The return of BBTV: Boing Boing's former video acronym taken over by bedbugs

We used to call our original video episodes "BBTV," and we don't anymore. We call it Boing Boing Video now.

Well, ladies and germs, allow me to present to you the inheritor of that acronym: BBTV is now the name used by Bedbug TV, a guy who makes episodic web video content about how to deal with bedbugs. I think he runs a pest control company. His videos crack me up, particularly the first 15 seconds or so. The one above deals with how to cope with bedbug infestations in your home electronics products, like if your "electronics, books, paintings, pictures, dvd players, radios, alarm clocks, boxes and just clutter in general" is crawling with bedbugs.

I stumbled on them because back in 2007 when we started Boing Boing TV / BBTV, I created a Google News vanity search for "BBTV." We stopped using the acronym in 2009 and switched to "Boing Boing Video," but recently I'd begun receiving new hits on the "BBTV" vanity search -- all of them bedbug videos. B-B-T-V. Four immortal letters. Immortal and unkillable, just like bedbugs.

BBTV. Disclaimer: I may also be lying to you, and all of this might be a postmodern viral marketing performance art campaign to promote Boing Boing's online video project.

• [Chuck5874]

  Got to agree with MadMolecule. This is a big nit of mine as well. BBTV is an initialism and not an acronym.

• [Piers W]

  Er.. would that be the show where they’re not sure what disease someone has, and it turns out to be something really really rare?

• [brian rutherford]

  Watch how he rubs his nose nervously when he claims that his wife did the drawing of the bed bug. He’s lying. Why?

  • [arkizzle / Moderator]

    Brian,

    He’s not lying. He just hates the drawing and is afraid to express it.

    The day his wife gave it to him, he died a little inside. I mean, sure, he is the bedbug guy, right? But that’s not who he is. He has dreams and aspirations, just like any other red-blooded American man. He dreams of treading the boards on Broadway, or running naked through the streets of Dar es Salaam during the Runic Half Month Nyd. And what about his poetry? The pages and reams of manifest erudition coupled with a wit and insight unknown in his peers, long unobserved, now just a litany to his lost soul.

    The drawing represents the utter failing of the world at large to recognise his sensitive, creative genius, and embrace him for the rare and beautiful blossum that he is. But I see it.

• [Xenu]

  *scratch* *scratch* *scratch* *scratch*

• [Anonymous]

  OMFG A UNICORN CHASER IS NEEDED

  i am so paranoid about bedbugs. ugggh.

• [MrJM]

  Someone was paying attention when the “YouTube for Dummies” book said, “Be enthusiastic.”

• [Anonymous]

  okay look bedbugs are serious business here in san francisco. i’d consider these public service announcements.

• [certron]

  Does he mention diatomaceous earth?

• [coaxial]

  I can see where someone would find this really useful. Sure beats the hell out of 99% of all other youtube vids.

• [MadMolecule]

  Just to pick an irresistible nit, this isn’t technically an acronym. Acronyms are pronounced as though the letters were a word instead of individual letters. E.g., “SCUBA” is an acronym, but “HDTV” is not.

  I suppose if you were pronouncing it “Buh-buh-tuv” or something, then it would be an acronym. That would be kind of cool, actually.

  • [Jasonclock]

    I’ll definitely be naming my firstborn Bubbatuv.

  • [PaulR]

    Radio-Free Vestible had a bit about acronymistically-named TV shows. ER, MASH, etc.

    That, and Jeff White needs to wear even bigger golf shirts.

    • [arkizzle / Moderator]

      Surely ER is an initialism rather than an acronym, no?

      • [PaulR]

        In the RFV sketch, ER, ‘CD’ (pronouned ‘cud’) and CSI (pronounced K-Zee) were acronyms, while “M, A, S, H” and some other acronyms weren’t.

        RFV slays me.

• [lesbianjesus]

  What happened to this section anyway ?

  http://boingboing.net/videotweets.html

• [Tweeker]

  Bedbegs were extremely rare in the US for around 3 decades. Why? Unlike many other treatments, DDT kills bedbugs to death.

  • [mdh]

    and spiders. and crickets. and ladybugs. and everything.

    DDT is a biocide. We’ve moved on.

• [DamienDamien]

  Oh vey, I wouldn’t wish bedbugs on anyone. The place I moved into 2 years ago was infested and I was mauled while sleeping. So bad I would wake at 3am and run around my room with a torch looking for the blighters. Insecticides, constant hoovering and washing everything for weeks is all that works. Also freezing stuff if you have a chest freezer.

  • [UncommonSense]

    “torch”, “blighters”, “hoovering”

    Speak English man!

    j/k

    Oh and bedbugs really do suck.

• [Anonymous]

  Welcome everybody to my comment on Boing Boing!…..wow that was a bit much. Thanks to Boing Boing for freeing up the abreviation (I’m not going near the acronym argument) for Bed Bug TV.

  As for the “drawling” comment, I’d like to say English being my second language is the excuse, but I can’t. I just can’t pronounce things correctly. I thank NJ for that.

  As for the comment about me having aspirations and running through the streets of Dar es Salaam naked, it was pretty accurate except I would choose New York to keep it local. That way when I’m in jail, my wife doesn’t have to get on a plane to follow through with my plan to use the drawling to negotiate my release.

  I haven’t seen the “YouTube for Dummies” book yet but I do subscribe to Gary Vaynerchuk’s Wine Library TV ideas. You want to see enthusiasm, check him out sometime.

  • [arkizzle / Moderator]

    Yay! :)

• [HornCologne]

  Wait, wait!

  He said: “This is a ‘drawling’ my wife did for me” … !

  /cheap_shot_snigger