‘Star Wars’ and ‘Survivor’ Get Close-Up on MeTV’s ‘Collector’s Call’
Lisa Whelchel and Ethan Zohn, both ‘Survivor’ alumni, check out memorable stash from the show
Collector’s Call, an original show on MeTV hosted by Lisa Whelchel, will air episodes dedicated to Star Wars and Survivor in May. The show looks at individuals’ massive collections of pop-culture memorabilia, taps experts to appraise their value and sees if the collectors are willing to swap a piece of their collection for a new and different piece.
It is season five. The show airs Sundays at 6:30 p.m. ET/PT.
With May 4 serving as Star Wars Day, the show checks in with Gus Lopez, Star Wars collector, in the May 5 episode. “There are Star Wars collections, and then there is Gus Lopez's out-of-this-world Star Wars collection,” says Collector’s Call. “A fan of the space opera since he was a kid, Gus doesn't just collect the obvious — Han Solo’s screen-used jacket, one-of-a-kind prototypes, C-3PO's body parts, but there's also the ultimate weapon — you know the one, THE DEATH STAR!”
Lopez is based in Seattle.
A week later, the show ventures to Chicago to see the collection belonging to Jamie Knoll O’Neill, who inherited a Survivor collection from her father.
Whelchel appeared on the show when it was set in the Philippines in 2012, and she invites Ethan Zohn, who has competed on Survivor three times and won season three in 2001. “The pair revisit triumphs and failures from their own 39-day adventures as Jamie shows off her dad’s treasures, including torches from fan-favorite players, a memorable outfit worn by the ‘Queen of Survivor,’ and the original Tribal Council urn from season 1 — with all the final votes still inside.”
Survivor host and executive producer Jeff Probst offers a tribute to Jamie’s father, Dan Knoll, in the episode.
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Whelchel played Blair on The Facts of Life.
Other May episodes feature Mark Short’s props and costumes trove and Robert Baker’s ‘70s and ‘80s toy collection.
Michael Malone is content director at B+C and Multichannel News. He joined B+C in 2005 and has covered network programming, including entertainment, news and sports on broadcast, cable and streaming; and local broadcast television, including writing the "Local News Close-Up" market profiles. He also hosted the podcasts "Busted Pilot" and "Series Business." His journalism has also appeared in The New York Times, The L.A. Times, The Boston Globe and New York magazine.