Latest news with #BalloonBoy
Yahoo
18-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
But What if 'Balloon Boy' Wasn't a Hoax?
When filmmaker Gillian Pachter watched the 2009 'Balloon Boy' saga unfold live, she told The Hollywood Reporter, 'I couldn't take my eyes away.' Same. More from The Hollywood Reporter First-Time Nominee Cooper Koch Is "Devastated" Over Emmy Snubs for Two of His 'Monsters' Co-Stars Bela Bajaria on Which Emmy Nominee She Texted First and One Giant "Disappointment" of a Snub Cristin Milioti, First-Time Emmy Nominee for 'The Penguin,' is "Ready to Get in There Again" 'I was scared, I but I was also very aware of how, like, special and strange it was that I was watching a livestream, you know?' the director of Trainwreck: Balloon Boy says about the next chapter in Netflix's excellent Trainwreck documentary, the anthology series that revisits headline-making events gone wrong. 'Livestreaming was new, and I just couldn't believe how clearly I could see it.' After all, the streaming giant only just recently nailed that livestreaming thing itself. On Oct. 15, 2009, Americans tuned in — however they could — to follow the insane and terrifying flight of Richard Heene's experimental weather balloon/flying saucer. Heene's 6-year-old son, Falcon Heene, was believed to be inside the contraption when it became untethered from the ground. As it turns out, Falcon was actually hiding in the garage attic and supposedly napped through the whole ordeal, which turned out to be no big ordeal at all — until later, when it was deemed a hoax perpetrated by inventor, amateur scientist and guy-who-acted-like-an-insane-asshole-once-on-an-episode-of-Wife Swap, Richard Heene. Ultimately, Richard Heene pleaded guilty to a felony charge of attempting to influence a public servant; his wife Mayumi Heene pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of false reporting to authorities. And then a decade later, weirdly and seemingly out of nowhere, the Heenes' crimes were pardoned by the governor of Colorado. 'And I thought, 'My God,'' Pachter recalled. 'You always wonder, when people get pardoned, like, does that mean we got it wrong? Why were they chosen [to be pardoned]? Because they were so vilified.' Maybe… it wasn't a hoax? 'I also have a little boy who was about the same age, and I thought, 'What kind of dad even pretends that his son is maybe going to fall out of balloon and die?'' she continued. 'I mean, that's just such a bizarre thing to even think — if you're going to choose a hoax, why entertain the fantasy that your own child is in mortal danger?' The Heenes now say they pleaded guilty out of concern that Mayumi could be deported if they didn't play ball. 'The more I talked to [Richard], the more I started wondering if my understanding of the story was everything there was to know, and if there weren't other truths behind it that I wasn't aware of,' Pachter told THR. That phrase 'other truths' looms large in our 'fake news' era, 16 years removed from 'Balloon Boy.' Read our Q&A with Pachter below; the Balloon Boy installment of Trainwreck is available now on Netflix. *** So do you believe it was a hoax, or do you think it was real? Sorry to be coy but look, if I didn't think there was a very strong possibility that we got it wrong, and the thing wasn't actually a hoax but a real panicked call to the sheriff because these people thought their son was up there — if I didn't think that was a strong possibility, there would have been no point making the film, right? It's not just a documentary that looks back at a crazy day in our social history — it is looking back to see whether we got it right or whether we got it wrong. There's a lot of evidence on both sides, and all the voices are in it. I guess I just feel really strongly that — I put everyone in there and I want people to look at it again, and I want people to hear from everybody. I want them to try to come to their own conclusion about who's right and who's wrong. Because the truth is in the heart of Richard Heene, right? It's kind of unprovable. The question is, 'What was in his heart when he called the sheriff? Was he lying or was he really panicked?' You're not going to be able to actually prove that, so you're going to have to just listen to people tell their truths and see who you believe. The turning point in the public's perception was when Falcon, asked on a live CNN interview why he didn't come out of hiding if he heard his family calling for him, says, 'You guys said that we did this for the show.' The media took that as a clear admission of a hoax, but in hindsight — and now as a parent myself — he was also just a tuned-out little boy. I have a very similar thought. 