It’s hard to believe Mike Wolfe began picking with his buddy Frank Fritz 20 years ago. At the time, all the filming was done by Wolfe rather than the crew that we’ve seen in BTS footage from American Pickers in recent years. Over time, those videos got traction and landed Wolfe and his road tripping buddy a series on the History Channel, which has been airing new episodes since 2010.
As one of the longer-running reality shows on television, American Pickers has made its way into the hearts of many, and Mike Wolfe isn’t taking that responsibility lightly. In a post for the 20th anniversary of his picking on camera, he spoke about the 500 episodes the show has produced so far, as well as getting back into the grind of things.
In the post, Wolfe also reflected on the “beauty and sadness” of this particular journey, which makes sense given the events of the past several months and the impact they’ve had on himself, the team at Pickers, and the fans.
Mike Wolfe and Frank Fritz weren’t on the best of terms in the years before his death at 60, though they’d reportedly reconciled during the summer of 2023. This was after Fritz was asked to leave American Pickers, and had a stroke which Wolfe was responsible for leaking to the press. During his last months, he’d been under a conservatorship, and his legal matters were frequently reported on before he passed away just shy of his 61st birthday.
Fritz and Wolf had grown up together. They were childhood friends and they grew the show together on television. But Wolfe recently shared with People that a battle with opioids after a back injury led Fritz into a bad state. He said he’d “fought really hard to get [him] into rehab,” and while Fritz said he went, ultimately his friend had chosen a different path. It was eventually the network who said the show needed to go on without their beloved co-star.
The network just finally made the decision. They're just like, 'Listen, we have to move on. We have to keep going with this.' I had mixed emotions about doing that... and we were just trying to figure out what we were going to do.
All of this doubtless makes Pickers' milestone a bit more complex to process, but it is a big deal for the long-running show and its fanbase, who have stuck with the History series through thick and thin. The fans really came out in support of the series in the comments, noting things they’ve loved about the series getting airtime over the years
- "This show has given all of us an incredible look into a way of life that few people knew existed."
- "Been watching since the first episode in 2010 me and my grandpa loved your guys show, he passed but I watch and think of him."
- "I hope everyone feels the same way I did growing up watching you all and I hope tons of people have a passion in getting out and exploring and chasing down things we think are cool, pieces of history hidden from existence and bringing back the memories and emotions with them. Always keep that fire burning chasing that dream!"
- "Thank you for bringing attention to all the cool things from our past. It has helped my business and help save lots of history."
It’s honestly a big week for milestones for Wolfe, who also turned 60 this week. His team celebrated with a post on one of his beloved bikes and his team called him the “bossman” in that post.
A new season of American Pickers is about to start filming. It’s unclear what episodes milestone the reality series will ultimately get to, but it certainly seems as if there are many roads left to explore.