skippy the bush kangaroo: Balloon Payment

Friday, October 16, 2009

Balloon Payment

I have a life, so I missed the whole "lost boy in a balloon" scare-fest yesterday.

I hadn't read anything online until the evening, and by then it was apparently all over but the lying. nytimes blog:

Update 6:14 p.m. Several entertainment news sites, including Entertainment Weekly and TV Guide, reported on Friday that the Heene family had approached a television network before this week’s drama to propose that they star in a new reality show. According to a post on Entertainment Weekly’s Web site:

EW has confirmed that Richard and Mayumi Heene, the parents of 6-year-old Falcon (a.k.a. “Balloon Boy”), were developing a reality show about their family with RDF Media USA, the same company that produces Wife Swap (on which they appeared). The project is no longer active. A rep for TLC confirms that RDF pitched the show to the network months ago and they passed.

According to TV Guide’s report, a representative of TLC said, “They approached us months ago and we passed.”

Updated 10:45 a.m. It was, apparently, a heartwarming tale — the 6-year-old Colorado boy who was reportedly carried aloft in a wayward helium balloon on Thursday, only to turn up several hours later after a frantic, widely televised search.

Falcon Heene, fearful of being punished for messing around with his father’s balloon, had been hiding out above the garage at the family’s home in Fort Collins, Colo., his parents said.

But on Thursday evening, after Falcon and his family appeared on CNN, discussion of the event online turned skeptical. The suspicions began after the family was interviewed by Wolf Blitzer — in the segment embedded below — and the young boy said that he had heard people in the house calling his name but had not responded because, he said to his parents, “You guys said… that, um, we did this for the show.”

So, the story that had cable news and Blogtopia (and yes, I coined that phrase) riveted for most of the news cycle yesterday turns out to be one big hoax. I agree w/Ezra Klein's take:

But whether or not the drama was staged, it certainly served as a perfect metaphor for cable news: America spent hours riveted by a powerful and gripping story that turned out to be totally meaningless, and will have no significant impact on anybody's lives going forward.

As I said, I had a life yesterday, so I missed it completely. Were that I was so fortunate for other "News" stories.

posted by skippy at 10:07 PM |

4 Comments:

The balloon boy story would not have gotten so much publicity if a few of those news reporters had bothered to watch that myth-busters episode about how many helium balloons it takes to lift one small child (thousands)

commented by

Sam Kaufman, 11:32 PM PDT

Well, I figure that we as a "civilization" are in the process of getting what we deserve. This is just kind of a illustration of what we've become. Pointless and useless. Or perhaps I'm too harsh.

commented by

lawguy, 5:06 AM PDT

It's another kid in a well story -- it seems it's been awhile since the last one. Lately it's been kids abducted, raped and maybe dead. Like you I have a life and so I missed it,but then I've never subscribed to the LA police chase mentality no matter what the actual scenario. But considering life is slowly going to hell in a political handbasket, I understand the diversion, the need to see an immediate dire strait unfold that isn't directly one's own. Modern-day Greek tragedy/comedy all contained in a floating Jiffy Pop container.

commented by

sean, 4:17 PM PDT

I am hoping it was not a hoax, because that would be a twisted thing for the parents to do.

commented by

Amy, 1:55 PM PDT

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