It’s been four years since Billy Mays’ death, but his spirit is still with us. Reruns of the South Park episode “Dead Celebrities“, Epic Rap Battles with Benjamin Franklin, his son’s “Where’s Billy Mays?” blog, even a Billy Mays Maize Maze – all bear witness to his sticking power as a meme. He sees more action than some Pitchmen who are still alive. Heck, he even has a yearly holiday – BILLY MAYS MEMORIAL CAPS LOCK DAY.
As Seen on TV products featured on the premiere episode of Pitchmen season two:
Mighty Thirsty
Drinks up over 8 times its own weight in liquid
HexLight
Hands-Free LED Flashlight
Cold Fire
Super-effective fire suppressant
Pitchmen returns with new episodes this Thursday August 19 at 9PM ET/PT on Discovery Channel. Anthony “Sully” Sullivan is still on board, but the looming question is if this reality series can retain its audience without the star power of Billy Mays. At the time of his death in June 2009, Billy was the most famous pitchman in America, and maybe the world. But Sully is a formidable talent in his own right, and has a great supporting cast to back him up (not to mention the inventors and their products – the real stars). So we want to know: Will you be watching?
The press release we’ve been waiting for. August 19 is the date for PitchMen season 2 premiere!
Season two of PITCHMEN, which returns Thursdays at 9PM ET/PT on Discovery Channel beginning August 19, follows Anthony “Sully” Sullivan as he attempts to pick up the pieces and continue making inventors’ dreams come true after the sudden death of his longtime friend and pitch partner, Billy Mays.
Through 10 all-new episodes, Sully scours the country holding “pitch-a-thons” to give everyday inventors a shot at catching his eye with their simple solutions to common problems. Each episode will feature the good, bad and hilarious ideas that Sully comes across and will showcase the inventions from first pitch to final commercial to see if the risk pays off for the dare-to-dream inventors. From razors to wrenches, the products featured this season are more revolutionary – and, at times, outlandish – than ever before. But will they have what it takes to hit it big?
PITCHMEN, which first premiered in April 2009, is produced for Discovery Channel by Original Productions. Thom Beers, Philip D. Segal, Chris Wilson and Anthony Sullivan are executive producers for Original Productions and Chris Rantamaki is executive producer for Discovery Channel.
We celebrated with angel food cake with blue butter-cream flowers just the shade of Billy’s famous shirt. And missed him. Even though we are really looking forward to PitchMen Season 2 and can’t wait to see Sully, Billy Mays III and Arwen, it’s bitter-sweet that Billy had just hit it big when he died. All those pitches and commercials led up to a very successful show on the Discovery Channel and appearances with Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien. He had just signed a deal with Taco Bell to film commercials for the chain. I can’t help but wonder what other successes would have been his – he was a big believer in the American Dream, and not even the sky was his limit.
Season 2 of television reality show Pitchmen is slated to debut this August on Discovery Channel. Get ready for a new season of idiosyncratic inventors and their innovative products, marketed to the masses with the help of Anthony “Sully” Sullivan, Billy Mays III, Arwen Saxon and rest of the amazing crew at Sullivan Productions. Join the Sullivan Productions/PitchMen on Facebook today to get the latest PitchMen news and exclusive behind-the-scenes photos.
Kudos to Brandon Veski for creating this awesome Photoshop mashup of Billy Mays and Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Although most of the transplanted heads are Billy Mays, Jr., we spy other Pitchmen cast members, including Anthony Sullivan. The Fab Four are reimagined as Billy Mays III and Hindu Goddess Lakshmi now sports the lovely face of Arwen Saxon (@ArwenAnaNg). Billy Mays, Sr. even makes a few appearances. Who else can you find?
Click the image to view the hi-res version.
Great article and video from tampabay.com profiling Pitchmen Anthony Sullivan and Billy Mays III, who keep on pitching even after the death of master pitchman Billy Mays, Jr.
I’m really not happy about the way information was presented in the statement issued by Dr. Leszek Chrostowski, the associate medical examiner in Hillsborough County, Florida who conducted the autopsy of Billy Mays. Without any information regarding how often or how much Billy Mays used cocaine, and even though there was none in his system when he died, cocaine was listed as a contributing factor in his death. Dr. Chrostowski, this is a man’s reputation you are playing around with. It’s not your “teachable moment” about the perils of recreational drug use. I refer you all to the official family statement.