'What news story has ever flipped on 10 words uttered by a 6 year old?' I can't think of another. It wouldn't be admissible in court, it's not evidence. There's no way that could be taken seriously in any form of criminal process at all. And yet it completely flips the public's view and the sheriff's view. I was sort of dying. If only we had been able to turn back time and say, as a follow up question, 'Falcon, when you say, 'You said, we did this for the show' — which show are you talking about?' If there had been about five more sentences, even from a 6 year old, you might have been able to get to grips with it. But like, 10 words, which were 'You guys said we did this for the show' — I'm just astonished that people think they know what that means. Because I have no idea what that means. When I was asking the Heenes about it, they have various explanations, but their initial one is, 'I have no idea why he said that.' Everybody needs them to have this . And they did sort of search for and find — according to them — this explanation of Falcon getting confused with the reporters that were around in the aftermath. But actually, it seemed like the most genuine response for them was, like, 'He said dumb shit all the time. We had no idea what he was talking about or why he would be under that impression.' That, to me, is very realistic. As somebody who has had a 6-year-old boy, I just don't understand why people were so sure they knew what that meant. Because I'm not. You told me Richard wasn't hard to find — in general, is it easier to get access to your documentary subjects these days than it used to be? I think it's actually gotten harder. It's not like the Heene family was particularly naive about the media. They were really hard-nosed and really suspicious, and they were really not interested in getting involved with anybody that was in the media. So it was actually years of talking to each other. People aren't stupid, and they can tell whether you're sincere or not. I was sincerely open to them in a way that people who had approached them before were not. I wasn't faking it, and they knew that. At the end of the day, it's not a documentary about me and my opinions, it's a platform [on which] they tell their full story, and so does everybody else. But I did think there was cause to give them that opportunity. Are you friends with Richard at this point? Richard and I are incredibly different. I really like him. He's not a straightforward person, he's not an easy person. He's not even a consistent person. I wouldn't have sunk all this time into that family if I didn't find them massively engaging and fascinating, and if I didn't actually like them. I don't think I've ever made a program about anybody I didn't like. [I'm] very drawn to getting to know somebody who maybe a lot of people don't like, and seeing what they dislike in them. So I think there's a lot to like in him — and the boys are great — charming, smart. It's really funny to have met them as adults when I saw this home-video stuff of them when they were crazy little kids. Richard was an asshole , but that may not be the best format to judge anybody. He's a really smart guy, maybe a bit tortured… The sort of essence that I found really engaging is a classic American archetype. He's a dreamer, right? Some people would see him as a con man, which is another classic American archetype. But I see him as a dreamer. Here's this guy who was not formally educated to be a scientist — [he's] incredibly inventive, crazy out-of-the-box thinking. The whole flying saucer thing was that it was going to be this dirigible that was going to replace cars, and we're going to be like The Jetsons and be commuting to work on these things. You have to just love that totally outrageous, outsized imagination. And everything with that family was so outsized, and that is wonderful. And it all went wrong, but it's still wonderful to have done the crazy things, which is what that family has always done. They're a crazy family, but they also seem like a lovely family that does everything together. And they still do. They're really, really tight. They're very uniquely bonded. Did Richard have any -esque blowups with you? No. He did pull out on the morning of filming, but that's less uncommon than you would think in my line of work. He's very moody… you never totally know where you [stand]. So I didn't even know until the cameras were rolling that we were going to really be able to make this. But no, if he had ever shouted at me, I wouldn't have stood for that — but I felt that we were very familiar with each other by that point. He did have these incredibly fierce dogs that kept on throwing themselves at me, which was distracting. So I was not being attacked by Richard Heene, but I was definitely being attacked by his dogs. Dangerous dogs or yappy dogs? I'm not a great judge — I'm not a dog person. I feel like, if it has fangs and it's taller than I am on its hind legs and it's coming at me [in a way that's] not like a hug… but I don't really know dogs. *** Trainwreck: Balloon Boy is now streaming on Netflix. Best of The Hollywood Reporter 'The Studio': 30 Famous Faces Who Play (a Version of) Themselves in the Hollywood-Based Series 22 of the Most Shocking Character Deaths in Television History A 'Star Wars' Timeline: All the Movies and TV Shows in the Franchise Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
18-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Bela Bajaria on Which Emmy Nominee She Texted First and One Giant 'Disappointment' of a Snub
