UGH, What were they thinking?

Oh heaven help us!

I knew the Coin Vault SHOW was going off the air. Jewelry Television (JTV.com) which OWNS the Coin Vault annouced it months ago:

http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2008/jan/08/shop-home-cease-broadcasting-march-about-200-jobs-/

(NOTE: I checked the ShopAtHomeTV.com web site tonite, and all it does is direct you to Jewelry Television and Watches -- no coins! It appears that this press earlier press release may be old news.)

However, their plan was that they claimed the demographic of their coin and knife shoppers were primarily MEN, and most of their male shoppers made purchases ONLINE, that they would market the coins (and knives) ONLINE and have shopathometv.com remain active for "the guys."

Meanwhile, they'd focus on Jewelry Television (jtv.com) for the women, since the women tend to prefer the visual displays and calling, at least that's what they claimed publicly.

What I am disappointed about is that they are bringing Rob Chambers to ShopNBC. ACK!

I would, admittedly, turn on The Coin Vault sometimes to see what items were going for, sometimes to see what I should put down for my "Replacement Value" for insurance purposes on items, I'd watch to see if I could actually get a deal. EVERY ONCE IN A WHILE, they actually WOULD have a deal that was better than buying coins elsewhere. In general though, they were highly priced. I also watched (being an insomniac and all, they were only on the air where I live from about 2am - 5:30 or 6am, start time varied, and only a couple days per week) because I learned about upcoming items, so it was sort of like a "coin news show" for me. Sure, they sold plenty too, but when I did buy from them, it was ONLY NGC certified stuff, and ONLY when the price was right.

Picture it, November-ish 2007, The Coin Vault has its Bullion Blowout, and I get a coupon by email for 15% off any items, including gold bullion coins. I managed to get some Gold Amerian Eagles for BELOW MELT -- and that was before today's BIG RUN UP IN GOLD PRICES! For instance, an MS69 $50 Gold American Eagle for $849.96 -- not to mention getting it on 3-4 stretch pays, I forget how many. At the time, the PCGS price guide listed that same coin with a value of $1,000. Now of course, gold is significantly higher. Needless to say, I scoured the site for some obscure pieces, where I could grab what I could at the lowest prices. They may not be the LOWEST pop or MOST DESIRABLE years, but I got a LOT of bullion at CHEAP prices!

But I digress...

ShopNBC is even more highly priced for its coin items, and they don't even focus on NGC! (At least I don't remember them doing so).

Meanwhile, Rob Chamers, at 2 or 3am is SCREAMING AT YOU on the TV "THE PHONE LINES JUST WENT CRAZY. I CAN'T BELIEVE WE ARE DOING THIS AT THIS PRICE. IT'S NUTS. YOU'LL NEVER SEE THIS AGAIN." "WHEN THEY'RE GONE, THEY'RE GONE." Then they'd have some "impromptu" banter between him and whomever happened to be his sidekick for that night.

Then maybe two hours later, the show would "recycle" itself. I mean, verbatim. ShopAtHomeTV would literally run the EXACT SAME SHOW, WORD FOR WORD and the PHONE LINES WOULD "GO CRAZY" at the exact same moment. If he dropped a coin holder the first time, he dropped it in the exact same location the second time. The banter would be identical - down to a misspeak if that happened. You could talk along with them because you KNEW what they were going to say before they said it - because you saw it two hours ago, or thereabouts.

Honestly, it was annoying. Don't tell me the phone lines went crazy when the show is CLEARLY pre-recorded and you have NO IDEA if the phones are even ringing or not. Don't say that you have "less than one per state left now" when you have NO IDEA because you probably aren't even in the studio any more, because this is all pre-recorded.

I have to wonder: Can a Rob Chambers HANDLE the higher class act that is ShopNBC, without pre-recording, and the like? Without SCREAMING at 2am that "YOU HAVE GOT TO GET ONLINE NOWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!"