{"id":7029,"date":"2010-10-30T16:18:20","date_gmt":"2010-10-30T21:18:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/johntedesco.net\/blog\/2010\/10\/30\/"},"modified":"2020-03-05T12:11:57","modified_gmt":"2020-03-05T17:11:57","slug":"treasure-hunters-roadshow-is-completely-different-from-antiques-roadshow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/johntedesco.net\/blog\/2010\/10\/30\/treasure-hunters-roadshow-is-completely-different-from-antiques-roadshow\/","title":{"rendered":"Treasure Hunters Roadshow is completely different from ‘Antiques Roadshow’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Treasure<\/a>I was flipping through the “A” section of the paper Wednesday morning when I noticed a full-page ad for something called Treasure Hunters Roadshow<\/a>. It was an “advertorial,” an advertisement designed to look like a news story. The headline declared: “Hundreds of people cash in at the San Antonio Roadshow yesterday!” The roadshow was holding an event from Tuesday to Saturday at the Wonderland of the Americas mall for anyone hoping to make some quick cash from unwanted antiques and old jewelry.<\/p>\n

My first thought was a question: Is this the same thing as “Antiques Roadshow” on PBS<\/a>? The fact that the ad was trying to mimic the credibility of a news story suggested it was a different outfit. But I didn’t know for sure.<\/p>\n

Thanks to the miracle of Google, it took a few seconds to figure out that Treasure Hunters Roadshow is different<\/a> from “Antiques Roadshow.” In fact, the producers of the PBS program had filed a federal lawsuit against Treasure Hunters Roadshow, complaining that it was tricking customers with the logo of a treasure chest, and the term “roadshow” in its name.
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\nRelated: When a news story is just the beginning of the conversation, try Storify<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

I asked my bosses if I could write a story pointing out the difference between the two roadshows, and they said go for it.<\/p>\n

One of the great things about the Internet is you can quickly obtain primary documents. When I saw the references on some websites about the federal lawsuit against Treasure Hunters Roadshow, I logged into Pacer<\/a>, a government website that offers public access to federal court records. Although the lawsuit was filed in Illinois, where Treasure Hunters Roadshow is based, through Pacer I could download the actual filings. Here’s the original complaint:<\/p>\n

Lawsuit against Treasure Hunters Roadshow<\/a> by John Tedesco<\/a><\/p>\n