The idea that a young boy might have been trapped in a runaway hot air balloon is almost too terrifying to imagine, which would explain why so much of our nation was captivated by the story of 6-year-old Falcon Heene, who they imagined was suspended over Fort Collins, Colo., in a UFO-like balloon for a little while last week.
In a media blitz that followed his rescue, young Falcon unwittingly unravelled his carefully concocted fantasy flight, telling CNN talk show host Larry King that the family had done it for a show.
Now charges are imminent in the hoax, which was concocted by dad Richard Heene, who was bitten by the reality show bug when he and his spouse, Mayumi, appeared on a program called “Wife Swap.” Heene hoped the stunt would lead to his own television program.
As much as the episode reveals about Falcon’s family — Mayumi confided to one reporter that she and her husband descend from aliens — what it suggests about the pecadilloes of our society is far more compelling.
The findings of a survey conducted by New Jersey-based HCD Research suggest that just half of those surveyed thought the saturated coverage of the balloon boy story was overdone.
The other half thought it was “just right.”
So it seems the Heene family got its reality show after all, even if it had what may be the shortest run in television history.
With our economy teetering precariously between recovery and ruin and our men and women in uniform under fire in hostile lands, perhaps reality is far more difficult to bear than reality TV.
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