The Discovery Channel is still looking for products to showcase on season 2 of PitchMen! March 13th & 14th Anthony “SULLY” Sullivan and his crew will be hearing your pitches for products during the Chicago International Housewares Show at the McCormick Center in Chicago.

There are important instructions to follow if you want to pitch, so please visit dsc.discovery.com/tv/pitchmen/pitchathon-invitation.html for more information.

Sully needs your new product ideas!

On Friday, January 29, 2010, Discovery Channel’s hit show PITCHMEN is offering inventors and innovators the opportunity to present their inventions to the producers and vie for the chance to pitch a product to industry expert and television pitchman Anthony “SULLY” Sullivan. TO ATTEND YOU MUST:

1)Email your name, phone number, photos, drawings, and a brief written description of your invention to: pitchmen2season@yahoo.com

2)Send a DVD of you pitching your product straight to any type of HD video camera by January 27, 2009 to:

Madeline Clark Studios
10852 Burbank Blvd.
North Hollywood, CA 91601-2508

Further details, including 8 essential product tips, are available at dsc.discovery.com/tv/pitchmen/make-millions/make-millions.html

Billy Mays had a family history of heart disease.

1. It must solve a problem
2. It must have mass appeal
3. It must be unique
4. It must offer instant gratification
5. It must be demonstrable

Remember these steps when you’re working on a product, or trying to sell something. Read the full article post, The Billy Mays 5-Step Guide to Easy Selling

Discovery Channel’s PITCHMEN, the 12-part series that featured the late Billy Mays II and his business partner, Anthony ‘Sully’ Sullivan, will be back for a second season. Because of the success of the series first season, and as a tribute to Mays’ legacy, the show will continue. PITCHMEN, which is produced by Original Productions, a division of Freemantle Media, took viewers behind the curtain into the billion dollar infomercial industry, as Mays and Sullivan helped everyday men and women bring their inventions to the masses. Discovery Channel is developing the format of season two with Mays’ son, Billy Mays III, Anthony Sullivan and Thom Beers, CEO of Original Productions. More information will be announced as it becomes available. A premiere date for season two of PITCHMEN hasn’t yet been set.

In addition, the Pitchmen tribute to Billy Mays will air again on Friday, July 24 at 10PM ET/PT

Billy Mays was laid to rest on Friday. The media seemed to have done a good job covering the events of the past week

Political cartoonists (and fans alike) have been honoring Billy Mays last week, too:

You can make your own paper Billy Mays with the Billy Mays Cube Art

And finally, the caps lock key has been renamed:

We’ll miss you, Billy. Discovery is airing a special tribute episode of Pitchmen. “Pitchman: A Tribute to Billy Mays” airs Thursday, July 9 at 9 p.m. e/p.

Tampa police said Mays was found unresponsive by his wife Sunday morning. A fire rescue crew pronounced him dead at 7:45 a.m.

There were no signs of a break-in, and investigators do not suspect foul play, said Lt. Brian Dugan of the Tampa Police Department, who wouldn’t answer any more questions about how Mays’ body was found because of the ongoing investigation. The coroner’s office expects to have an autopsy done by Monday afternoon.

“Although Billy lived a public life, we don’t anticipate making any public statements over the next couple of days,” said Mays’ wife, Deborah. “Our family asks that you respect our privacy during these difficult times.”
Tampa area media outlets reported that Mays was a passenger on a U.S. Airways flight that made a rough landing on Saturday afternoon at Tampa International Airport, apparently blowing its front tires in an incident that left debris on the runway.

Tampa Bay’s Fox television affiliate interviewed Mays after the incident.

“All of a sudden as we hit you know it was just the hardest hit, all the things from the ceiling started dropping,” MyFox Tampa Bay quoted him as saying. “It hit me on the head, but I got a hard head.”

U.S. Airways officials said Sunday they could not immediately confirm that Mays was a passenger.

Born William Mays in McKees Rocks, Pa., on July 20, 1958, Mays developed his style demonstrating knives, mops and other “as seen on TV” gadgets on Atlantic City’s boardwalk. For years he worked as a hired gun on the state fair and home show circuits, attracting crowds with his booming voice and genial manner.

After meeting Orange Glo International founder Max Appel at a home show in Pittsburgh in the mid-1990s, Mays was recruited to demonstrate the environmentally friendly line of cleaning products on the St. Petersburg-based Home Shopping Network.

Commercials and informercials followed, anchored by the high-energy Mays showing how it’s done while tossing out kitschy phrases like, “Long live your laundry!”

Recently he’s been seen on commercials for a wide variety of products and is featured on the reality TV show “Pitchmen” on the Discovery Channel, which follows Mays and Anthony Sullivan in their marketing jobs. He’s also been seen in ESPN ads.

His ubiquitousness and thumbs-up, in-your-face pitches won Mays plenty of fans. People line up at his personal appearances for autographed color glossies, and strangers stop him in airports to chat about the products.

“I enjoy what I do,” Mays told The Associated Press in a 2002 interview. “I think it shows.”

Mays liked to tell the story of giving bottles of OxiClean to the 300 guests at his wedding, and doing his ad spiel (“powered by the air we breathe!”) on the dance floor at the reception. Visitors to his house typically got bottles of cleaner and housekeeping tips.

Discovery Channel spokeswoman Elizabeth Hillman released a statement Sunday extending sympathy to the Mays family.

“Everyone that knows him was aware of his larger-than-life personality, generosity and warmth,” Hillman’s statement said. “Billy was a pioneer in his field and helped many people fulfill their dreams. He will be greatly missed as a loyal and compassionate friend.”

By MITCH STACY, Associated Press Writer

Billy and Sully take on a revolutionary new windshield wiper and produce an explosive shoot, featuring something called the ‘Bug Bazooka.’ Then the guys get behind a new way to eat breakfast cereal, “The EZ Crunch Bowl.”

The inventor of the EZ Crunch Bowl is Ethan Zohn, from “Survivor: Africa”. I guess he had a lot of time to think being stuck out in the African Savannah.

TampaBay.com talks of the $45,000 GatorBlade infomercial shot, with Billy shooting salvos of live crickets steeped in a reeking stew of mealworms at 100mph, and whether or not the GatorBlade could handle the chore of cleaning it up.

They blew through 3,000 crickets in eight takes. There were malfunctions and a misfire that littered a craft services food table 30 feet away with crickets.

Be sure to catch Pitchmen on Discovery Channel tonight at 10:00.

Too bad they got the tagline wrong. It’s not “Hi, I’m Billy Mays!” – it’s “Hi, Billy Mays here…”