Mermaids: The Body Found

I stumbled upon this when they re-ran it on the Discovery Channel. It looked fishy (no pun intended) from the beginning, but, since this was the Discovery Channel, I thought that it was a reenactment of actual statements. Wrong. It was very easy to tell that the "scientists" were actors. They were trying too hard to look "candid" and genuine. So that struck me right off the bat. Then we were treated to a "video" of a teenager stumbling across the body of an alleged mermaid. Again, very obvious that it's fake with blatant, poor CGI.

I have no problem with any of this. It's a free country and there are people who believe this stuff. However, I do have a problem with this kind of stuff being shown on the Discovery Channel. The Discovery Channel has (or had) a reputation of having legitimate scientific programing. They've had plenty of ACTUAL documentaries in similar style to this and to put this program on the channel, regardless of how many times they alluded to how it was fake, is completely inappropriate. I expect this kind of stuff on the SyFy Channel, where it would be appropriate, not on a channel like Discovery. I believe this program, more than any other in recent times, speaks to the poor state of U.S. television.

But I enjoyed this documentary so much, I don't even know why. I'm going to watch it again for sure.

Why has animal planet given away its status as an iconic factual and educational channel and prostituted itself in a way that is only known to itself, to bring a programme like mermaids into its fold? It was obvious from the outset that we were listening to actors in studio's rather than in lab surroundings. This transmission should have been televised on April 1st. How many times in the past have Animal Planet tried to dupe its viewers? Obviously we will have to view every other transmission with a critical or unbelieving eye from now on. The most upsetting part of this fiction is that we were missing better programming on other channels. Very let down!

I think people are being to harsh on this film, I found it interesting and the thought that these may be true is simply too wonderful for words. Just enjoy the ride of what may be rather then only seeming that it may not be.

This film also makes some very good points and it worth watching. The people who are just mad that this turned out to be a fake documentary need to learn to open your minds and just enjoy dreaming that we have some long lost brothers we have been dreaming of an telling stories of for eons. I adore this film, even if it isn't a real documentary. It may prove real someday.

This show is the reason I quit watching Animal Planet and Discovery Channel. After the initial airing and subsequent negative feedback, I thought they had learned their lesson. I just saw that they are re- broadcasting this pathetic show. The very nature of both networks has been completely compromised by this "found footage" rip off. Every development executive involved in this project should have been fired immediately. Now I see they are actually re-broadcasting this garbage. Thank goodness for Natgeo and PBS. I really love nature television but I have lost faith in the credibility of the information presented on Animal Planet and Discovery Channel.