This article needs additional citations for verification .(October 2023) |
Billy the Exterminator | |
---|---|
Also known as | The Exterminators (2009) & Billy Goes North (2016) |
Genre | Reality |
Starring | Billy Bretherton Ricky Bretherton Donnie Bretherton "Big Bill" Bretherton |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
No. of seasons | 7 |
No. of episodes | 100 (plus two specials) (list of episodes) |
Production | |
Production locations | Benton, LA |
Running time | 30 minutes (including commercials) |
Production company | September Films |
Original release | |
Network | A&E |
Release | February 4, 2009 – June 6, 2017 |
Related | |
Billy the Exterminator (formerly The Exterminators) is an American reality television series that aired on A&E. [1]
The show followed the professional life of William "Billy" Bretherton, an entomologist, pest control technician, and the proprietor of Vexcon Animal and Pest Control in Benton, Louisiana, which serves the Shreveport-Bossier metropolitan area. Bretherton, a former Senior Airman in the United States Air Force, [2] had previously been featured on the Discovery Channel's Dirty Jobs series on the season 1 episode "Vexcon", and the season 2 episode "Termite Controller". [3] Both previously and in his current show, Bretherton is known for his unusual fashion style, consisting mostly of Goth-like black garments (many of them leather) with large silver jewelry and steel studs and spikes in various configurations. He has stated on camera that the leather is tough enough to block most bites and stings, while the studs/spikes serve to intimidate animals and make them reluctant to attack him.
Many members of Bretherton's family, such as his parents, "Big" Bill and Donnie, and his brother, Ricky, as well as other employees, make frequent appearances. Donnie Bretherton normally acts as Vexcon's dispatcher and rarely goes out on jobs. Ricky's ex-wife, Pam, resigned during the production of the first season.
As noted in many episodes, Bretherton prefers, if at all possible, to relocate captured animals and is a proponent of natural methods of control. He frequently gives a description of the pests, their preferred environment, and any diseases (usually using their Latin names) associated with them. Ricky Bretherton acquired an allergy to bee and wasp stings due to being stung so many times. However Ricky found that this allergy has somewhat vanished/subsided as of 2015. [ citation needed ]
Billy Bretherton entered the United States Air Force at age nineteen intent on a career in law enforcement. However, his military entrance examination indicated that he had an aptitude for biology, and he was sent to study both biology and entomology. His extermination career began in earnest while stationed at Nellis Air Force Base in North Las Vegas, Nevada.
"Back in 2004 Pilgrim Films contacted us and wanted to shoot a pilot for Discovery Channel (that was a) reality pest control show", said Bretherton. "They had interviewed about 200 different companies and found us and liked us. They sent scouts out that rode around with us for a day, made the determination that we would be good for filming, and we ended up on Dirty Jobs with Mike Rowe". The Spike network was also approached about picking up the series.
Originally called The Exterminators during its first season in 2009 on A&E, the show was renamed Billy the Exterminator before the second season. [4] The title change is reflected in repeats of season one episodes.
Beginning in the show's fourth season, the Bretherton brothers go to various places throughout the United States to assist with local exterminators and wildlife rescue services in the removal of local vermin and wildlife, in addition to tending to a few jobs back in Louisiana. The program's opening credits have also been redone to better reflect Bretherton's attitude; the new credits omit Bretherton's wife, Mary, who resigned during the show's first season.
The show's fifth season ran from February 11, 2012 to March 10, 2012, with two new episodes on Saturdays at 10PM ET. The show's sixth season began October 6, 2012, in the same timeslot. On December 15, 2012, the show's sixth season timeslot moved one hour ahead to 11PM ET.
In late 2012, Bretherton left Vexcon because of personal family issues and moved to Illinois; officially ending the show after six seasons.
In October 2015, Billy's brother Ricky started hosting a YouTube series titled Vexcon The Exterminators. [5]
In 2016, Corus Entertainment and Proper Television began airing an original series starring Billy Bretherton for CMT in Canada titled Billy Goes North. [6] [7] [8] The show premiered in the United States on April 5, 2017 as the seventh season of Billy The Exterminator.
In 2020 Billy's brother Ricky started airing season 2 of his web series on YouTube, now featuring Billy and Billy’s son Bryce as reoccurring cast members.
In 2021 Billy's son Bryce started a TikTok account that features Billy and Ricky as frequent guests. As of October 2023 the account "@brycebretherton" has amassed 153,100 followers.
