Oddities
GenreDocumentary/reality television
StarringMike Zohn, Evan Michelson, Ryan Matthew Cohn
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons5
No. of episodes73
Production
Production locationNew York City
Running time30 minutes
Production companyLeftfield Pictures[1][2]
Original release
NetworkDiscovery Channel, Science Channel
ReleaseNovember 4, 2010 (2010-11-04) –
April 27, 2014 (2014-04-27)

Oddities is a half-hour documentary/reality television program which follows the operation of an East Village, Manhattan shop which trades in antiques and other rarities. The show premiered on November 4, 2010, and airs on the Discovery Channel and its sister network, the Science Channel.[3][4]

Oddities focuses on the day-to-day operation of Obscura Antiques & Oddities, and stars co-owners Mike Zohn and Evan Michelson and buyer Ryan Matthew Cohn, with appearances by other employees and customers.[5] The store's employees search flea markets, personal collections, auctions, and antique shows for unique and unusual artifacts. Odd items bought and sold by the shop or featured on the show have included a mummified cat, a rhesus monkey skull, art made from nail clippings, and a straitjacket.[4][6][7]

Celebrities appearing on the show have included Jonathan Davis of the band Korn, Whitey Sterling, singer for the New York band Stiffs, Inc., musician Genesis P-Orridge, actress/comedian Amy Sedaris, actor Matthew Gray Gubler, artist Ann Hirsch, actress Chloë Sevigny, musician Natalia Paruz ('Saw Lady'), video game designer and commercial space flight enthusiast Richard Garriott, director Lloyd Kaufman, nerdcore rapper Schaffer The Darklord, musician Voltaire, musician Moby, artist Cynthia von Buhler, actor/comedian Paul Dinello, burlesque dancer Dita Von Teese, and "High Pitch Eric" of The Howard Stern Show.[8][9] New York playwright Edgar Oliver has appeared on the program multiple times and appears in the show's title sequence admiring a straitjacket.

Episodes

From left to right: Mike Zohn, Evan Michelson and Ryan Matthew Cohn at the 2011 New York Comic Con.

Season 1: 2010–2011

# # Title Original US airdate
1 1 Mummy Cat November 4, 2010
2 2 The Model Mortician November 11, 2010
3 3 Spider Prank November 18, 2010
4 4 Skull Envy December 9, 2010
5 5 Mummified Hand December 16, 2010
6 6 Four-Legged Chicken December 23, 2010
7 7 Pickled Pig December 30, 2010
8 8 Teeth On A Stick January 6, 2011
9 9 The Chair January 13, 2011
10 10 The Bulb Cruncher April 9, 2011

Season 2: 2011

# # Title Original US airdate
11 1 Shrunken Head April 9, 2011
12 2 Raising The Dead April 16, 2011
13 3 Three Little Piggies April 23, 2011
14 4 Rock Star Embalmer April 30, 2011
15 5 Romancing The Bone May 7, 2011
16 6 Edison's Monstrous Creation May 14, 2011
17 7 The Horaffe May 21, 2011
18 8 Piece of Mind May 28, 2011
19 9 Hedgehog Homolog June 4, 2011
20 10 Love Stones June 11, 2011

Season 3: 2011–2012

# # Title Original US airdate
21 1 Edgar's Creation and Robot Relations November 24, 2011
22 2 Shot Through the Heart November 24, 2011
23 3 Ghost Rider December 17, 2011
24 4 Holiday Bizarre December 24, 2011
25 5 Best of Oddities December 24, 2011
26 6 The Smoking Lung January 21, 2012
27 7 Fingernails and Just for Males January 21, 2012
28 8 Insane & The Membrane February 4, 2012
29 9 Mummy's Private Collection February 4, 2012
30 10 Seeing Scars February 11, 2012
31 11 The Arsenic Avenger February 18, 2012
32 12 Sorceress of Love February 18, 2012
33 13 The Power of a Grey Skull February 25, 2012
34 14 Black Magic Woman February 25, 2012
35 15 Holly-Odd March 3, 2012
36 16 Heads or Fails March 3, 2012
37 17 A Gurney for Grandpa March 10, 2012
38 18 Meat Mastodon March 10, 2012
39 19 Killer Queen June 2, 2012
40 20 Keeping Austin Odd June 9, 2012
41 21 Mounting Tensions June 16, 2012
42 ? Holiday Bizarre #2 December 22, 2012
43 ? Best Of #2 December 29, 2012

