[psmith2.0]

What a weirdo couple of weeks, beginning with David Carradine...

Isn't on CNN's site yet.

EDIT: okay, now it is, linking to this story.

Seems as though a plane he was on (returning from Philadelphia) blew a tire upon landing in Florida and the plane hit the runway hard. Some items above dislodged and Mays took a hit on the head from something (luggage?), but was okay and didn't die until much later, after reaching home.

Shades of Natasha Richardson.



From TMZ (more info on the plane situation):

The FAA is already deflecting blame for the death of Billy Mays -- claiming the legendary TV pitchman wasn't wearing a seat belt when he took a shot to the head during a rough landing on a flight he was on yesterday. Here's what we know -- Billy Mays was aboard US Airways Flight 1241 flying from Philadelphia, which landed roughly when the front tire blew out as it touched down. After the flight, Billy told FOX 13 in Tampa that something struck him in the head -- here's Billy's actual quote: "All of a sudden as we hit you know it was just the hardest hit, all the things from the ceiling started dropping. It hit me on the head, but I got a hard head." We called the FAA for comment, and a spokesperson told us, "The passenger needs to wear a seat belt during landing and he didn't." A spokesperson for US Airways did not want to comment until more information comes to light.

Not really sure how "wearing a seatbelt" would affect/prevent an injury from being hit from falling luggage, but okay...



Jeez...who's next?

He and that guy he partners with on that new Discovery show "Pitchmen" were just on Conan last week.

[PKIDelirium]

Yeah, wtf? Everyone's dropping dead.

Autopsy by Monday, it says. Be interesting to see the official COD for this one, if it's related to the hard landing hit or if it was "just" something like a heart attack.

[psmith2.0]

I wouldn't have thought much about a "knock on the head", but after Natasha Richardson's accident, I can see how a heavy suitcase or laptop bag falling from 2-3 feet above might do the same sort of damage. You're okay (but sore) at the moment it happens, and think nothing else of it...but hours later problems develop (the swelling, internal bleeding, etc.).

I'm guessing the two things (his hard landing/head blow and his death hours later) are connected. That's exactly how it played out with Richardson.



I guess we'll be wearing helmets on planes before it's all over...

[@_@ Artman]

Just for the heck of it...



Here's Madonna (currently the most successful and living pop star) piggy backing her new kid.

Life does go on.

[hmurchison]

My gf just told me about Billy Mays and I was like "who" until I saw his picture and recognized it was the high energy infomercial guy. Man the Grim Reaper is working overtime this year.

[billybobsky]

i am not sure the "all the things from the ceiling" refers to luggage but rather the respiration apparatus... It seems likely that he got tossed into the ceiling knocking the above head consul loose...

[psmith2.0]

Well that makes more sense. And yes, being seatbelted in would've prevented that.



The statement from Mays makes it sound like stuff fell and hit him. But who knows...

[Kickaha]

Good lord, what is this, a culling??

[@_@ Artman]

[drewprops]

LOL, I wheeled over to AN to see if Scates would have a thread about Billy Mays and was NOT disappointed!!! (seriously, if anyone else had started it I wouldn't have been as delighted (sorry))

I must be feeling better.
(poor Billy Mays. I suspect the ShamWow guy of setting this up...)


...

[dmegatool]

Originally Posted by drewprops (poor Billy Mays. I suspect the ShamWow guy of setting this up...)

Is he still in jail ? Anyway, poor Bill indeed. The only place I've seen him is the mighty putty ad... I almost bought the shit

[psmith2.0]

He'd just started doing a show on the Discovery channel, with some British(?) guy, called "Pitchmen". It looked a bit too "reality" for me (with the amped-up "drama", catty back-and-forth, pregnant pauses and "big moments", etc.), so I never watched more than about the first five or minutes of a few episodes because I...well, because I despise shit like that, frankly.



But yeah...it just started. I think it's been on the air for less than two months. Very new. Comes on Wednesday nights at 10:00, immediately after "Mythbusters".

Guess it won't now.

The weird thing...you kinda see where Discovery's bread is buttered. In the nanoseconds following Steve Irwin's death, the entire Discovery website (including the homepage) had been "crikey-ized", with Steve's image, video, info, etc. plastered all over the place. You knew what Irwin meant to the network, and the big deal he and his shows were.

