Pawn Stars: Show Staged, But Accurate

Jon Katsilometes runs a nice story on the Pawn Stars this week and the article does reveal a little about what they have to go through to make a segment.
From the Las Vegas Sun: The transactions played out on the show are staged, to a large degree, but the Pawn Stars say they are genuine: “One of the guys up front will say, ‘Hey, Rick, do you want to put this on the show?’ I go, ‘Yeah,’ and grab a production manager, and we’ll schedule it for the next day,” Rick Harrison said. “What generally takes five minutes takes an hour to film. It’s all authentic, but the director will have me walk down the counter, then he’ll want another angle for me walking down the counter.” As Chumlee notes, “Sometimes Rick will go, right away, ‘How much do you want?’ and the director will go, ‘No! No! No! Not yet! Tell me where you got it from! I want to go into the history more!’ ”
Most customers try to play the show’s success against the business in negotiations: “Most people want a lot more from us than stuff is worth,” Rick Harrison said, “because they think we’re extremely wealthy or something.” Or, adds Chumlee, “They think their stuff is going to be worth a million dollars if it gets on the show.”
http://www.lasvegassun.com/blogs/kats-report/2011/jun/17/return-pawn-stars-nerve-center-shows-guys-are-pret/
It's a pretty good read and it tells how the show has changed the guy working at the shop, except maybe the Old Man.