Still Not Coming To TV This Summer: The eBay Show!

from the haven't-we-heard-this-before? dept

Fri, Jun 9th 2006 10:08am — Mike Masnick

Jeremiah writes "Back in April, eBay announced it was partnering with ABC to produce an "interactive" television show based around a family auctioning off personal posessions on eBay to finance some "dream" the family had. The production company, Plays Well Productions, posted ads to Craigslist in its nationwide search for families willing to hawk their stuff on eBay (eBay owns a percentage of Craigslist). A few days ago, eBay eBay and ABC backed out of the deal. Maybe someone got word to ABC and eBay that an "interactive reality program" might just as well be called "web surfing." One has to appreciate the irony of a show about the world's best-known auction site unable to be sold... " Actually, Jeremiah, the situation is worse. This isn't the first time eBay has proudly announced a TV show that never went anywhere. They first announced an eBay TV show five years ago, saying it would be like Antiques Roadshow. Then, three years ago, they announced new plans for a TV show that was going to be a cross between Antiques Roadshow, Ripley's Believe It Or Not and Entertainment Tonight. Then, two and a half years ago, they announced that the show had finally gone into production, but didn't seem to go anywhere. So, forgive us for not mentioning the latest attempt to bring eBay to TV. At this point, the whole concept appears to be in reruns.

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

6 Comments

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...

Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread

Dosquatch, 9 Jun 2006 @ 11:18am

The real reason the show was cancelled...
I was going to star in the series, but they wouldn't let me use my Indian name: "Reserve Not Met".
[insert rimshot here]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
The voice of Reason, 9 Jun 2006 @ 11:19am

OMG
It never fails. Someone gets rich, be it an individual or a huge corporation, and they immediately try to find a way to be seen on even more screens then then trillions of computer monitors that they are already splattered all over.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
eb, 9 Jun 2006 @ 12:00pm

Already been done
Haven't they seen the BBC's Cash in the Attic?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 9 Jun 2006 @ 1:52pm

It's called cash in the Attic - allready ON TV...

And ofr some inexplicable reason my wife cannot tear herself away from it. I think maybe she thinks she will get the money if she watches all the way to the end?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
jayrtfm, 9 Jun 2006 @ 7:09pm

http://www.allmylifeforsale.com
artist ebay's ALL his possesions, then travels around the country visiting them
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
justsayin', 12 Jun 2006 @ 4:07pm

I saw those ads on CL...
And I thought three things when I came across the posts: (1) I have stuff I'd like to sell on Ebay. Cool vintag-y stuff, too, like a set of hand-painted 1920's martini glasses, each depicting a different moment in a rather bloody cockfight. (2) Um, I'm pretty busy. (That's what I often think when I have a moment to look at the bazillion opportunities that come up on Craig's List and - more pertinently at the moment - Ebay. People are BUSY.) Who has time to bid on stuff these days, let alone sell something, which also involves shipping too, ugh. If I my husband and I had the time to step away from work and go through our stuff for ebay distribution, we'd be taking off on a safari or something. Not playing around with a postage scale. (3) Yeah... and you Ebay/ABC folks will make how much money off of my time and personality? And I get, what, the proceeds off what I find in the garage? Mmm, nooo...I'd rather be on the executive producing end. But thanks just the same.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]