Mermaids: The Body Found

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 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.

Im just a simple computer guy I love history and mythical stories. This mermaid documentary caught my attention I saw those closed websites you see on all the articles a guy with my background I can probable research a website a little more then the average person all the websites shows as shutdown by homeland security are in fact owned by the discovery channel. Now answer me why would Dr Paul Robertson's personal website be owned by the Discovery channel? That piece of evidence alone shows me one financial reason to create a back story for the show. While entertaining, I would love to entertain the ideal of real life mermaids. However this particular show to me shows a lot of work to make. What could be a true story has a lot of hidden un-truees. Have fun! You never know what's on TV I am a found believer do your own research I don't believe everything I see or read.

Very entertaining flight of fancy, a 'what if' which made a few base suppositions and then went from there, allowing the story to develop. Very obviously fake, but entertaining to follow what might have happened had humans evolved into the oceans. Tying it into conspiracy theories was a bit dodgy, but also gave the film a good plot device about why nothing would have been heard about across the globe- "the government covered it up".

Now, if you're one of the screamers out there crying that Animal Planet dared to show a fictional documentary, what you're really saying is "I have no ability to think critically and so depend upon the television to tell me the truth, because of course, television never lies and channels shouldn't ever change their programming. Animal Planet shouldn't ever expect me to think for myself and judge whether something is fiction or reality." I recommend this 'documentary' to anyone with enough sense to know when something is a work of pure (if enjoyable) fiction.

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.