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News & ArtsSunday, October 18, 2009
News America Will Never Trust Again
Posted by Dan Savage on Sun, Oct 18, 2009 at 11:49 AM
The bizarre flight of a home-made helium balloon, thought to have a 6-year-old boy aboard, was a hoax and publicity stunt, a Colorado sheriff said on Sunday."It has been determined that this is a hoax, that it was a publicity stunt and we believe we have evidence at this point to indicate that this was a publicity stunt in hopes to better market themselves for a reality show," Larimer County Sheriff Jim Alderden told reporters at a press conference. He said the family faced several charges.
So... does the fact that it was a hoax make this family more or less marketable to reality-show producers?
1
Don't ask me. I don't watch reality shows in the first place, because they're all a hoax.
I do think it would be a hoot if this clown and Richard Hatch were to do some kind of batshit crazy collaboration, though.
I do think it would be a hoot if this clown and Richard Hatch were to do some kind of batshit crazy collaboration, though.
2
I would normally apply the golden rule that any publicity is good publicity but it looks like one pending development that was in the works for the scam fam is off as of now.
3
Maybe for some producers, this family has accrued some marketability; but for most of the public, I think the parents will forever be regarded as mountebanks.
4
The quote below is from an AP article by Dan Elliot from earlier today:
"He (Richard Heene) and his family appeared on the ABC reality show "Wife Swap," and the show's producer said it had a show in development with the Heenes but the deal is now off. TLC also said Heene had pitched a reality show to the network months ago, but it passed on the offer."
So my guess is that this fiasco reduces the probability of a Heene reality show near nil; not impossible but very unlikely.
"He (Richard Heene) and his family appeared on the ABC reality show "Wife Swap," and the show's producer said it had a show in development with the Heenes but the deal is now off. TLC also said Heene had pitched a reality show to the network months ago, but it passed on the offer."
So my guess is that this fiasco reduces the probability of a Heene reality show near nil; not impossible but very unlikely.
6
I don't know. A small family rickrolling the nation for an entire day? I'm sure Jackass or an equivalent would be interested, though.
8
I still stand by my prediction that the crazy Dad is going to kill his entire family and himself rather than go to jail. They need to take those poor boys away from him.
9
What were they even thinking? Did they really think they could pull this off without getting found out? Unfortunately any charges against these abhorrent parents will have a negative impact on their three innocent kids. These people are pathetic. Reality TV feeds off trash, but this family is even trashy by reality tv standards. If they did get a show, it would set a great example for everyone else wanting to get famous and make money: lie, lie, lie, use your children to you benefit, lie, and waste public money.
10
The Heene family would have had it made if they bothered to paint the balloon with "PROCESSED FOOD AND DEBT ARE GOOD FOR YOU" in two-foot large letters.
11
The reality show could involve Heene being challenged to go into a sweat lodge built by James Arthur Ray.
12
Actually I think the big story here is the new media versus the old media. On-line sources were questioning the whole adventure before the craft even touched down.
I heard about the story while in the car and when I got home I turned on the TV and went on-line at the same time. The difference was huge. Several on-line blog sites and news outlets were already posting the many videos made by the Heene family and their background while CNN, MSNBC and Fox continued to treat it as a real story without the slightest hint of doubt.
Meanwhile, Colorado law enforcement, most of whom I am sure were looking for positive national attention just as much as the Heenes, were out in force to the tune of an estimated
100 men and women from all manners of agencies, including a reported two Chinook helicopters from the Colorado National Guard. (And we keep hearing the Guard is stretched thin!)
Then there was the CNN Larry King Live interview where young Falcon Heene pretty much spilled the beans. Oddly, enough it took almost 45 minutes after the boy stated "we did it for a show" for Wolf Blitzer to ask a follow up question about what he meant by that. And after he did, he apologized and made it seem like it was almost unseemly for him to ask such a question.
The fact is, the big corporations are much more tied to the reality TV game even as their ratings have plummeted in the last ten years - or pretty much since they started making reality programming a staple of their schedules.
I just read a blogger blast viewers for watching reality shows and blaming them for the "Balloon Boy" incident. That's just ridiculous. More people watch scripted programming than watch reality programming to this day. It just costs more to produce scripted programming and so the networks in their race to the bottom tend to greenlight more and more of it even as they become more and more irrelevant.
More...