Season | Episodes | Originally Aired | DVD release dates | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Season premiere | Season finale | Network | Region 1 | |||
1 | 13 | February 4, 2009 | April 29, 2009 | A&E | December 21, 2010 | |
2 | 20 | March 10, 2010 | July 21, 2010 | December 21, 2010 | ||
3 | 16 | October 5, 2010 | December 14, 2010 | June 28, 2011 | ||
4 | 12 | August 2, 2011 | September 13, 2011 | April 24, 2012 | ||
5 | 11 | February 11, 2012 | March 10, 2012 | March 7, 2014 | ||
6 | 16 | October 6, 2012 | December 22, 2012 | — | ||
7 | 12 | September 9, 2016 | November 25, 2016 | CMT Canada | — |
There have been four seasons of the show released on DVD. Season five is available on instant video online. [9]
DVD Name | No. of episodes | Run time (minutes) | Release |
---|---|---|---|
Billy the Exterminator Season One | 13 | 286 | December 21, 2010 [10] |
Billy the Exterminator Season Two | 21 | 487 | December 21, 2010 [11] |
Billy the Exterminator Season Three | 17 | 397 | June 28, 2011 [12] |
Billy the Exterminator Season Four | 12 | 256 | April 24, 2012 [13] |
Billy the Exterminator Season Five | 11 | 400 | March 7, 2014 [14] |
Ricky Dene Gervais is an English comedian, actor, writer, producer, director and musician. He co-created, co-wrote, and acted in the British television sitcoms The Office (2001–2003), Extras (2005–2007), and Life's Too Short (2011–2013) with Stephen Merchant. He also created, wrote and starred in Derek (2012–2014) and After Life (2019–2022).
The Wild Thornberrys is an American animated television series created by Arlene Klasky, Gábor Csupó, Steve Pepoon, David Silverman, and Stephen Sustarsic for Nickelodeon. The series portrays the zany hijinks of an American family of wildlife documentary filmmakers known as the Thornberrys, which consist of the British nature documentary television host Nigel, his wife and camera operator Marianne, their 16-year-old daughter Debbie, their younger daughter Eliza, their adopted son Donnie, and a chimpanzee named Darwin. The series focuses in particular on Eliza, who has a magical ability to communicate with animals. The Thornberry family travels to every continent and wildlife environment in the ComVee, a recreational vehicle equipped with safety mechanisms to handle any terrain or body of water, to document their journeys in detail, with typical episodes involving Eliza befriending an animal and subsequently finding herself in peril.
Malcolm in the Middle is an American television sitcom created by Linwood Boomer for Fox. The series premiered on January 9, 2000, and ended on May 14, 2006, after seven seasons consisting of 151 episodes.
Without a Trace is an American police procedural drama television series created by Hank Steinberg that aired on CBS from September 26, 2002, to May 19, 2009 with the total of seven seasons and 160 episodes. The series focuses the cases of a Missing Persons Unit (MPU) of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in New York City. It starred Anthony LaPaglia, Poppy Montgomery, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Enrique Murciano and Eric Close with Roselyn Sánchez joining the cast in season 4.
Queer Duck is an American adult animated web series produced by Icebox.com that originally appeared on the company's website, then later moved to the American cable network Showtime, where it aired following the American version of Queer as Folk. Although far from featuring the first gay cartoon character, Queer Duck was among the first animated series to have homosexuality as its predominant theme.
Gary the Rat is an American adult animated sitcom created by the Cullen Brothers for Spike TV and animated by Spike Animation Studios. It was produced by Grammnet Productions and Cheyenne Enterprises and distributed by Viacom.
World's Most Amazing Videos is an American reality television series that ran on NBC from March 3, 1999, until 2001, as a filler program when other shows were cancelled and later revived on Spike from 2006 until 2008.
Dirty Jobs is an American television series that originally aired on the Discovery Channel in which host Mike Rowe is shown performing difficult, strange, disgusting, or messy occupational duties alongside the job's current employees. The show, produced by Pilgrim Films & Television, premiered with three pilot episodes in November 2003. It returned as a series on July 26, 2005, running for eight seasons until September 12, 2012. The show's setting was refocused in Australia for the final season, called Dirty Jobs Down Under. A spinoff miniseries titled Dirty Jobs: Rowe'd Trip premiered on July 7, 2020. The original series returned on January 2, 2022.
