Auction Mishap

One or more characters attend an auction, and their bidding gets out of hand. Often they accidentally buy something they didn't want.

Taxi

Appearances

• Car 54, Where Are You?: Season 1, episode 28, "The Auction" (1962). The gang attends an auction to bid on an antique chair for Captain Block's anniversary gift. They encourage Leo to bid on every item as a strategy to keep the price low, and he ends up winning everything.
• The Dick Van Dyke Show: Season 3, episode 2, "The Masterpiece" (1963). Rob accidentally keeps bidding on a hideous clown painting and accidentally buys it for a tidy sum of $180 (about $1,850 in today's money).
• My Mother the Car: Episode 15, "Many Happy No-Returns" (1965). Dave and Barbara each think the other's artwork is terrible and no one will bid on it at the charity auction, so unbeknownst to both of them, they each secretly hire someone to bid on the other's work as their surprise Christmas presents to each other.
• Sanford and Son: Season 1, episode 1, "Crossed Swords" (1972). Fred and Lamont auction off a porcelain antique and join in the bidding to drive up the price, but they end up buying their own item.
• Taxi: Season 2, episode 22, "Art Work" (1980). The gang goes to an auction to bid on some pieces by an artist Elaine thinks is about to croak, which means the value of his work will go up soon, but they get outbid on every piece.
• Cheers: Season 4, episode 13, "Take My Shirt... Please?" (1986). Sam donates his old Red Sox jersey to a public television auction, but nobody bids on it, so Diane buys it for $100, and when she tells Sam, he re-donates it, and when nobody bids on it again, he buys it himself for $200, then changes his mind and returns it. At the third auction, a man buys it for $300, and he confesses to Sam that he only bought it because he was tired of seeing it come back on the show.
• Cheers: Season 6, episode 8, "Bidding on the Boys" (1987). At Rebecca's charity bachelor auction, Carla bids on Sam to help drive up the price, and Rebecca decides to join in, but she gets a little carried away and almost ends up forking over a pretty penny for a date with Sam.
• The Golden Girls: Season 4, episode 11, "The Auction" (1988). The gang bids on a piece of art by an artist they believe is dying, and their bickering causes them to accidentally bid against each other, raising the price to $9,000.
• Seinfeld: Season 7, episode 20, "The Bottle Deposit" (1996). Mr. Peterman asks Elaine to bid on John F. Kennedy's golf clubs for him while he's on vacation, and he authorizes her to spend up to $10,000, but when Sue Ellen Mischke shows up and starts bidding on the clubs, Elaine bids up to $20,000 just to spite her.
• 3rd Rock from the Sun: Season 5, episode 8, "Charitable Dick" (1999). At a charity auction, Dick bids on an ugly painting of two monks just to show Strudwick he's not cheap. Strudwick bids against him, and they get into a bidding war that ends with Dick winning the painting $1,700.
• Just Shoot Me!: Season 5, episode 14, "The Auction" (2001). Jack holds a charity auction and lets Finch be the auctioneer, but when he throws away a pair of dog tags Finch gave him as a present, Finch gets pissed and deliberately sabotages the auction by making all of Jack's items seem worthless.
• The Goldbergs: Season 5, episode 2, "Hogan is my Grandfather" (2017). Adam and Pops have a tradition of going to auctions and driving up the prices, but Adam gets carried away and bids $30,000 on a painting that started at $5,000, and no one else bids, so he and Pops have to make a run for it.