The Atlanta-based crew of “Auction Kings” is back for a fourth season premiering Thursday, Feb. 21 (9 p.m.) on Discovery Channel. The Gallery 63 crew, Paul
Brown, Cindy Shook, Jon
Hammond and Delfino Ramos, are all back for the new season, as is Paul’s son, Elijah — who’ll have a much bigger role this season — and auctioneers Jason Brooks and Guerry Wise.
Season Four kicks off with a special one-hour episode, in which Paul challenges the crew to the first-ever “Gallery 63 Pick-Off” — in which they’ll have exactly one hour to spend $500 on items at Scott Antique Markets at the Atlanta Exposition Center — and then sell them at auction.
Items featured this season on “Auction Kings” include an authentic Thomas Jefferson writing desk; letters signed by Helen Keller and Norman Rockwell; and a Victorian-era, butt-operated musical chair (don’t ask).
The show’s third season, which ended last September, performed well in the male demos — especially among men 25-54.
Meanwhile, “Auction Kings” network stablemate “Gold Rush,” snared some big numbers last Friday night on Discovery, averaging nearly 5 million viewers and beating every show on TV — both cable and broadcast — in persons 18-49.
For the season, “Gold Rush” is averaging 4.6 million viewers, compared to 4.4 million for this time last season — and is expected to be up significantly (in total viewers) once the season ends with a two-hour “Gold Rush Live” episode airing from Portland, Oregon on Friday, Feb. 22 (8 p.m.) — as one “Gold Rush” crew finally strikes it rich and plans for Season Four are announced.
“Gold Rush Live” will be hosted by series executive producer Christo Doyle.
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Last, but not least:
* Last Friday’s heavy snowfall precipitated good numbers for Ch. 2. Its 11 p.m. newscast (anchors Maurice DuBois and Kristine Johnson and weatherman Lonnie Quinn) averaged 696,000 viewers — beating both Ch. 7 (624,000 viewers) and Ch. 4 (492,000 viewers), according to Nielsen . . . Federico Quadrani will executive-produce Jake Tapper’s new 4 p.m. CNN show, which debuts next month . . . “Veep” (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) kicks off its 10-episode second season April 14 (10 p.m.) on HBO . . . MundoFox’s “Minuto Para Ganar” is moving production from LA to New York City for its second season. Marco Antonio Regil returns as host of the show, in which contestants compete for up to $100,000 in prize money . . . The CW has picked up “Arrow,” “The Vampire Diaries” and “Supernatural” for next season . . . British TV site Acorn TV is now streaming the complete series of “Prime Suspect,” starring Helen Mirren. With a 30-day trial, anyone can watch the “Prime Suspect” marathon (all seven seasons). Acornonline.com/tv has details.