“Pawn Stars” has a new flight plan, with an aeronautic subplot in its return to History channel.
The series resumes at 8 p.m. Wednesday, with an episode titled “The Flight Stuff.” Series co-founder and Bluffmaster General (our nickname is new, too) Rick Harrison dickers on a window from a Boeing 747-400. Why this item is especially valuable or interesting is to be revealed.
Austin “Chumlee” Russell reviews a World War II scooter in the reboot. Harrison and Russell are carrying the franchise after series co-founder Corey Harrison moved to Mexico in June 2024. He has consistently stated that he has no plans to return to the series.
Rick Harrison continues to recover from emergency heart surgery last month. He had entered the hospital for a routine stent procedure, but doctors found he needed a bypass immediately.
Harrison said in a text Thursday morning that he should be great within a month. He plans to return to his side gig in a few weeks, as celeb bartender at Rick’s Rollin’ Smoke at Pawn Plaza next to Gold and Silver Pawn.
The revived “Pawn Stars” marks the first time the show is not represented by multiple generations of Harrisons. The irascible Richard “Old Man” Harrison, also in the original cast, died in June 2018 at age 77. The show premiered in July 2009 and has aired 662 episodes over 25 seasons.
Harrison and Russell also launched the “Pawn After Dark” podcast from Harrison’s home base of Gold and Silver Pawn. The show has posted 23 episodes, with such guests as headlining DJ Steve Aoki, UFC legend Chuck Liddell and D Las Vegas, Golden Gate and Circa co-owner Derek Stevens.
The most recent “Pawn After Dark” episode, with tech entrepreneur and crypto expert Jeff “Jihoz” Zurlin, dropped on YouTube in November. There is no announced plan for how or if the show coexists with the new “Pawn Stars” episodes.
Corey Harrison is also a podcast host, with “The Corey Harrison Show” on Instagram. That show is on pause and Harrison promises “Round 2” on his IG page. He was badly injured in a motorcycle crash near Tulum in January.
The 43-year-old former “Pawn Star” suffered 11 breaks in his rib cage, required 10 stitches in his hand and said he “smashed my head, hematoma, concussion, all that stuff.”
Harrison’s stepmother and Rick Harrison’s ex-wife, Tracy Harrison, died Sept. 16 in Las Vegas after suffering from brain cancer. She was 61. Corey Harrison said, “She loved and took care of me when she didn’t have to. She was a 22-year-old woman who came into my life, and she was the one I immediately called Mom.”
In an Instagram post honoring his late stepmom, Harrison said, “Life has thrown a lot at me lately, and it’s pushed our timeline back a little. But we’re still here, and we’re not going anywhere.”
John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. Contact him at [email protected]. Follow @johnnykats on X, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.