|
?:reviewBody
|
-
On 27 May 2012, Discovery's Animal Planet channel aired a pseudo-documentary entitled Mermaids: The Body Found in the U.S., a purely fictional work dealing with a purported federal coverup of a discovery involving scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) that proved the existence of a remnant population of mermaids (described as being an evolutionary offshoot of the aquatic ape hypothesis, a generally discounted idea that early Hominid species went through an aquatic phase in their evolution). The program was not fact but rather speculative science fiction, which included obvious CGI-produced video sequences like the one displayed above and actors fictional characters such as Dr. Paul Robertson, former NOAA scientist. To enhance the pseudo-reality aspect of the program, a web site was established at believeinmermaids.com offering no content other than a opening page hoax proclaiming that the site's domain had been seized by the U.S. Department of Justice and Homeland Security. After this program aired in Australia in April 2011, Brad Newsome of the Sydney Morning Herald wrote of it that: The Los Angeles Times' TV skeptic noted of Mermaids: The Body Found that: Brian Switek was more caustic in his criticism of the Mermaids program, writing of it in Wired that: In response to airings of the fake documentary, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) put up a page on their web site stating that no evidence of aquatic humanoids has ever been found: In May 2013, Discovery's Animal Planet channel announced that during their upcoming Monster Week programming they would be airing an extended cut of Mermaids: The Body Found followed by a new special titled Mermaids: The New Evidence. This twin-bill of mermaid hoax programs became the most-watched telecast in Animal Planet’s history:
(en)
|
![[This page as RDF]](http://data.gesis.org/claimskg/static/rdf-icon.gif){kind=icon}