Junkin' came into my life as an unexpected find while channel surfing, so I was exposed to it rather late in it's existence. Still, I almost immediately fell in like with the quirky blend of travelogue, comedy and human interest story that is at once sideshow, morning show, game show and show and tell.
Being a lifelong Southerner, I recognize all these places and the people that populate the flea markets and yard sales that the slyly laconic Dave Bird and his partner in sublime, Val Myers scour looking for treasures that are more of the conversation-piece variety than museum piece quality. If you're looking for a show that brings you stuffy experts pontificating about the merits of overlooked collectibles found in amongst refuse, you are in the wrong place. What you will find instead (and I think for the better) is a show which zooms by with such good-natured humor and appealing mystery that you find yourself sad that it is over and wanting to see more, more more!
Dave and Val have fun with the "junk" they find and even more with the people they find selling it. To watch the haggling with and questioning of these seemingly unsuspecting folk by Dave and Val is a treat because even though their humor is sharp and clever, they never use it maliciously or condescendingly and you can tell that native Southerner Dave and amiable L.A. interloper Val retain a fondness for the people they run into as well as the junk they they findl.
All that alone makes compelling viewing, but the end of the show holds an equal amount of mystery and joyful suspense as you find out just how much (or sometimes how little) other people actually paid to buy (at on online auction) the same junk you just saw being haggled over. The results are always surprising and the audience participation just adds to the accessibility and geniality of this seemingly simple but addictive show.
I hope it will continue in some way when Turner South is taken over by different corporate overlords.