This is a good place to drop general and weird news, entertainment, and general show prep material that might be interesting to air talent or producers. Hot dog threads ALWAYS welcome.
Every time I turn on the TV, regardless of the channel or time of day, there's ol' Billy Mays, hocking yet another "must-have awesome home product" in that obnoxious loud over-the-top "YA GOTTA TRY THIS!!!" voice. And every year there seems to be exponentially more As-Seen-On-TV products that Billy's hocking. Billy Mays is like the go-to guy for selling your products.
Half the time I don't know if I buy this stuff because it's actually useful, or because Billy Mays told me to.
What's even more screwed up is that they turn the volume up for the commercials (generally) so that they get your attention. You have your TV adjusted so that it's just fine, then a commercial comes on and blasts you off your ass...
Billy Mays took the concept of being a boardwalk hawker in AC and Wildwood, NJ to a new level when he grabbed the bull by the horns and started using that shouting/yelling style to pitch on TV. Until Billy Mays kicked "As Seen On TV" to new levels, pitch men were like the calm, cool and collected Mike Rowe who pitched for QVC before becoming the voice of American Chopper and the Dirty Jobs guy.
Until the Vince Offer started pitching ShamWow in commercials with that county fair style, I did ignored Billy Mays. Now, they bot really grate on my nerves. And BBCA/Discovery Networks are full of these ads.
Oh! Edit: AC is Philly/south Jersey speak for Atlantic City.
The first step in a successful revolution is to defeat all competing revolutionaries.
I love the Billy Mays ESPN 360 commercial! Good stuff...
Edit...
I got excited(not in that way) about him being from Ironton so I Googled him. Unfortunately, he's not from there according to Wikipedia.
Mays was born in McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania. After graduating from high school, he began his career as a salesman on the Atlantic City boardwalk, selling the "Weed-Matic" portable gardening device to passersby. Working alongside many seasoned pitchmen, he developed his trademark style of salesmanship.[1]
"The whole thing was just a nightmare," Rodriguez said.
Infomercials lure viewers as cash becomes tight While traditional retailers slogged their way through the holiday, slashing prices to ambivalence from shoppers, direct-response marketers struck a chord, airing ubiquitous television spots for such products as the ShamWow, the Snuggie and Mighty Mendit.
"People like that instantaneous feeling," says Nosenchuck. "The $19.95 price point product is totally an impulse buy. Here's the product, now pull out your credit card, get up off the sofa and dial the number. It's immediate closure."
Indeed. I have fallen into this trap and I vow to never do it again. F-ck you Don Lapre,and your tiny ads
Now.. I make a mental note to go to the web site and read up on the product. Typically, by the time I am in front of the computer, I have forgotten about the product I felt was critical to my being at 1 AM last night. F-ckin' tap lights.... about as useful as Loony Tunes on Cartoon Network HD
"I have a pretty high success rate only because I sift through a lot of products and turn down a lot of products to get to the ones I want," says Mays, who will co-star with Sullivan in a Discovery Channel reality series debuting in April.
WTF? A reality series featuring DR pitchmen? This I gotta see.
All the rage right now is the Snuggie, a fleece blanket with wizard sleeves. The heavily parodied infomercial features rhyming narration and images of people cloaked in red, looking like druids gathered for a ritual.
