Trick or Treat? TV's Scariest Moments #1

October 31, 3:34 PMPittsburgh TV ExaminerSean Farren

Previous Next

Comment Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the Pittsburgh TV Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

So here we are. We've finally arrived at the #1 scariest moment on TV.

It's ironic that my last two moments relate to the #1 (albeit in a very indirect manner).

In my childhood, that scene from Salem's Lot terrified me because I could relate to it personally. My bedroom had a huge window and the bed was right below it so I'd lift my head up to peek out and make certain no vampires lurked about to gain entrance to my home.

When the Tales From The Crypt episode, "Television Terror" aired in the summer of 1990, I was a year away from obtaining my degree in broadcast communication. Having seen Geraldo Rivera's failed but hugely popular live event, Morton Downey Jr.'s talk show and then this (which seemed a bit of the combination of the two), you could almost see the direction in which TV was headed.

And it wasn't pretty. You could already see the seeds of the loud mouthed talking heads as well as the fascination with heavily promoted live events dealing with reality planted in those early days. However, it wasn't until about 10 years later (with the arrival of CBS' Survivor combined with the rise of the internet) that these seeds fully sprouted. Now, almost a decade later, it's come to fruition with the #1 Scariest TV Moment...

The Balloon Boy

Back on October 15th, parents Richard and Mayumi Heene alerted authorities to a runaway balloon that they believed floated away with their 6 year old son, Falcon. Nearly every media channel was riveted to the event as authorities attempted to get the balloon down and save the child. The Colorado National Guard even deployed a Black Hawk helicopter to assist with the search and rescue.

When Falcon was later found hiding and all proved to be okay, a hungry media embraced the family and welcomed them to come on various shows to tell their story. It was supposed to be a sweet and heartwarming tale of a boy who avoided disaster simply by being off and playing while his parents were fraught with concern.

The facade began to crack when Falcon was asked why he didn't respond to his parents' calls and he offhandedly mentioned to his dad: "You said we did it for the show."

Then the truth came out. It was all nothing more than a hoax perpetrated by the Heene family in order to obtain interest in their own reality TV show they'd been shopping to networks.

You're probably wondering why this would be my #1 Scariest Moment...

Because unfortunately, this moment signifies the selling of our values in order to achieve celebrity status and make a quick buck.

And this type of behavior is not going away anytime soon.

There are a few interesting passages in Eating The Dinosaur, the new book of essays by Chuck Klosterman that, together, help to illustrate my point.

On page 19, Klosterman discusses why people feel the need to answer questions about themselves as well as their need for attention.

"I fear that most contemporary people are answering questions not because they're flattered by the attention; they're answering questions because they feel as though they deserve to be asked. About everything. Their opinions are special, so they are entitled to a public forum. Their voice is supposed to be heard, lest their life become empty."

Then, on page 100, he adds,

"Since the end of World War II, every generation of American children has been endlessly conditioned to believe that their lives are supposed to be great--a meaningful life is not just possible, but required. People want to believe that every immaterial thing they do is pertinent by default; it's interesting because it happened to them, which translates as interesting to all."

And all of us are responsible for perpetrating this train of thought and this leads to some delusional state of mind that what we do matters to everyone. It leads to some odd belief that we are all entitled to everything we want in life without working hard for it.

How can we not help it? We see ordinary people on TV every day in the spotlight and think to ourselves, "If they can be on TV, so can we! We're more interesting than them!"

We see mediocrity get rewarded with increased exposure that leads to book deals, shows, fame and cash. We all want a piece of that ever growing pie. This behavior becomes increasingly disturbing when you take incidents like the "balloon boy hoax" into account because now, parents are passing these aberrant values on to their kids.

The media doesn't help either as they continue to add to the problems. News has become entertainment and it becomes increasingly difficult to tell the difference between the two. The reason that this is dangerous is because TV has become more of a babysitter over the years.

According to a blurb in Tuesday, October 27th's Wall Street Journal, the Nielsen Co. issued a study that determined children ages 2-5 watch more than 32 hours a week of TV. Kids between 6-11 spend 28 hours in front of the set.

The results of the study fail to mention exactly what they are watching but when many of them see much of what airs on TV these days, it should frighten all of us. Children are impressionable and we should strive to offer them the best possible programming available as well as delineate what sets of values apply to specific forms of programming.

Lest any of you accuse me of advocating censorship in any form, let me assure you that I'm not. When the news channels broadcast the Columbine tragedy live 10 years ago, I wholeheartedly endorsed news channels showing it. Yet, I couldn't help but wonder what kids at home without their parents present were thinking. Being a "latchkey" child myself, I had free reign on what I viewed when I came home from school in the 70s and 80s.

But times were different then. We didn't have parents selling out their children to obtain fleeting fame on TV (okay, we did, but most of those were parents of Hollywood kids, not "Joe and Judy average"). Parents actually emphasized the difference between fantasy and reality; now, they encourage the merging of the two.

As long as we, as a society, continue to think that we can take the easy way out and achieve fame and fortune through the mundane, we'll leave nothing of substance to future generations. We're quickly becoming a superficial nation that places too much emphasis on what others think of us and how interested they are in the little nothings that we do all day.

Take a cue from John Keating (Robin Williams) in the movie, Dead Poet's Society: "Make your lives extraordinary!"

Just don't delude yourself that they're extraordinary to everyone.

I hope my list of TV's Scariest Moments was a treat and not a trick. But feel free to TP my column if you feel the need. Happy Halloween!