Crack Cocaine of Reality Television
As I was flipping through channels on the brain deteriorator box, I came across a show which sadly, I admit is most familiar to me. It’s called Billy the Exterminator and it plays on A&E. It’s about a guy and his family who run a pest control service in Louisiana. You can read more about it on A&E’s website. The majority of the show is focused on Billy and his escapades with the pets he’s called out to exterminate. He handles everything from raccoons, foxes, possums, skunks, alligators, snakes, rats, bats, hornets, wasps, bees, yellow jackets, and roaches. Often, especially when there’s the possibility of some stinking insect like wasps, his brother Ricky will accompany him JUST so we can hear Billy’s mom say in her best southern accent, “Billy, you be careful out there with Ricky cuz he’s allergic!!” These two clowns are running around in their best heavy metal outfits from chains on the belt, leather chaps, to spiked gloves, epaulettes on his t-shirt, and wrist bands. The way he goes after these “pests” makes them seem like the most dangerous possible animals in the world and the descriptions he gives are just ludicrous. However, because of his charismatic personality and ability to ham it up for the camera, not only does he manage to make being an exterminator look somewhat cool, but adds enough flair to keep you interested. Throw in a ton of family drama what with girlfriends and wives and what not and you’ve got the strangest reality soap opera in the world.
The reason I say this is like crack, is because crack is the cheap chopped down version of cocaine that only gets you high for about 10 minutes, is really really bad for you, yet you can’t seem to stop doing it because it’s extremely addictive. The pretty much sums up this show. Even reruns make me laugh. With the William Shatner like lines and dramatic near escapes from racoons trapped in attics, you can’t but help to wait to see what’s next. It’s truly hilarious. The only really good thing I see coming out of all this is that he doesn’t like to kill most of the stuff he’s going after. He tends to relocate them. In one episode he even relocates a huge bee nest to a honey farm instead of killing them.
In all honestly, I feel like I’m trying to get people to try crack for the first time by recommending this show but… I sort of have to. It’s frikken hilarious!