[Francie]

I live here in Niagara County and have been to Niagara Falls too many times to count. Each and every time I am awed by the power and majesty of God's creation. For Nik to traverse this course had me riveted. Unless you have seen Niagara Falls in person you cannot possibly understand the difficulty.

[missypie]

To say that Wallenda was not so great, so then what is?

What is Great is subjective to ones opinion of what greatness is.

Wallenda had to have the harness in order for the network to post what he was doing.

Again, "What is Great?"

Answer; whatever you think it is

[RichieLion]

I don't get it. To get your kicks you needed Wallenda to be in risk of a gruesome death?

The sheer skill of walking 1800 feet on a wire in high unpredictable winds and succeeding was not enough of a skill set to impress you?

I'm at a loss.

[2BNTV]

I wouldn't even have the nerve to attempt this feat. My knees would be knocking at the thought. To consider the wind, mist and other elements, this strikes me as a couragious feat.

Watching on TV, it would seem to be easy if done correctly.

Reminds me of Evil Knievel. When he was successful. he made it look easy.

When he had a mishap, no film was available of his hospital stays.

[collie1228]

I'd never want to see anyone die a gruesome death. But by the same token, I object to people conning the public to think what they do is "death defying", when it isn't anything like that at all. I'm not interested in Wallenda whatsoever, but I am interested when the audience is being conned by the networks into thinking what he does is "entertainment". He walked across the falls in no danger whatsoever. How is that different from walking across the Rainbow Bridge?

[cappyjon431]

Originally Posted by collie1228

I'd never want to see anyone die a gruesome death. But by the same token, I object to people conning the public to think what they do is "death defying", when it isn't anything like that at all. I'm not interested in Wallenda whatsoever, but I am interested when the audience is being conned by the networks into thinking what he does is "entertainment". He walked across the falls in no danger whatsoever. How is that different from walking across the Rainbow Bridge?

I didn't watch the show, but I think that traversing the falls on a cable less than the thickness of a tennis ball is probably a little more challenging than crossing it on a footbridge, regardless of whether or not a safety harness was necessary?

Why shouldn't someone be able to enjoy watching someone's amazing talent (in this case balance) on TV if they choose? I'm a big believer that if you don't want to waste your time watching something on TV, turn it off or change the channel. If you were unaware that a harness was required and you ended up "wasting" a couple of hours watching the entire TV show, it probably wasn't the first time "wasting" time watching a bad TV show or movie. I know I've wasted more hours than I can count watching crappy movies at the theatre, but I simply move on and forget about it. Shoot, I've wasted plenty of time watching mediocre entertainment in the squares but the bottom line is that it was my choice and at the end of the day it was no big deal.

I do think that these types of shows tend to cater to a certain segment of society that hopes to see blood and gore (the same folks who slow down and stop traffic to "observe" auto accidents, many who watch auto racing hoping to see a crash, etc.). I am not saying that all who watch these types of shows are hoping to see misfortune, but many think that the chance of seeing someone hurt themselves is part of the entertainment.

[collie1228]

Cappy, I'm mostly in agreement with you. My problem is the networks hyping a "death defying" act that isn't death defying at all. But I wouldn't have watched it even if there wasn't a safety harness. I'll be interested in seeing the ratings next week. I'm betting they won't be all that great.

[zonerboy]

Let's get real here. Risk to life and limb is a large factor in the appeal of "daredevil" activities such as tight rope walking, sky diving, etc. We all have a certain fascination with blood and gore.
If there were no fights in ice hockey, and players didn't get slammed into the boards, who the heck would bother to watch it? It would be about as exciting as watching grass grow.
Same thing with pro football. If wide receivers never got their lights knocked out by viscous linebackers, if quarterbacks never got blindsided by charging defensive ends, the game would not be nearly as popular with the macho male wannabees.
A little reality, please.

[buzzy]

Might not be death defying, but falling and dangling from the harness with the cameras rolling might have been career ending for him.

[skyguy79]

There is an element to all this that I don't think has even been mentioned yet. This was a once in a lifetime event as it has never been done before and may never be done again. That in itself is news worthy and certainly worthy of being televised and for people to enjoy watching. Why some people will even get up in the middle of the night to try and catch a rare glimpse of the brief flair of a rocket launch. And how about the solar eclipse that occurred on May 20th that won't happen again in our lifetime? I think this whole issue is a non starter even if it hyped by the media as a "death defying" event!

[quirky3]

Originally Posted by 2BNTV

I wouldn't even have the nerve to attempt this feat. My knees would be knocking at the thought. To consider the wind, mist and other elements, this strikes me as a couragious feat.

Watching on TV, it would seem to be easy if done correctly.

Reminds me of Evil Knievel. When he was successful. he made it look easy.

When he had a mishap, no film was available of his hospital stays.

Not to hijack the post, but - 2BNTV! Welcome back! Where have you been?

[quirky3]

Originally Posted by collie1228

He walked across the falls in no danger whatsoever. How is that different from walking across the Rainbow Bridge?

Here's how it is different from walking across the Rainbow Bridge (see photo below). If it is all the same then, please take a tightrope on your next tour over to Canada.

[kentucky blue]

Originally Posted by collie1228

Cappy, I'm mostly in agreement with you. My problem is the networks hyping a "death defying" act that isn't death defying at all. But I wouldn't have watched it even if there wasn't a safety harness. I'll be interested in seeing the ratings next week. I'm betting they won't be all that great.

How do you comment so negatively on a performance you didn't even watch?The ratings were outstanding for ABC,their most watched Friday show since November 2007.The show more than doubled the ratings of any of the other networks on Friday .They drew over 13 million viewers on a Friday evening, for the actual walk in the 18-49 age group,the advertisers most important demographic group.

[collie1228]

I didn't watch it, but saw a photo in the next day's newspaper. That's when I noticed the safety wires and actually had to laugh. Again, I have no problem with his using the safety wire - and I would guess that if it were up to him, he wouldn't have used one. My issue is the death defying hype from the network. It's a joke.

[DonH57]

The media in one form or another hype up everything they can. I watched most of the event and found it to be pretty interesting. I don't feel the harness really took anything away from the stunt if anything adding a possible problem to his balance. Even with the harness something still could have went horribly wrong. I can't knock him for doing it because you'll never get me up there on that wire.