anthony sullivan-related stories
Posted Sep 21st 2009 11:00AM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, OpEd, Commercials, Obituaries, Emmys, Reality-Free
I'm not saying that I necessarily think Billy Mays should have won a posthumous Emmy, or even that his show
Pitchmen should have been included in their "The Year in Reality" segment. But leaving him out of the "In Memoriam" segment? You have people from every facet of the television industry, and you leave out the most famous infomercial personality ever. Infomercials are television programming.
Yes, they're annoying at times and yes, they're not as exciting as
Lost or
The Amazing Race, but it's still television. Billy Mays was famous
because of television. And he was famous. Virtually everyone in this country recognizes "Hi, Billy Mays here!" and that almost patented way of
shouting talking he had.
But hell, even if you don't buy any of those arguments, he was one of the stars of
Pitchmen, a successful reality show. You honor reality shows, right? I'm just saying, It seems to me that one of the most famous faces of the modern era
on television, and one of the most powerful men in the commercial industry, could have maybe earned a quick mention upon his passing.
Posted Jul 15th 2009 12:04PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, Documentary, Casting
When
Billy Mays died a couple of weeks ago, we were trying to figure out what exactly Discovery was going to do about their show
Pitchmen. Would they cancel the show? Renew it with just Anthony Sullivan as the star? Try to find another pitchman (or woman)? Turns out it's going to be none of those things.
Instead, the show is going to continue
with the addition of Mays' son, Billy Mays III. No word yet if the younger Mays will step into the co-host role with Sullivan or be involved in other ways, but I'm sure he'll have at least some on-screen role.
Posted Jul 10th 2009 3:03PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, OpEd, Video, Commercials, Watercooler Talk, Celebrities, Obituaries
I don't know how true this axiom is, since I just made it up out of thin air. But it seems to me that, in the world of reality TV, you can edit a nice person to look like a jerk, but it's much tougher to edit a jerk into looking like a nice person. It's just harder to fake being a good person than it is to fake being a jerk. And what I learned by the entire season of
Pitchmen, including
last night's tribute episode, was that Billy Mays was a good guy.
Sure, he had an ego. Sure, there are probably production staffs out there who think the guy was a jerk because he was having a bad day when he worked with them. But, the entire season of
Pitchmen showed that Mays was a fun-loving guy that seemed to be a dedicated family man; he also seemed to be truly committed to helping people realize their dreams through their inventions. Considering how many different people teared up during the tribute episode last night, I could tell the guy was loved and admired.
Continue reading Pitchmen pays teary tribute to Billy Mays
Posted Jul 6th 2009 5:30PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Commercials, Celebrities, Reality-Free
This isn't usually a blog with photos from funeral services, but I thought this one was appropriate for TV fans to see. Pallbearers at Billy Mays funeral the other day all wore blue shirts in a tribute to the commercial king.
Posted Jul 2nd 2009 6:01PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Commercials, Celebrities, Reality-Free
First off, everyone keeps using the word "infomercial" when describing the ads that Billy Mays did, including
this piece at TampaBay.com. Actually, infomercials are longer form ads, usually 30 minutes. What Mays did were commercials (though yes, he did infomercials too). After a meeting between his widow, his son, friend Anthony Sullivan, and marketers, they have decided to resume running all of Mays' ads next week. I'm sure that's going to seem weird to some viewers.
I guess it's not completely odd, because we still watch a TV show that a celebrity has starred in after they die. But commercials are more recent, more "alive," more "of the moment" than some TV show that we all know is a repeat from one, ten, thirty years ago. And that's what's going to be odd about seeing these ads.
Posted Jun 30th 2009 5:40PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, Celebrities
The season finale of Discovery Channel's
Pitchmen airs tomorrow night at 10PM (after a day-long marathon of the show). But now that
Billy Mays has passed away suddenly, what should happen to the show?
Discovery hasn't made a decision yet. They could continue the show will just Anthony Sullivan, they could get another commercial/product icon to take Mays' place, or they could simply cancel the show. What do you think they should do?
Posted Jun 29th 2009 9:08AM by Danny Gallagher
Filed under: Commercials, Celebrities, Obituaries, Reality-Free
News of someone's death always implants a little sadness in my brain, whether its the passing of a major celebrity or some innocent bystander who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Part of it is completely selfish. Someone's passing always reminds me of the frailty of human life and lets me know I'm always one less beer away from reaching the end of my time.
The other part is the projection of my own pain. We've all lost someone close to us and know what that pain feels like when our brain is scrambling to catch up with the reality of that loss. There is someone out there who has to deal with that same pain, whether the person who died was worthy of Catholic sainthood or the Bastard of the Year Award.
Continue reading Today is "Wear Blue for Billy" day
Posted Jun 28th 2009 12:50PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Commercials, Celebrities, Obituaries, Reality-Free
Famous (and loud) TV pitchman
Billy Mays was found dead in his Florida home today. He was 50.
There's no cause of death yet (an autopsy will be performed tomorrow), but Mays was one of the passengers on
a US Airways flight that had a bumpy landing in Tampa, FL yesterday.
I think most people would agree that this been a remarkably strange week for celebrity deaths. Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, then Michael Jackson. We thought those three celebs would be enough for one week (and celebrity deaths often come in threes, as the common wisdom goes). And now we have a guy who is still on our TVs
all the time. It's not like he was old or he had retired or he wasn't doing much in public anymore. Commercials with May run all day long, every day. I saw several last night. He also has a weekly show with Anthony Sullivan on Discovery called
Pitchmen. The pair were also on Conan's show last week. Video of that appearance is after the jump.
Continue reading Billy Mays dead at 50
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