It’s been a few weeks since American Pickers star Mike Wolfe confirmed that his ex-boyfriend Frank Fritz had a stroke and was hospitalized. Although Fritz seemed unhappy that Wolfe had reported the news of his illness, it was confirmed that Fritz was on the mend. He’s not the only one improving, as recent reports seem to indicate that Pickers’ own penance may be declining.
In fact, the rating of American Pickers has improved in recent weeks, but especially during the week of August 20, when the total number of viewers of the show finally exceeded the 1 million mark. The episodes “Knucklehead Blue, Salty & Sweet Pickins Part 1” were set in North Carolina and Mike was bidding for a Mountain Dew statue.
New episodes of American Pickers began Saturday nights in early July and at the beginning featured the same weak episodes that had apparently been shown since it was confirmed that Frank Fritz had officially been fired from the show. At the beginning of 2022, the number of January episodes of American Pickers dropped from about 1.3 million per episode to below 1 million viewers. That trajectory continued to decline when the show returned to air in July.
In fact, earlier episodes this summer attracted just over 800,000 viewers. While some of these episodes were closer to 900,000 viewers, only 821,000 viewers tuned in for the July 29 episode. Thus, it seemed that the trajectory was continuing down towards the return of the series in the summer/fall of 2022.
Now that Fritz is on the mend and Wolfe is supporting his former TV buddy, it seems that more and more people have decided to revive the show again. 1,007,000 viewers of the last episode, according to The Sun, can hardly laugh at what we saw in the previous months.
Of course, it’s worth noting that this is still a new version of American Pickers. Mike Wolfe brought his brother Robbie after he and Frank Fritz broke up. (Although Fritz left voluntarily due to health problems, he was not asked to return by another star of “Pickers” or those who participated in the show in other qualities). finally sees some momentum going forward with his new lineup.
Meanwhile, Frank Fritz said that he would like to return to television again, but it is unlikely that this will happen in the series that made his name a household name. The good news is that he is on the mend after a stroke, recently told a friend that he is “very determined” and “continues to get better every day.”
Of course, we hope to get more good news soon — on both fronts of recovery.
