"American Restoration" is a show that ran on "History", (which I still think of as The History Channel) from 2010 to 2016. It was a documentary/reality show that was spun off from the popular Pawn Stars, but instead of being about a pawn shop in Las Vegas, it was about an antiques-restoration business. It focused on the owner of the shop, Rick Dale, and his family and employees.
The structure of the show (at least for the first two seasons, which is what I watched), featured a basic plot of people bringing in some type of heirloom or collectible to be restored. There were usually two projects per episode, with the action cutting in between the two projects. Occasionally, Rick Dale or his employees will go out and find antiques in scrapyards to restore. There is also sometimes an additional subplot focusing on the interactions between Rick Dale, his son/apprentice Tyler, or his cantakerous employee "Kowboy". This is a 25 minute show, and the stories are quick and self-contained. They focus on the technical challenges of restoration (and there is a fair amount of technical detail that can be gained from this show). The types of antiques that can be restored range from vintage vending machines and pre-electronic arcade games, to motorcycles and toy trains, to nuclear air raid sirens. The restoration specialists use technical specialties like welding and sandblasting, but also have an artistic touch to sculpt and paint antiques back to original.
This is a fun comfort watch, because it includes both nostalgia for the past and the optimism and care that goes into restoring antiques. The show does feature some excellent craftsmanship. But this show is different from what I expected: when I first found the DVDs for sale at a library book sale, I assumed this would be closer to Antiques Roadshow or This Old House: a slow paced, studious documentary where we learn about history. But this has a reality show aspect, which is both amusing and a bit distracting. Like a lot of reality shows, it is unclear how much of it is edited or scripted. There is only so much interpersonal drama that can come out of how to repaint a coke machine, but this show sure tries. All of the main characters are male, and some of their actions seem a bit affectedly macho, to the point where I can imagine the produces of the show wrote notes: "Antiques Roadshow, but make it macho". Certain aspects of the show require some suspension of belief: customers will show up with an expensive (and large) antique, boxed up in the back of a pickup truck, and show it to Rick for dramatic effect, and then ask him if he can fix it. I imagine that they would at least call ahead first.
Like I said, this was a fun comfort watch, and for people who are expecting the "reality television" experience won't be disappointed. The show was successful enough to go for six seasons, so it seems to have been well-received, despite the sometimes stilted and unrealistic aspects of its "reality" component.