Cash & Cari

     HGTV is sure promoting it's new series, Cash & Cari.  For one thing, they're sponsoring a bunch of Examiners, myself included, for a few weeks.  While I am grateful for the endorsement, and the slightly higher paycheck this month, Cash & Cari is not the type of show I watch.  I am not into reality television, or anything about house fixups or antique sales.  However, I will attempt to give it a fair review.

     The show is hosted by Cari Cucksey, who started in her field at the tender age of twelve.  As such, she is portrayed as a very smart, very shrewd woman, as would be necessary to make a good living finding treasures and either buying and reselling them or herself, or helping others sell for a commission.  In the first episode, which ran this weekend, though the series does not officially premiere until tomorrow, Cari was setting up an estate sale for two adults who lost their father.  In between those segments, Cari helped appraise a painting that may or may not have been painted by Degas and bought a lot from a household as well, deciding what to do with some of the pieces.  It's a lot packed into thirty minutes, so the pacing is great. The show keeps things moving, and interesting.

     Personally, I do not find Cari very likeable.  I'm sure her business acumen makes her a great money maker, but she proved a push saleswoman.  While haggling price, she never met in the middle, always getting the buyer to go higher.  When one of her employees broke a knob from an old oven, and he sheepishly asked if it was coming out of his paycheck, she responded with a maybe that sure sounded like a yes.  Granted, the employee was portrayed as clumsy, and often causing mishaps.  And Cari did not just say yes outright.  But her response appeared to me that she may have been trying to appear a little nicer than she is for the camera.  As I said, I'm sure that type of person is what it would take to make a living off of a job based on sales and commission, which is why I never could do sales myself.  Not someone I could see being friends with, either.

     If you are into antiques, and finding treasures amid the junk, and don't mind a slightly (but not over the top) abrasive star, then you may enjoy Cash & Cari.  HGTV viewers, I can only guess if this fits what you like or not, not counting myself among those who have ever given much attention to the network.  Cash & Cari will Monday nights at 10pm, beginning tomorrow, and rerun at various times throughout the week.

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