A solid eight or so hours since word has been known about Mays, you have to navigate to the "Pitchmen" section of the site to see any mention of May's passing (and then, it's just a one-line text blurb). Nothing on the homepage, etc.

Just kinda caught my attention, that "sliding scale" approach.

No telling how they're going to play it if Mike Rowe or one of those Alaskan crab fishermen buys it unexpectedly. Or if Adam and/or Jamie blow themselves to pieces doing some "12th century pipe bomb" bit.

Originally Posted by drewprops LOL, I wheeled over to AN to see if Scates would have a thread about Billy Mays and was NOT disappointed!!! (seriously, if anyone else had started it I wouldn't have been as delighted (sorry)) I must be feeling better.

Are you monkeying with me?

[Banana]

Originally Posted by pscates2.0 Are you monkeying with me?

Didn't you get memo from Brad? That you're now Applenova's official Vice President of Public Resident, public spokesman, pitchman and barker™®©?

[psmith2.0]

I shall not seek, and I will not accept...

[drewprops]

You can't elude public opinion. Don't make us riot.
Just accept it and type IN ALL CAPS FROM NOW ON!!!!

...

[NosferaDrew]

Anyone else see Billy Mays last couple of tweets?:

Just had a close call landing in Tampa. The tires blew out upon landing. Stuck in the plane on the runway. You can always count on US Air. 12:01 PM Jun 27th from txt Getting ready to fly back to Tampa from Philly. Monday is the big day (HIP REPLACEMENT NO.3) Keep you posted. 7:40 AM Jun 27th from txt

Maybe he wasn't wearing a seat belt because of a bad hip?

[psmith2.0]

Three hips? Wow...

[murbot]

I'm pretty sure I just saw him the other night doing a commercial for a life insurance company. Hope they had him hooked up.

[Maciej]

I liked his ESPN 360 commercials. My favorite.

[Foj]

Originally Posted by pscates2.0 Three hips? Wow...

Should have just used the Mighty Putty on the first one......

[turtle]

Wow, that is pretty amazing the number of major known people who are dying off here lately. I think Kickaha's on to something.

[Foj]

I can see the sales pitch now.

"IF YOU ORDER NOW! Not only will you get the Cloud Auger, we'll throw in an extra set of wings and an eternal supply of halo polish at no extra cost. A 75 God dollar value, yours for only 19.99!!"

[Moogs]

Ironically I was just about to post a thread about how f-ing ridiculous it was this guy had his own reality show. I mean when we start watching shows based on snake oil sales techniques... something is horribly wrong. I know he pitched a couple legit products like Kaboom but most of it was mail order shite. Dead or not he was an obnoxious bastard, there's no denying that.

10 to 1 he's one of those people that unbuckles and gets up during landing to get his gear and get off the plane quick... he probably hit the bulkhead.

[kieran]

He just fucked over a lot of companies' ad budgets.

No one in their right mind is going to air an infomercial featuring a dead pitchman right?

[Banana]

Originally Posted by Moogs Dead or not he was an obnoxious bastard, there's no denying that.

Well, he may have been obnoxious bastard, but at least his face wasn't plastered all over in news over the latest divorce scandal, snorting habits, gentialia-exposing raves along other things. I'd gladly up with more of him on the television than most of celebutardies out there.

[@_@ Artman]

Originally Posted by kieran He just fucked over a lot of companies' ad budgets. No one in their right mind is going to air an infomercial featuring a dead pitchman right?

Good observation. Too bad for Vince Shlomi, if he had stayed on the straight and narrow, his phone might be ringing off the hook right now.

[Brave Ulysses]

Originally Posted by pscates2.0 Three hips? Wow...

The first one came with two free ones if he called right then..... and a bread knife.

[Wyatt]

Originally Posted by dmegatool Is he still in jail ? Anyway, poor Bill indeed. The only place I've seen him is the mighty putty ad... I almost bought the shit

No, charges against Schlomi and the hooker were dropped. Cops decided they did justice on their own.

This is crazy, though. I just watched Pitchmen for the first time yesterday, and I have to say I kind of liked Mays.

[Naderfan]

Yeah, as annoying as he was (to me) to listen to, he did strike me as a decent guy. He just needed to use his indoor voice.

[Moogs]

I dunno... I caught about 15 minutes of his show once and he came off as a pretty cocky guy. I think at one point he mooned the other pitch-man on camera over some disagreement.