They've come in all sizes, shapes and colors.  They all touted products that would make our lives better, that we just could not live without.  Some were get rich quick promoters, how to make big bucks without investing a cent of your money.  Then those whose products or plans would give you the body of a gymnast exercising only fifteen minutes per day using their product. 

You can cook like a chef.  There were also those aimed at fishermen or would be fishermen.  Car cleaning products that would take a car from the salvage yard to the showroom floor.  On and on.  The list is endless.

Who do you miss?  Who do you wish would go away?  Who made your skin crawl?  Who made you laugh?

I'll start with two.  One I consider the king of infomercials and the other the Godfather of infomercials.

My choice for king is Ron Popeil.  No one else hawked such a variety of products.  Lets start with an appropriate, for this forum, product.  The Ron Popeil Pocket Fisherment with lures in the handle. Spray away your baldness products.  Knives.  Food dehydrators, pasta makers, rotisserie ovens.  You name it, he made it.  He could be annoying, like a fingernail on a blackboard, yet he was always amusing and clever.  But wait, there's more.

For Godfather, I nominate Chris Nahant.  Most of you have probably not heard of him, but he was one of the first if not the first to successfully take advantage of the opportunities presented by television.  He hawked Salad Master.  Chris Nahatis.

Read about him here.  http://www.telegram.com/article/20120429/NEWS/104299775/1052

Your turn.

I avoid them like the plague! I don't like being yelled at. Makes me want to start shooting the TV.

I love when the actors take a simple task like cutting paper with scissors and like spaz out and make it look like a big problem then they get the new super scissors and they cut the paper normally hahaha

LOOK! These dull normal scissors just flat out won't do the job! But the Super scissor 500 does the job with ease! For the low price of 3 39.99$ payments they could be yours. That's right 39.99$ that's right 39.99 that's right thirty nine ninety nine

It slices, it dices, and makes jillions and jillions of fries.  Ron P. could sell an iceberg to an Eskimo.

Roland Martin

I'm more of a Billy Mays guy.

I can't stand the sham-wow guy, he has got to be the most aggravating and annoying TV salesman I have ever seen.

Charles Atlas

John Gillespie...hands down. Nobody has ever made me dislike the products they endorse more than that man. For all of you that enjoyed the Fenwick ET smallmouth, you could rightfully blame him for their decline due to his show. 

33 minutes ago, iabass8 said:

John Gillespie...hands down. Nobody has ever made me dislike the products they endorse more than that man. For all of you that enjoyed the Fenwick ET smallmouth, you could rightfully blame him for their decline due to his show. 

That's funny.  Come to think of it, I haven't had a Johnsonville Brat in years. 

1 hour ago, Jrob78 said:

I'm more of a Billy Mays guy.

for sure!

4 hours ago, Senko lover said:

Roland Martin

Was going to say Scott Martin. Love his shows but he is relentless with the sponsors. Love every rod/reel combo he describes like we all don't know it is going to be his okuma signature this/that with trokar hooks. Love you Scott but had to call you out!

5 hours ago, tater555 said:

I can't stand the sham-wow guy, he has got to be the most aggravating and annoying TV salesman I have ever seen.

He ranks right down there with the "Hey Dude, you're getting a Dell" guy.  To me, the guy seemed like a punk.  My wife got a kick out of him.  While those were regular ads, the "Dude" guy became the face of Dell for a year or three.

 

 

 

No love for Anthony Sullivan? 

The bass pros on TV when they hawk their sponsor's products and try to make it look like you really need what they are selling while trying not to make you believe you really need it.

The Strickers of Hook N Look are some of the worse.

The Strickers are so ahead of other bass educational programs that it is worth the money to buy their DVDs and watch them over and over.  Excellent productions filled with so much information about the habits of the bass family. 

But they have to promote their sponsors' products in every show.

Yes, they try to balance their scientific photography and studies as educational while keeping their sponsors happy. This is not an easy task. They do it to perfection more times than not.

I realize the sponsors pay for their productions. But why not have a few shows that are 100% objective regarding the life of a bass or a type of bait or technique while not trying to sell directly or sublimely a fishing product?

So my vote goes to the Hook N Look show over Ike, KVD and Bill Dance.

 

4 hours ago, 5fishlimit said:

 

5Fish, didn't he get arrested for something that I don't recall what exactly it was????

 

 

2 minutes ago, Sam said:

 

Yep. Got arrested for the same thing Hugh grant got arrested for. And yes he lost the fight.

 

 

18 minutes ago, Sam said:

 

He got arrested for beating a prostitute half to death I believe..

Does Suzanne Sommers count?

The Juiceman ~ Jay Kordich     His claims are Legendary.

 Carrot Juice cured his Bladder Cancer - Imagine that.   Bugs Bunny agrees.

And cooked food causes all the degenerative diseases. And there's so much more.

https://youtu.be/72taB4JJ-1U?t=6s

A-Jay

 

 

The car dealer in the Ft Myers area selling Kia's. Always seen with "Caroline" and ends with the line "it's gonna be huuuuuge Caroline". Guy makes me cringe every time,like a throw back to the sleazy car dealer days.

1 hour ago, Sam said:

 

Prostitutes and blow I believe. 

Surprised nobody mentioned Cal Worthington. 

 

I was stationed in Guam 30 years ago and local programming was nearly non-existent.  Fortunately, that meant a never ending stream of west coast programming brought to us by Cal and his dog Spot six or eight times a day.  Go see Cal, Go see Cal, Go see Cal...that jingle remains stuck in my head today