My kid, the ratings bonanza: beyond the 'balloon boy' saga

[question everything]

My kid, the ratings bonanza: beyond the 'balloon boy' saga
Falcon Heene isn't the only child drafted into TV-ready story lines -- think Octomom, Jon & Kate's 8, 'Toddlers and Tiaras' . . .

By Scott Collins and Nicholas Riccardi

October 19, 2009
LA Times

Reporting from Fort Collins, Colo., and Los Angeles -- The strange case of Falcon Heene took another twist Sunday when a Colorado sheriff said the boy's parents had staged the runaway balloon saga as a publicity stunt to score a reality television show. "There is absolutely no doubt in our minds that this was a hoax," Larimer County Sheriff Jim Alderden said at a news conference in Fort Collins. Richard and Mayumi Heene planned the caper for at least two weeks, he said, and are likely to face felony charges.

(snip)

Yet Falcon is one of many children who have in recent months been drafted as players in sensational, reality-TV-ready story lines involving what might be dubbed extreme parenting. The trend may have started with Nadya Suleman, the California "Octomom" who underwent advanced fertility treatments and had octuplets. Her offspring will reportedly receive $250 a day to star in a reality show now being produced. Then there are the Gosselin sextuplets and twins, caught in the media glare as their parents' marriage disintegrated on-camera, turning TLC's "Jon & Kate Plus Eight" into a ratings smash.

As for the Heenes, suspicious eyebrows raised once it emerged that his family had been featured on two episodes of ABC’s “Wife Swap,” a reality show in which mothers from two families with distinctly different values switch places for two weeks. Parents Richard and Mayumi -- severe-weather enthusiasts who were recorded ordering Falcon and their other two young sons into a vehicle to chase tornadoes -- were also reportedly trying to develop another reality series with RDF, the studio that makes "Wife Swap." But the story line began to fray when, hours after the ballon escapade, Falcon said on CNN's "Larry King Live" that "we did this for a show" -- a remark subjected to wide and sometimes outraged interpretation. On Sunday, Alderden called that CNN comment "our first 'aha' moment."

(snip)

Whatever the outcome, children's advocates warn that reality-TV producers and news organizations are exploiting kids from exotic backgrounds for higher ratings. In the "balloon boy" case, TV news was rewarded for sticking with the story: As the drama unfolded Thursday afternoon, the cable news networks logged ratings roughly double their usual averages, according to the Nielsen Co. Some of the coverage was deemed so critical it aired without commercial interruption. From noon to 2 p.m., Fox News averaged 2.4 million total viewers. CNN had 1.7 million, MSNBC 768,000.

(snip)


The Heenes' natural role does seem to be more performance than observation. TV insiders do not seem chagrined to note that the family's nationally broadcast misadventure continues, almost as a serial. "It's a version of the high-speed chase, but on steroids," said Bell, the "Today" executive producer. "I don't think it's over yet."

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-media-balloon-boy19-2009oct19,0,5213142.story

[bluestateguy]

1. Everybody wants their 15 minutes of fame

Some people just can't accept that they are not all that important and don't really have much of anything to offer.

[Horse with no Name]

2. This should be an eye-opener that using children for ratings

should be banned.

[KharmaTrain]

3. As Long As People Watch Reality Tripe Kids Will Be Exploited

It's easy to look at Heene (or is that Heinie?) but there's a far bigger "issue" here...the exploitation of people, especially chidlren for cheap, low common denominator teevee. But it sells and as long as people waste their time watching these Truman shows, they'll be more exploitation and manipulation. Just as the lines between news and "entertainment" are now blurred, the same goes in the other direction.