Posted on 11/02/2014 8:44:20 AM PST by RightGeek
For live television, luring viewers has truly become a matter of life and death.
As the sun sets over the Chicago skyline on Sunday, the daredevil Nik Wallenda plans to cover his eyes with a blindfold and step onto a tightrope strung between two Chicago skyscrapers, 600 feet above the city, without a net or a harness. Dozens of cameras will document the stunt for the Discovery Channel, beaming each death-defying step onto television and digital screens across more than 220 countries.
...
The high-wire act illustrates the extreme risks some television networks are taking to attract lucrative, live audiences in the age of fragmented, on-demand viewing. Beyond sports and major pop culture events, luring mass live viewership is a challenge. Discovery is finding that extreme stunts — some so daring that there is a chance a person could die — are the exception.
“There is something just really compelling about watching people push themselves to the limit,” said Howard Swartz, Discovery’s executive producer for the “Skyscraper Live With Nik Wallenda” stunt. “
...
Since the days of the gladiators on through the illusionist Harry Houdini and the motorcycle- and rocket-jumping Evel Knievel, daredevils long have captivated audiences. The recent rise of reality television, extreme sports and Nascar has encouraged viewers to seek out entertainment that is increasingly raw and unmediated, said Mr. McCracken, the cultural anthropologist.
Feeding that curiosity can be good for business. Extreme stunts command a huge live viewership and social media attention, leading advertisers to pay a premium to reach captive audiences. Allstate Insurance is one of the sponsors for Sunday’s event.
[snip]
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
This isn't really new. Evel Knievel had the same schtick years ago.
“This isn’t really new. Evel Knievel had the same schtick years ago.”
The thing is though, most of his mishaps were survivable/fixable.
Not so, with Nick.
This is a great idea for CNN. They should get elected democRATS and make them walk the high wire! I would watch CNN to see that! They have to lead off with Pelosi and the other pass it to see what’s in it crowd!!!
Ole Nik is tired of living in a Marxist/Socialist regime.
I wouldn’t say this is a brand new phenomenon this year. One of the Wallendas (same guy?) did a similar not-quite-live across a canyon maybe three years ago already.
And can we even say that a TV network is “getting desperate” because they televise the kind of daredevil stunts that have been going on as entertainment for decades? Grandpa Wallenda walked from one side of the top of the old Veterans’ Stadium to the other side back in 1972, with a stadium full of Phillies fans.
http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/phillies/167707366.html
Beautiful! Now that is proper ad placement. I wonder if they'll make a new ad just for this show with that character who becomes the human version of a snow-covered roof, a car fire, etc.
A few years later, that same Grandpa 'thrilled' the crowd when he fell 10 stories to his death from a wire stretched between two buildings in Puerto Rico.
I won't be watching this latest madness.
He’s practiced the walk over and over in his hometown of Sarasota, Florida and it’s had a lot of coverage on local news.
10 second delay? Why watch then? Seriously, they are hoping to draw people in to make money on a stunt where the risk is death. But if the result turns out to be just what they are selling, they won’t show it.
I recall Alice Cooper on his radio show one night telling the story of doing a song on the old Midnight Special. He was slithering around on the floor while a couple of hot young ladies in leather boots were dancing above him. Someone made a wrong move and one girl bashed him in the face with her boot and blood shot everywhere.
The director jumped in and yelled, “CUT!”
Alice Cooper looked at him and said, “Nooo!, what are you doing! Keep it running!”
The director told him, “We can’t do that! It’s real blood!”
Alice looked at him and said, “Dude! We can’t use real blood?! Are you kidding me?! I’m ALICE FREAKIN’ COOPER!!! Hell, I already took the pain, we might as well use it!...”
I agree with you. This kind of thing has been on TV for decades.
I know he’s blindfolded, but I’d be really impressed if Wallenda walks the wire at night.
Anyway, I was too young to drink and too young to even fake being old enough to drink. So I sat at home building things with my Erector Set and listening to the radio. Finally, after a playing of John Denver's "Annie's Song (You Fill Up My Senses)", the DJ broke in to tell us that the stunt failed but didn't tell us whether Evel was alive or dead. Now Elvis was still alive then (though the buttons on his jumpsuit were already getting tight) but we weren't too sure about Evel for a while.
This was way before the Internet, before cable TV caught on, even before mobile phones. So news was slow to travel that day from Snake Canyon - if you were not drinking at a bar that had closed-circuit TV.
I won't consider him a coward for backing out but the TV network (Discovery) will be pissed. I say screw them. They have plenty of content in the can that they can show instead. I really hope this guy doesn't die tonight.
I won't consider him a coward for backing out but the TV network (Discovery) will be pissed. I say screw them. They have plenty of content in the can that they can show instead. I really hope this guy doesn't die tonight.
My life is worth more than entertaining the masses with it.
And he’s going to keep doing this until it comes to its bitter end I suppose.
The Discovery channel will have him do it naked.
“Skyscraper Live With Naked and Afraid Nik Wallenda”
You can turn your television back on. He made it! :-)
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