If you're lucky or just old, you can remember the classic stand-up arcade era, where Pac-Man machines stood next to Defender and/or Donkey Kong and people lined up for the chance to play. Those same machines have become collector's items now and there's money—and stories—attached to each one.
That premise is what drives High Score, an in-development reality show that focuses on TNT Amusements, a Pennsylvania showroom that specializes in the acquisition, restoration and sale of old, coin-operated video game machines. The video above is a sizzle reel to help the show find a home on a television network. There's clearly a reality show template at work here, like American Pickers or American Retsoration: find person who has/wants thing, find or make desired things, have staff do their crafty things to desired thing, deliver finished desired thing. Still, the most fascinating part of the clip above is watching TNT's staff crack open the coin-ops of yesteryear and seeing how they restore the machines to their optimal states. Or, they'll just shove them off the roof. Painful. Come, cable networks: if we can get hour after hour of z-list celebrities doing stupid crap, then surely High Score can get on the air, no?
High Score Sizzle Reel [The Hollywood Reporter]