I had never heard of the MeTV series Collector’s Call until I was skimming the list of panels for this year’s San Diego Comic-Con and saw a listing for “Collector’s Call with Lisa Whelchel and MeTV”. Lisa Whelchel? as in Blair from The Facts of Life?! I was instantly interested, so I tried to find more information on this series, and was shocked to discover that it was currently in its seventh season.
It didn’t appear that there was any way to stream episodes, so I set it to record on my TiVo, and when I checked out the series, I was instantly hooked. MeTV (Memorable Entertainment Television) is a broadcast TV channel that airs lots of nostalgic TV shows, and this series fits right in. Host Lisa Whelchel is so fun and genuinely interested in the guests who come on, which makes the series just a joy to watch. Each week, Lisa talks to a collector of some sort of pop culture memorabilia, bringing in experts to showcase and evaluate pieces from the collection. At the end of each episode, the expert presents a trade option to the collector, offering something they believe the collector will want in exchange for a specific item from the collector’s collection—this is the titular “collector’s call” that is to be made—if they want to go through with the trade or not. The series airs Sundays at 6:30 ET on MeTV and currently isn’t available on demand in any way, so you need to watch live or set your DVR!
At this year’s San Diego Comic-Con, MeTV brought series host Lisa Whelchel along with several Collector’s Call experts—including professional archivist Rob Klein, screen-used costume historian Jennifer Klein, toy collecting authority and comedian Matt Weinhold, and Weigel Broadcasting vice chairman Neal Sabin—for a panel moderated by actor/podcaster/collector and Collector’s Call guest Ralph Garman. While I didn’t get a chance to see the panel, I did get the opportunity to speak with several of these folks in a press room for the series.
Lisa discussed her work on Collector’s Call as well as on The Facts of Life, and how those two worlds came together. Then we talked with toy collecting authority and comedian Matt Weinhold, who previously had his collection featured on the series, and also served as an expert. And finally we spoke for a long time with husband and wife team, professional archivist Rob Klein and screen-used costume historian Jennifer Klein, who talked about being on the show as both featured collectors as well as experts. They shared lots of fascinating and fun stories about items/collections they’ve come across, and also got into a long but interesting discussion with the other journalist at the table about Star Wars collecting/collections.
Host Lisa Whelchel (“Blair” From The Facts of Life)
Expert/Collector Matt Weinhold
