Mount Airy native and North Surry High School grad Bill Hayes reached a milestone in his career recently, with his 1,000th television program on the air.
Monday’s episode of TLC’s “Counting On” was the 1,000th show produced by Advanced Medical Productions and Figure 8 Films, where Bill is both founder and president. Their first show, the award-winning “Open Heart Surgery” episode of acclaimed series “The Operation,” aired on The Learning Channel Jan. 28, 1993.
Since then, Figure 8 Films has produced some of the highest-rated and longest-running shows on cable, including the hit series “Jon & Kate Plus 8,” “Sister Wives,” “Bringing Up Bates,” “Breed All About It” and “Salvage Dawgs.” They have also produced numerous award-winning medical and human interest specials including “Joined at Birth,” “Joined for Life,” “Saving Life & Limb,” “John of God: Miracle Man,” “627 lb. Woman: Jackie’s Story” and “Sex Change.”
Based in Carrboro, the firms have produced shows for Discovery, TLC, Discovery Health Channel, Animal Planet, OWN, National Geographic and DIY, including the documentary of local interest, “The Real Mayberry,” which debuted at the Historic Earle Theatre in Mount Airy in December.
