show centers on Grey Flannel Auctions, a sports memorabilia auction house run by Richie Russek and his two sons. Each show centers around 3 memorabilia items which the Grey Flannel team has to authenticate. If you're on this board, reading this message, this at least sounds interesting, right?
Truthfully, you couldn't be more wrong.
First, Russek, ostensibly the main character on the show, is about as unlikeable as you can get. After he puts a dollar value on each item, he says "And that's a lot of money for Grey Flannel Auctions!" AFTER EACH ITEM. It began to feel like an infomercial had mated with a slow-witted reality show.
Speaking of which, the first main "celebrity" was Dennis Rodman. Apparently, Rodman had his agent contact Russek to sell some of his memorabila from a Jersey storage facility. So Russek heads down there, hoping to find the Rodman Wedding Dress, which Russek referred to as a part of American Pop Culture. What's that, you ask? Rodman wore a wedding dress? A scant FIFTEEN years ago, Rodman signed books at a Barnes and Noble wearing a wedding dress. And this is part of Pop Culture? I think not. One can only hope that Russek does not overvalue his memorabilia like he overvalues cultural iconography.
And he doesn't even find the dress in the warehouse. Instead, we're treated to a one-on-one conversation between Russek and Rodman, which apart from its alliterative value, was about at lively as a current Wizards game, with far more F-bombs. (Where have you gone Gilbert Arenas?) Eventually, Russek asks Rodman if he'll agree to consign the material so it can be sold. Cut to commercial. Oh, the drama! Will there be more money in the pocket of Grey Flannel Auctions? It was an agaonizing 120 seconds for me, but I was pleased to see Mr. Rodman nod his head is subtle acquiescence. Yes, indeed, Russek, there will be several thousand dollars for Grey Flannel Auctions.
Richie Russek seems to embody most of what is wrong with current sports memorabilia dealers. It's all about the dollars for him. I may as well have watched a show about a guys selling pork belly futures. Russek comes off as an empty figure, solely concerned about the bottom line. Where's the love? That's why we watch sports, because we're passionate about the teams and the players. And as collectors, we get joy from owning a small piece of that. There was no love in the show at all. (Except making money for Grey Flannel Auctions. And really, why would you name your business after a cologne you can buy at Rite Aid? Why not Old Spice Auctions? Perhaps people would think it was for washed-up female British pop band memorabilia. But I digress.)
All-Star Dealers is borderline unwatchable. The dramatic moments are fabricated and the characters are unlikable. The only joy I got was from seeing the autographed balls or sports jerseys. Will I be watching the show again? Well, I certainly don't watch Modern Family each week to see Cam's new, colorful shirts.

Oh, you can be assured that the "suit's" are watching this show carefully

---

Heard about it but didn't know it had started. What channel/time is it on? Watched the State of the Union Address.

On the Discovery Channel 9pm I think

[mattsurewood]

Good to hear I didn't waste an hour of my life on it, I was thinking about tuning in and forgot..

[djohn]

I find it funny how many new shows are all about showing off how people make money off other people. There are a bunch of shows now about pawn shops, storage auctions, auctions houses, antique picking, etc. In each and every show they highlight how much money the people are making or going to make off of someone else's possessions. Some of the stuff is really interesting, but I do get sick of hearing about all the profit that is made off of a sometimes uninformed seller.

[motu79]

I watched a majority of the 1st episode before bed, and besides the guy dropping a couple f bombs with Rodman, I thought it was kind of educational. They had a guy come on to authenticate early 80's jerseys of Ronnie Lott and Dan Marino. They showed what they look for on the tags and in the stitching to determine authenticity. They then brought on James Spence himself to authenticate a rookie year Dan Marino autograph. I enjoyed the show.

[wolverine74]

I saw part of it, but it must have been a different episode. The one I saw had a Mantle autographed ball, Unitas jersey, and Lakers autographed sneakers. James Worthy and Jimmy Spence were on it. I agree, I did not like Richie Russek at all. What I really wanted to see was one of the items coming up as a fake, but of course they were all authenticated. Cool sports memorabilia though, I would watch the show just to see the items being auctioned

[motu79]

I saw part of it, but it must have been a different episode. The one I saw had a Mantle autographed ball, Unitas jersey, and Lakers autographed sneakers. James Worthy and Jimmy Spence were on it. I agree, I did not like Richie Russek at all. What I really wanted to see was one of the items coming up as a fake, but of course they were all authenticated. Cool sports memorabilia though, I would watch the show just to see the items being auctioned

Yeah, the Ronnie Lott jersey was fake in the 1st episode. They were showing how someone tried at one time to glue the NFL Logo to the collar, and how the markings on the jersey tag didn't correlate to when he played with the Niners. It was cool.

[beatles guy]

I liked the authentication process with the jersey expert and James Spence. Especially liked the info on the Mantle ball in the second episode.

[thj0011]

I didn't like the show that much and the same can be said for the owner of Grey Flannel or whatever the name of the company was. However, like others have said I like the authentication process. I never knew people would paint over a ball to make it more valuable, that's crazy. I'll watch it a few more times if I catch it on but it's not something I'll HAVE to record every week.