I heard about the story while in the car and when I got home I turned on the TV and went on-line at the same time. The difference was huge. Several on-line blog sites and news outlets were already posting the many videos made by the Heene family and their background while CNN, MSNBC and Fox continued to treat it as a real story without the slightest hint of doubt.
Meanwhile, Colorado law enforcement, most of whom I am sure were looking for positive national attention just as much as the Heenes, were out in force to the tune of an estimated
100 men and women from all manners of agencies, including a reported two Chinook helicopters from the Colorado National Guard. (And we keep hearing the Guard is stretched thin!)
Then there was the CNN Larry King Live interview where young Falcon Heene pretty much spilled the beans. Oddly, enough it took almost 45 minutes after the boy stated "we did it for a show" for Wolf Blitzer to ask a follow up question about what he meant by that. And after he did, he apologized and made it seem like it was almost unseemly for him to ask such a question.
The fact is, the big corporations are much more tied to the reality TV game even as their ratings have plummeted in the last ten years - or pretty much since they started making reality programming a staple of their schedules.
I just read a blogger blast viewers for watching reality shows and blaming them for the "Balloon Boy" incident. That's just ridiculous. More people watch scripted programming than watch reality programming to this day. It just costs more to produce scripted programming and so the networks in their race to the bottom tend to greenlight more and more of it even as they become more and more irrelevant.
13
Isn't News a Reality TV show these days? Seems to me that many of the news outlets are salivating over continued coverage of this story.
....
On a related note, I hope they actually have better evidence than just what Falcon state on the Larry King Show.
....
On a related note, I hope they actually have better evidence than just what Falcon state on the Larry King Show.
14
New twist on the reality show: "Wife Swap: Colorado State Pen" How's that new wife working out, Mr. Heene?
15
I think this youtube clip of the kids singing abouit killing faggots may have an effect on thier marketability
http://joemygod.blogspot.com/2009/10/buj…
http://joemygod.blogspot.com/2009/10/buj…
16
In answer to your question Dan, I think it's highly unlikely we'll be seeing much more of the Heenes from here on out.
However, I also think @6 is on to something. What reality-show producers SHOULD do is create a reality-show about families who desperately want to be on a reality-show and the lengths they'll go to achieve that goal. I envision it as a sort of mashup of "America's Funniest Home Videos" and "The Darwin Awards", with the winning/surviving family getting a slot on whatever family-based reality-show is the hot ticket the following season.
However, I also think @6 is on to something. What reality-show producers SHOULD do is create a reality-show about families who desperately want to be on a reality-show and the lengths they'll go to achieve that goal. I envision it as a sort of mashup of "America's Funniest Home Videos" and "The Darwin Awards", with the winning/surviving family getting a slot on whatever family-based reality-show is the hot ticket the following season.
17
Who did the math and said that the balloon could carry a kid?
Lucky enough I didn't catch wind of this story until the kid was found, but right away I thought, "No way this can be real."
So I guess this goes to show that America IS the dumbest nation.
Lucky enough I didn't catch wind of this story until the kid was found, but right away I thought, "No way this can be real."
So I guess this goes to show that America IS the dumbest nation.
18
...seems like if the Heene's deserved a reality show, it should have started taping a few days ago when this whole fallout began. This week's events were "the juice"...the controversy...the "story" as it were. Shopping for a reality show now would be like hitting the stop-clock after someone has crossed a finish line.
19
So... does the fact that it was a hoax make this family more or less marketable to reality-show producers?
Well, considering that TLC just loves to promote irresponsibility (17,18,19...., n and Counting; Jon and Kate plus 8; perhaps OctoMom?) and shows that can only be described with the phrase "Why is this lasting more than 2 episodes" (n and Counting; blah, blah, blah; Little People, Big World) I wouldn't be surprised if they gave these people a show.
Hell, they'd still be less deplorable than the Duggar parents.
Well, considering that TLC just loves to promote irresponsibility (17,18,19...., n and Counting; Jon and Kate plus 8; perhaps OctoMom?) and shows that can only be described with the phrase "Why is this lasting more than 2 episodes" (n and Counting; blah, blah, blah; Little People, Big World) I wouldn't be surprised if they gave these people a show.
Hell, they'd still be less deplorable than the Duggar parents.
20
It's not going to hurt this guy's chances of fame too much, I think. Not unless reality TV stops being cheap as shit and the ratings tank (which they won't.)
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