pitchmen-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 9th 2009 4:04PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Late Night, Programming, Celebrities, Talk Show, What To Watch Tonight, Reality-Free
At 7, G4 has the 1000th episode of Attack of the Show.- At 8, ABC has two new episodes of Samantha Who?
- CBS has the season premiere of Big Brother at 8.
- At 9, Discovery has a Billy Mays tribute episode of Pitchmen.
- USA has a new Burn Notice at 9, then a new Royal Pains.
- Spike has a new TNA Impact at 9.
- At 10, NBC has a new episode of The Listener.
- Comedy Central has a new Tosh.0 at 10.
- Bravo has a new episode of The Fashion Show at 10.
- Also at 10: Showtime has a new Penn & Teller's Bullshit.
Check your
local TV listings for more.
After the jump, the late night talk shows.
Continue reading What's On Tonight: Big Brother, Billy Mays Tribute, Burn Notice
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 Jul 1st 2009 4:06PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Late Night, Programming, Celebrities, Talk Show, What To Watch Tonight, Reality-Free
At 8, ABC has a new Wipeout, followed by new episodes of I Survived a Japanese Game Show and Primetime: Crime.- FOX has a new, two-hour So You Think You Can Dance at 8.
- PBS has a new American Masters at 8.
- At 9, NBC has a new America's Got Talent, then a new episode of The Philanthropist.
- BBC America has a new episode of Gordon Ramsay's The F Word at 9.
- At 10, Discovery has the season finale of Pitchmen.
- A&E has two new episodes of Tattoo Highway at 10.
- TBS has two new episodes of Tyler Perry's Meet The Browns at 10.
- There's a new episode of The Fashion Show on Bravo at 10.
- Also at 10: MTV has a new Real World.
- At 10:30, Comedy Central has a new Reno 911!
Check your
local TV listings for more.
After the jump, the late night talk shows.
Continue reading What's On Tonight: Wipeout, American Masters, F Word, Pitchmen
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 2:16PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: OpEd, Celebrities, Obituaries
If you're wearing
blue to pay tribute Billy Mays, you were probably as shocked by
the pitchman's death as I was. Heck, I was even more surprised by Billy's passing than I was by Michael Jackson's. The guy seemed as healthy as a horse, sporting nothing more than the slight beer gut anyone of his age that's not a fitness fanatic and lives the good life is likely to have.
So in a perverse way, some of us approaching middle age were hoping that the cause of Billy's death could have been explained by the bump on the head he got after his flight had a rough landing the day before he died. We figured it was a delayed response to head trauma, a la what happened to Natasha Richardson earlier this year.
But autopsy results, verified by
Billy Mays III on his Twitter feed, showed that there was no head trauma.
Mays simply died of heart disease. Continue reading Billy Mays died of heart disease, says autopsy
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
Posted Jun 24th 2009 4:05PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Late Night, Programming, Celebrities, Talk Show, What To Watch Tonight, Reality-Free
At 8, ABC has a new Wipeout, followed by a new I Survived A Japanese Game Show and Primetime: Questions for the President: A Prescription for America.- NBC has the season finale of I'm A Celebrity... at 8, then a new America's Got Talent and the series premiere of The Philanthropist.
- FOX has a new, two-hour So You Think You Can Dance.
- Discovery has a new Time Warp at 8.
- Also at 8: Cartoon Network has a new episode of The Othersiders.
- At 9, A&E has a new Dog The Bounty Hunter, followed by two new episodes of Tattoo Highway.
- History Channel has a new MonsterQuest at 9
- There's a new Throwdown with Bobby Flay on Food Network at 9.
- At 10, TBS has two new episodes of Tyler Perry's Meet The Browns.
- Bravo has a new Top Chef Masters at 10.
- MTV has the season premiere of Real World: Cancun at 10.
- Discovery has a new Pitchmen at 10.
- At 10:30, Comedy Central has a new Reno 911!
