UPDATE: Here’s a terrific piece of video of Billy and Sully with Neil Cavuto. Looks like Billy was a Republican, but both most certainly come across as genuine, warm, positive class acts. Some sites describe Mays as a “pop-culture icon.” Well, we could use a hundred more like him. Terrible loss. END UPDATE

Sometime last night or this morning St. Peter was greeted with the famous words, “Billy Mays here!” Fox News is reporting that television pitchman Billy Mays is dead. He was only 50.

Just last month I posted a review of “Pitchmen,” an entertaining and compelling Discovery Channel reality show starring Mays and his friend and fellow pitchman Anthony Sullivan. In the weeks since, the show only improved becoming much more than a celebration of American ingenuity, but also of family, friendship and generosity. (more…)

Every day it seems as though more and more Americans have been programmed to automatically resent the success of others. Much of this has to do with how effective Democrats and their allies in the media, academia and Hollywood have been at demonizing the wealthy, especially those in corporate America. Whether it’s Wal-Mart, pharmaceutical companies, oil, timber or high finance, these industries who have done so much to improve our way of life have, at various times, been singled out for the worst kind of character assassination.

And it’s worked, but when a corrupted pop culture is your only reference point, how could it not?

This is what makes the Discovery Channel’s new show “Pitchmen,” so special and worth a look. Not only is it entertaining and well produced, but it’s also the rare celebration of the American entrepreneurial spirit combined with the added bonus of doing one of my favorite things: “Pitchmen” takes you into a universe you know nothing about - direct response marketing – and shows you how the gears turn.

‘Hi! Billy Mays here…” (more…)