Hardcore Pawn: Chicago (2013– ) User Reviews

awful

[cmccarthy0408 · 1/10 · 16 January 2013]

The main character is a bad Harry Carey wanna be with a whiny ladies voice. He talks thru his nose or something -- unbearable. His partner is portrayed as a moron who doesn't know how to run a business. A full episode was dedicated to used bride dresses, really? No one brings in anything mildly exciting. And they show the standard clients being angry they can't get what they want. So predictable.

There is a young lady would appears to be the most intelligent of the bunch. She is teaching the old men how things should be done. But even some of her scenes are so obviously staged it is maddening.

I had high hopes for this show because it's from the city I have lived my whole life.

These guys do not represent our city and are boring. There has to be a pawn shop in Chicago with more character and fun than this --- horrible

An unwanted spin off to an already bad TV show

[jediforce10 · 2/10 · 4 June 2013]

Hardcore Pawn is already bad enough with it's terrible characters, except for maybe Les, the terrible customers who fly off the handle all the time, and how it has fights every five seconds or so. So why did TruTV think that a spin off to it was so necessary? Seriously, I don't get how a show that bad managed to get a spin off.

Much like Hardcore Pawn, H.P.: Chicago centers around a family run pawn shop in Chicago. The store is run by two brothers, Randy and Wayne Cohen, along with each brother's son and daughter, Elyse and Nathan. They all have to deal with crazy customers and other things.

Much like Hardcore Pawn, the show has a lot of irate customers who act like the world owes them everything. A few good example are the lady wanted her money back for a computer that was busted and refused to take the offer of choosing another computer. Another is a lady who acts smug about her designer bags being real, even though they aren't and acts all high and mighty. And then there's some guy who acts like a jerk because of a ring he wants to sell and isn't getting the money he wants, even though the cashier explains why it isn't worth so much. Needless to say, these customers are just as sleazy and as big slime balls as the ones in Hardcore Pawn.

The characters on this show are better than the original Hardcore Pawn, but that's not saying much really. Randy and Wayne are pretty much always at each others throats for the most part and yelling at one another. Randy always sounds like he's whining like a child who didn't get a toy at Walmart. Not to mention he loves to be some glory hog whenever Wayne is wrong about something. Wayne acts like a smug jerk who always wants to be right and has a high and mighty attitude. He's always making remarks and insults to his brother and acts arrogant pretty much all the time. Nathan is a passable character and does have some good moments, but he sometimes acts really stupid or rude to other people. Elyse is probably the best character on the show. She's nice, considerate, and shows intelligence. She doesn't really fly off the handle and maintains a professional look. If the show was more about her instead, this show would actually be more enjoyable.

There is no real story in this show at all. Stuff just happens like a missing ring and a woman threatening to hire an attorney over it, or the kids have to run the shop by themselves. There's no story lines at all like who will get to run the shop or anything. But considering Hardcore Pawn's loose stories that get convoluted, I should count my blessings and be grateful that there's nothing like that at all in this show.

Overall, Hardcore Pawn: Chicago is not as bad as the original Hardcore Pawn, but it still has numerous issues that makes it not worth watching. The customers are irritating, the brothers are annoying, and the stories are just boring. The show isn't so much bad as it is a complete boring mess. The only positive I can take from this is that Elyse is the only good character on this show and Nathan does have his moments. And while this show is better than Hardcore Pawn, this show isn't really worth a look at all and should be avoided, much like the original show.

So, here's why you see a ridiculously low rating...

[supadude2004 · 8/10 · 23 June 2013]

This is really no worse than Pawn stars, and in some ways it's better. This series concentrates more on either of the following dimensions: (1) the pawn aspect of the business; or (2), the petty squabbling between the leading brothers - each trying (sometimes irritatingly) to prove he's the better/smarter hustler. Whereas Pawn Stars is a loosely bound mix of lighthearted pawn (in which, as most realise, gullible fools take far less money for valuable items than they'd get on the auction site), family squabbles and the occasional extra curricular outing.

I feel the low rating for Hardcore Pawn Chicago is more to do with the fact that both of the leading hustler brothers (and they don't try to hide the fact that they're hustling) in this show, are the type of person that most people would find detestable. The low rating has therefore nothing to do with poor production, lack of anything interesting etc. What's more, there's no 'chummy' dumbo in this programme (as opposed to 'you know who' in Pawn Stars) to make almost anyone feel like they're far smarter "...than that idiot!!". Here you're watching smart folk who make an honest living off the majority of less smart folk; which is also the all too real reason this reviewer argues that it suffers in its ratings.

The program should really be entitled "Pawn Sharks Chicago", and again, its rating is ridiculously low, due to the above reality, and not because its uninteresting in any way: Most folk simply despise watching not particularly nice, 'clued up' brothers, making a crafty living from ordinary folk, who've nonetheless clearly taken their dislike of this pair of sharks by rating it far lower than it deserves. Meanwhile, for the few people who can still appreciate that there is an element of skill in doing what they do, please do watch this show only if you can stomach the reality of the pawn business.