- TCM has Dr. Strangelove at 10:30.
Check your
local TV listings for more.
After the jump, the late night talk shows.
Continue reading What's On Tonight: Top Chef Masters, The Philanthropist, Real World
Posted Jun 17th 2009 4:09PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Late Night, Programming, Celebrities, Talk Show, What To Watch Tonight, Reality-Free
- At 8, ABC has a new Wipeout, then the season premiere of I Survived A Japanese Game Show, and the series finale of The Unusuals.
- NBC has a new I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here at 8.
- FOX has a new, two-hour So You Think You Can Dance at 8.
- PBS has a new Great Performances at 8.
- Cartoon Network has the series premiere of The Othersiders at 8.
- At 9, A&E has a new Dog The Bounty Hunter, followed by a new Tattoo Highway.
- BBC America has the season premiere of Gordon Ramsay's F Word at 9.
- History Channel has a new MonsterQuest at 9.
- Also at 9: Food Network has a new Throwdown with Bobby Flay.
- At 10, TBS has two new episodes of Tyler Perry's Meet the Browns.
- Bravo has a new Top Chef Masters at 10.
- There's a new Pitchmen on Discovery at 10.
- At 10:30, Comedy Central has a new Reno 911!
Check your
local TV listings for more.
After the jump, the late night talk shows.
Continue reading What's On Tonight: I'm A Celebrity, Japanese Game Show, Meet The Browns
Posted Jun 3rd 2009 4:02PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Late Night, Programming, Celebrities, Talk Show, What To Watch Tonight, Reality-Free
At 8, ABC has a new Wipeout, followed by two new episodes of The Goode Family and a new The Unusuals.- FOX has a new, two-hour So You Think You Can Dance at 8.
- NBC has a new I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Outta Here at 8, then the second part of Inside The Obama White House and the season finale of Law and Order.
- At 9, TBS has two new episodes of Tyler Perry's House of Payne, followed by two new episodes of Tyler Perry's Meet the Browns.
- Discovery has a new Mythbusters at 9, then a new Pitchmen.
- A&E has a new Dog The Bounty Hunter at 9, then two new episodes of Tattoo Highway.
- History Channel has a new MonsterQuest at 9.
- At 10, ESPN has a World Cup Qualifying Match, U.S. vs. Costa Rica.
- At 10:30, Comedy Central has a new Reno 911!
Check your
local TV listings for more.
After the jump, the late night talk shows.
Continue reading What's On Tonight: Goode Family, Law and Order, Reno 911
Posted May 27th 2009 4:04PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Late Night, Programming, Celebrities, Talk Show, What To Watch Tonight, Reality-Free
- At 8, ABC has the season premiere of Wipeout, followed by the series premiere of The Goode Family and new episodes of Surviving Suburbia and The Unusuals.
- CBS has George Strait: ACM Artist of the Decade All-Star Concert.
- FOX has a new, two-hour So You Think You Can Dance at 8.
- PBS has new episodes of Great Performances and American Masters.
- Discovery has a new Time Warp at 8, then new episodes of Mythbusters and Pitchmen.
- Also at 8: ESPN has the NBA Shootaround, followed by the Lakers/Nuggets game.
- At 8:30, Food Network has a new Throwdown with Bobby Flay, then a new Dear Food Network.
- At 9, TBS has two new episodes of Tyler Perry's House of Payne, followed by two new episodes of Tyler Perry's Meet The Browns.
- A&E has a new Dog The Bounty Hunter at 9.
- History Channel has a new MonsterQuest at 9.
- At 10, Spike has a new Ultimate Fighter.
- E! has a new "10 Greatest Stories" episode of E! True Hollywood Story.
- TCM has Shane at 10.
Check your
local TV listings for more.
After the jump, the late night talk shows.
Continue reading What's On Tonight: Wipeout, George Strait, Meet The Browns, Pitchmen
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