A Shout-Out for Pitchmen

Just when you think that you've seen every reality format, another one comes along to make you think - I should have thought of that, seeing I'm in the business. Leave it to the Discovery channel to come up with a great reality show concept. After all, Discovery has brought us Man vs. Wild, Dirty Jobs with the excellent Mike Rowe; and what may be the best of all the outdoor reality shows, Deadliest Catch (which premieres on April 14th for all you Deadliest Catch junkies).

The newest show from Discovery is called Pitchmen. It stars the guy who thinks we are all deaf, Billy Mays. The ubiquitous Mays is best known for pitching OxiClean, the Big City Slider Station, and too many others to mention here. Who doesn't love sliders? You can't miss him because he literally shouts at you during the commercials. It would be interesting for Billy and Chris Matthews to have a shout-out competition. You can't miss them.

It's my opinion that the concept is a "can't miss." The format is that Billy Mays and another long time infomercial giant, Anthony "Sully" Sullivan will be involved in trying to find the next generation of great infomercial-based products. The very ones that people think they can't live without when they're watching TV at 3:00 a.m. The concept is to go behind the scenes and learn what goes into making infomercials. Infomercials have long been a stepchild of the advertising industry dating back to the original infomercials with Ron Popeil. Popeil was no dummy and he made a fortune - over $2 billion in sales. His infomercials are slickly produced and eminently persuasive in getting people to take action. Who doesn't need a Veg-O-Matic or a Chop-O-Matic? They were a precursor to today's voguish zest for customer engagement. Infomercials have become a very important channel of sale and distribution avenue for select products. Although I've never bought a product from an infomercial, I have been captivated watching them. Most notable are the golf programs where they promise to lower your handicap or help you to hit the ball longer. Whether it's the Medicus Training Club or Moe Norman's Natural Golf Swing, they are all appealing in one way or another. They lean heavily on the golfer's quest to be better and lower their scores. It looks so easy on the infomercials.

With Pitchmen, Discovery is tapping into the new found interest in what goes on behind the scenes in the communications business. AMC's Mad Men was the first to truly depict what happens in the advertising business, albeit back in the sixties. TNT has jumped in with their version called Trust Me. Now comes Pitchmen. Who better to host it than Billy Mays? You know he's going to be over the top because that's who he is. You know he's going to shout out when the show starts on April 15th at 9:00 pm. It will be interesting to see if the show has the ability to make Billy Mays an even bigger star. Look what it did for Bear Grylls and the Hansen and Hillstrand brothers from the Deadliest Catch.

With Pitchmen, the Discovery channel hopes they can hook you into making another one of their shows appointment television. That's their pitch and they're sticking to it.