Cash and Treasures: Travel Channel Strikes Gold (Har har har)

The part of me that wanted to be a professional shipwreck treasure hunter when I was ten has finally found an outlet in the Travel Channel’s Best Places to Find Cash and Treasures. Hosted by Becky Worley (until I kidnap her, hide her in my closet, and steal her job), the show travels to various places where treasures can be found. So far, I’ve seen episodes focusing on such wide-ranging treasures as diamonds, prehistoric shark teeth, and, yes, shipwrecked Spanish gold.

The show’s focus seems to be more on showing viewers places where they can strike it rich, which I think is a mistake. The joy of the show isn’t knowing that I can go to some public park in Arizona and find a $250 geode (although that is totally cool). It’s the excitement of discovery as Becky goes in with local experts to find (for example) dirty rocks with the potential to become gems, and then the amazing reveals as those rocks are polished, cut, and appraised. It’s the rush of seeing Becky find a centuries-old silver coin in a sunken ship; of knowing that the coin was just sitting down there, waiting to be found. The subtle focus on the “strike it rich” theme cheapens the show, in my opinion.

But hey, overall, it’s a really fun show for people like me, who have secretly always wanted to buy a metal detector and spend our days combing the English countryside for ancient coins and belt buckles and stuff. This show also makes me wonder what else I'm missing on the Travel Channel...apparently it's not all crap about cruises and stuff. Who knew? Cash and Treasures airs at 10 PM Tuesdays on the Travel Channel.