The popular HBO series Eastbound and Down is in the middle of its third season and its home field set is in Myrtle Beach. That's having an impact locally.
The City of Myrtle Beach says it doesn't offer incentives for production companies to shoot in the city, but they have seen a bit of an impact since the Myrtle Beach episodes started airing.
"This is our Kenny Powers Myrtle Beach Mermen t-shirt jerseys, which mimics what he wore on the show," said Joel Godett, Media Relations Manager with the Myrtle Beach Pelicans as he showed us merchandize for sale that references the series.
T-shirts, hats, even Halloween costumes are coming off the shelves at the pro- shop at the Pelicans Ballpark in Myrtle Beach. To date, they've sold more 260 hats alone.
"Anytime your ballpark gets featured on national television, it's pretty cool," Goddett said.
That attention is all because of fictional ball player Kenny Powers. The third season of the raunchy sitcom Eastbound and Down features Danny McBride as Kenny Powers, a minor league baseball pitcher playing for a fictional team in Myrtle Beach.
Several scenes of the show were filmed in Myrtle Beach over the summer and a couple more over the past few weeks. Since the series started airing again in January, more than three million viewers have watched.
"That's three million viewers that are seeing our shoreline and our attractions," Nora Battle, spokesperson for the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce says.
That also means, Battle says, a home run for free publicity. While the City of Myrtle Beach doesn't have an exact dollar amount of economic impact, she says the crew spent a lot of money during filming.
"The thing about having a top tier production company like a HBO here is they are totally self sustainable. So they are eating in our restaurants, staying in our hotels and spending money in the Myrtle Beach area that otherwise wouldn't be spent," Battle says.
As for the nature of the show and if that could be bad publicity, Battle says they're not too concerned.
"It's a show that has adult humor, and as any show with adult humor I trust the viewers take it with a grain of salt."
Godett says they're still getting calls asking about the show and if it's still filming. As of now, the crew has wrapped on all their Myrtle Beach shoots.