Season 4: 2013–2014

# # Title Original US airdate
44 1 Return to Holly-Odd February 9, 2013
45 2 Mutant Mascot February 16, 2013
46 3 Dummy Drama & Internal Trauma February 23, 2013
47 4 Skull Camera Obscura March 2, 2013
48 5 Taking Life by the Ears, Nose & Throat March 9, 2013
49 6 Heads, Kegels, Knees & Toes April 13, 2013
50 7 Blood Suckers & Brain Eaters April 20, 2013
51 8 March of Pangolin April 27, 2013
52 9 A Bug's Afterlife May 11, 2013
53 10 Slim Goodbody's Anatomical Adventure May 18, 2013
54 11 The Mummy Phallus Returns June 8, 2013
55 12 Skull in the City & a Two-Headed Kitty June 8, 2013
56 13 Vampires of PhilaHELLphia June 15, 2013
57 14 Bat Man & Ryan June 15, 2013
58 15 Obscura Is Loved to Death July 13, 2013
59 16 Brain Bits & Baby Gifts October 29, 2013
60 17 No Guts, No Gory October 29, 2013
61 18 Lights, Camera, Duck Impaction! October 29, 2013
62 19 Evan's Odd Anniversary October 29, 2013
63 ? Holiday Bizarre #3 January 4, 2014

Season 5: 2014

# # Title Original US airdate
64 1 Tongue Tied January 18, 2014
65 2 Head Shrinking 101 With Ryan January 18, 2014
66 3 New Oddleans January 25, 2014
67 4 Don't Get Testis January 25, 2014
68 5 Jails, Fails, and Salem Tales April 27, 2014
69 6 Chic-ODD-o April 27, 2014
70 7 Elephant Skull In The Room April 27, 2014
71 8 Music to My Gears April 27, 2014
72 9 Skeletons and Gwar April 27, 2014
73 10 Instant Chimera April 27, 2014

Spinoffs

A spinoff of Oddities, Oddities: San Francisco, debuted June 23, 2012 on the Science Channel with co-star Wednesday Mourning. This series focuses on another antiques store, Loved to Death, which is located in San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury district.[10][11][12] It has since been cancelled.

Another spinoff, Odd Folks Home, features notable regulars from Oddities and debuted November 22, 2012. It has since been cancelled.

See also

References

  1. ^ Schoof, Dustin (December 16, 2010). "Bethlehem artist Rachel Betty Case to appear tonight on Discovery Channel's 'Oddities'". The Express-Times Daily Newspaper. Archived from the original on March 22, 2012. Retrieved January 3, 2011.
  2. ^ "Leftfield Pictures". Archived from the original on July 13, 2011. Retrieved January 3, 2011.
  3. ^ Muessig, Ben (November 2, 2010). "From Skulls to Straitjackets, This Is Your One-Stop Shop". AOL News. Archived from the original on February 13, 2012. Retrieved January 3, 2011.
  4. ^ a b Starr, Michael (October 25, 2010). "Starr Report". New York Post. Retrieved January 3, 2011.
  5. ^ "Meet the Team: Obscura Antiques & Oddities". Oddities. Discovery Communications. 2011. Archived from the original on November 20, 2010. Retrieved January 3, 2011.
  6. ^ Weiswasser, G. (November 3, 2010). "The Odd World of 'Oddities' on Discovery Channel". DiscoveryBlog. Discovery Communications. Retrieved January 3, 2011.
  7. ^ Salazar, Lauren. "Obscura Antiques and Oddities". New York Magazine. New York Media. Retrieved January 3, 2011.
  8. ^ "Whitey Sterling on new Discovery Channel "Oddities" Episode". Leopard Studio. November 1, 2010. Archived from the original on July 13, 2011. Retrieved January 3, 2011.
  9. ^ Richardson, Katie (December 28, 2010). "Amy and Paul Dinello on Oddities". amysedarisrocks.com. Retrieved January 3, 2011.
  10. ^ Loved to Death website
  11. ^ Press release: "Science Takes Weird West This Summer With the World Premiere of Series 'Oddities: San Francisco'", June 7, 2012.
  12. ^ Science Channel: "Oddities: San Francisco"

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Oddities.
Discovery Channel original programming
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