I caught Darren Rovell's CNBC special on the 'As Seen on TV' business this weekend. Overall, I thought it was pretty fair and accurate. However, it was more fair to some people than others. I cringed during certain parts, along with most other industry insiders I'm sure.
Rovell's treatment of AJ Khubani, president of Telebrands, was especially rough. I'm sure it was a long interview, but the editors chose to focus on the negatives of that interview and make AJ take the hit for some of the harder-to-explain practices of this industry. He did a good job and was cool under fire, but it wasn't really fair to him. Meanwhile, Scott Boilen, president of Allstar, received better treatment, and he came off well. He was every bit as witty and on point as he is in real life. (See below for a sample of what I mean.)
The pitchmen were also well portrayed. I haven't seen Ron Popeil for years, since he sold Ronco, so it was good to see he is still at it, doing what he does best. Billy Mays also gave a fun interview, but I remember thinking: It must have been a small room, or they must have asked him to keep his voice down. Even when he pitched Rovell's phone (you have to see it to understand), he was much more subdued than normal.
Incidentally, Rovell called Billy the "heir" to the King Pitchman throne. But as far as I'm concerned, that coronation has long since passed. Nothing can take away from Ron's former greatness, but Billy is definitely the reigning monarch. (See below for a portion of the Ron and Billy segments.)
To find out about future airings of this special or watch certain segments online, visit AsSeenOnTv.CNBC.com. Below are two videos from the site.
The first is about Snuggie pub crawls and features part of the interview with Scott Boilen:
The second includes some of the stuff they did on Ron Popeil and Billy Mays:
