I was thinking of putting this in the Pit. I know there are going to be tons of less-than-positive opinions about this.
Yes, it’s true. I just saw a commercial for this. Billy Mays, the ultra-high decibel pitchman for such products as Oxy-Clean and Orange Glow, will be getting his own program on the Discovery Channel, beginning April 15, 2009. Called “Pitchmen,” the show will co-star fellow infomercial star Anthony Sullivan. the duo will examine inventors’ products and evaluate them for infomercial readiness and critique the techniques used to market them now.
Looks like Discovery is starting to scrape the bottom of the barrel.
I first saw the commercial for this on April 1st and I honestly thought it was an April Fool’s Day joke. Imagine my disappointment when I saw it advertised again on the second.
I don’t watch a lot of television, let alone reality or competitive shows, but I caught a commercial for this on Sunday while watching MythBusters and I thought it looked interesting. Of course, it’d be even more interesting without Mays, but considering the guy is successful at his job, and infamously iconic in his own way, it only makes sense to give him the hosting gig.
They should give him a show about really loud things. Jet engines, Kawasaki crotch rockets, my room mate’s stereo, your mom, stuff like that.
At the end of the promo, the other guy gets a good jab at his co-host when he says, “There’s more to selling, than just the yelling!” Billy Mays gives him a dirty look.
The premise is interesting on the face of it. If they follow the Mythbusters model, it’ll be a good way to introduce the concept of “don’t believe everything as seen on TV” to mainstream and give people cause to think a little more critically about the next miracle product they see.
I just hope they don’t try to wrap the show in an infomercial style like the promo. That’ll get really annoying really fast.
As long as they don’t give Squinty-Joe aka Popeye the Sailor aka Vince Offer aka the ShamWow! guy his own show…
I was disappointed in the first ten minutes of the show.
The setup is they’ll take two products, show the pitch, and then show how they made the commercial, this issues, etc.
I was hoping for a show where they show a product, then show whether it works or not. I’m tired of all the manufactured drama and camera angles. I wanted a more mythbusters show.
I think it’s actually pretty interesting. Kinda neat to figure out where all these products come from and how they market it. And weird to hear Mays talk in his non-commercial voice.
Semi unrelated, but pretty funny: Billy Mays ordering drive-through at McDonalds:
http://bitsandpieces.us/2009/04/13/billy-mays-buys-breakfast-at-mcdonalds/