Bones is an American police procedural drama television series created by Hart Hanson for Fox. It premiered on September 13, 2005, and concluded on March 28, 2017, airing for 246 episodes over 12 seasons. The show is based on forensic anthropology and forensic archaeology, with each episode focusing on a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) case file concerning the mystery behind human remains brought by FBI Special Agent Seeley Booth to Temperance "Bones" Brennan, a forensic anthropologist. It also explores the personal lives of the characters. The rest of the main cast includes Michaela Conlin, T. J. Thyne, Eric Millegan, Jonathan Adams, Tamara Taylor, John Francis Daley, and John Boyd.
The Ricky Gervais Show is a comedy radio show in the UK starring Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant, and Karl Pilkington, later adapted into a podcast and a television series. Although named after Gervais, it mostly revolves around the life and ideas of Karl Pilkington. The show started in August 2001 on Xfm, and aired in weekly periods for months at a time throughout 2002, 2003, 2004 and mid-2005. In November 2005, Guardian Unlimited offered the show as a podcast series of 12 shows. An animated series based on the podcast and adapted for television debuted for HBO in the United States and Channel 4 in the UK in 2010.
The Berenstain Bears is a preschool children's animated educational television series based on the children's book series of the same name by Stan and Jan Berenstain, and produced by Nelvana, which aired on Treehouse TV. Acting as a revival of the 1985–1987 cartoon series of the same name, the series follows the lives of a family of anthropomorphic bears who learn a moral or safety-related lesson during the course of each episode.
Verminators is an American reality television series. It is produced by Original Productions of Burbank, California and broadcast in the United States on Discovery Channel, Canada on Discovery Channel (Canada) and the UK on Virgin1. The program follows the employees of the Los Angeles-based pest control company ISOTech as they rid homes and businesses of rodents, cockroaches, termites, spiders, birds and other pests. The series began its run throughout North America on Discovery Channel in April 2008.
Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated is an American animated television series serves as the eleventh incarnation of the Scooby-Doo media franchise created by Hanna-Barbera, as well as the first that was not originally run on Saturday mornings. The series is produced by Warner Bros. Animation for Cartoon Network UK and premiered in the United States on Cartoon Network on April 5, 2010, with the next twelve episodes continuing, and the first episode re-airing, on July 12, 2010. The series concluded on April 5, 2013, after two seasons and fifty-two episodes.
Blue Mountain State is an American television sitcom that premiered on Spike on January 11, 2010. The series was created by Chris Romano and Eric Falconer, and produced by Lionsgate Television. The series is about a fictitious university, Blue Mountain State, and its football team, the "Mountain Goats". It portrays certain aspects of American university life, including college football, sex, binge drinking, drugs, wild partying, and hazing. Over the years, due in large part to being streamable on Netflix, the series has developed a cult following.
Property Brothers is a Canadian reality television series now produced by Scott Brothers Entertainment, and is the original show in the Property Brothers franchise. The series features twin brothers Drew Scott and Jonathan Scott.
Call of the Wildman is an American reality television series that aired on Animal Planet from October 30, 2011, to September 14, 2014. The show followed the exploits of Kentucky woodsman Ernie Brown Jr., nicknamed "The Turtleman". Aided by his friend, Neal James, and his dog, Lolly, Brown operated a nuisance animal removal business, catching and releasing nuisance animals. The series was primarily filmed near Brown's Lebanon, Kentucky, home.
"Livin' the Dream" is the twenty-first episode of the ninth season of the American comedy television series The Office and the 197th episode overall. It originally aired on NBC on May 2, 2013. The episode guest stars Michael Imperioli as Sensei Billy, and was initially scheduled to air in its half-hour timeslot, before being expanded to a full hour.
"2009" is the twelfth episode of the sixth season of the American musical television series Glee, and the 120th episode overall. Written by the show's co-creators Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk, and Ian Brennan and directed by Paris Barclay, it aired on Fox in the United States on March 20, 2015, along with the next episode, "Dreams Come True", as a special two-hour season and series finale. The episode features a flashback from the show's pilot episode that explores the reasons why the original five members of the New Directions glee club decided to join.
Wahlburgers is an American reality television series that aired from January 22, 2014 to July 31, 2019 on A&E. During its 10 seasons, Wahlburgers aired 95 episodes.
2 Nuts and a Richard! is a Canadian adult animated sitcom based on the radio show hosted by Quebecois comedy group Les Grandes Gueules. It premiered in French on Télétoon la nuit on September 2, 2015, with an English premiere on Adult Swim following on October 16, 2015.