While still in the construction phase, the new Netflix campus in New Jersey might want to dedicate a bit more square footage to its trophy case. On Tuesday morning, Netflix received 120 nominations for the 2025 Emmy Awards. That's a ton, only outdone by the combination of HBO and Max (now HBO Max, again) — so first place may be a bit up for debate. This is all temporary anyway: Bela Bajaria vs. Casey Bloys (and maybe Matt Cherniss) won't really be decided until Sept. 14. More from The Hollywood Reporter But What if "Balloon Boy" Wasn't a Hoax? First-Time Nominee Cooper Koch Is "Devastated" Over Emmy Snubs for Two of His 'Monsters' Co-Stars Emmys: Listen to 66 Nominees on THR's 'Awards Chatter' Podcast The Hollywood Reporter caught up with the Bajaria a few hours after the Emmy nominees came out. She's a busy woman, and 44 nominated shows make for a hell of a lot of text chains; read on to find out which Netflix nominee Bajaria messaged first, what show was her snubbiest snub, and if four nods for The Residence is making her second guess the decision to cancel the one-and-done whodunit series. *** What is your reaction to this morning's results? Look, I'm so happy and proud to have 120 nominations. But for me, really, the amazing thing is it's also across 44 titles and 14 different programming categories. Why that's also important and I'm excited about it — you know, we always aim for excellence in television across every different kind of category, because we know audiences love everything from animation to live to docs to unscripted to drama to comedy to limited to stand-up… To have those all being recognized — that work with all that talent across all of those categories is really exciting and rewarding. I also love it when we work with this incredible talent who are first-timers, right? This is where they get their first Emmy nomination. And to have the range from somebody like [15-year-old Adolescence star] Owen Cooper — [Adolescence] is actually the first thing that he's done, to having first-time nominations for people like Javier Bardem (Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story) and Adam Brody and Kristen Bell (both for Nobody Wants This) and Stephen Graham (Adolescence), who have such a long body of work, such an extensive body work, and then this is their first nomination. That is really rewarding and exciting for us. You can't exactly send Owen champagne… (Laughs) Yes, exactly. He's gonna get a nice sparkling apple cider or something. Where were you when the nominations came in? We do a really great, I think, really fun thing with the team. Many of us, get together in the home theater downstairs on Netflix. It's PR and the awards team and marketing and executives and everybody from all over, cross-functionally. And we all sit in that room and we all cheer together — it's so fun. We're either on the phone or live-texting our nominees as they get their news, which is so great. It's a really fun thing because there's a lot of people, cross-functionally, who work so hard on these — who care so much. Because I think the one thing that is lost sometimes is like, we greenlight something, you champion it, you believe in it… You're in this journey through all of these shows and the launch and — everybody's invested, and so it's really great to kind of do that together in that way. Who was your very first outgoing text to? OK, you're keeping me honest here. I'm actually looking at my texts for you…My first one was to Kristen Bell. My early ones were Kristen Bell and Adam Brody, Adam Sandler (Adam Sandler: Love You), Deb Cahn for The Diplomat — so it kind of went a little bit of like, you know, what [categories were] announced sort of early on — Charlotte Jones for America's Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders. And then I did sort of a group one to to the Adolescence team, because we're on a group chain. How do you not make Beyoncé your first text? You for that — everyone would understand. (Laughs) Yes, exactly. I should just wait [for her category]. Never underestimate Queen Bey. Not surprised by Beyoncé Bowl nomination…I bet on Beyoncé all day long. You probably were right to start with Kristen Bell over Sandler. She's responsible enough to actually be awake and ready for her day. (Laughs) Yes, yes. Ryan Murphy was right in there because Ryan had lots for Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story… So you fell back to second place vs. HBO and Max — you guys seem to swap slots each year… Well, look, there's two different things. They have the combination right of two different things, right? It's Max plus HBO, which gets them [an advantage]. We play a different game in the sense that we have so many members and an audience with lots of different tastes and moods, and we want to make sure that we have great programming in all of those areas, right? We know that people love to watch The Diplomat, Adolescence and America's Sweethearts, right? And many of those people also, you know, watch (steampunk animated series) Arcane. We're just in a different — we just sort of look at what we're doing, right? We're also trying to do something that no one has ever done before — you know, making film and TV all around the world across as many genres, like all over the world in so many languages…we're just doing it different. We're one Netflix. Did any specific Netflix Emmy 'snubs' bother you more than others? If Emmy nominations are supposed to be really about excellence in storytelling and something that is so amazing that people watch and talk about and love, and have the quality and acting and writing and directing and cultural impact, the one I'm disappointed about is that the world's biggest show, Squid Game, did not get recognized. Obviously, it made Emmy history also already, but a show in Korean, made in that way so authentically, has become the biggest show in the world, and to be so groundbreaking in storytelling and just the cultural global impact it had. That's the one to me that would be the disappointment for all the talent involved. The news of the cancellation came to us just two weeks ago — would you have rather that decision not be made public ahead of nominations? No, I don't really look at when the news or not the news…I think was is great is — we love The Residence. We championed it, we made it. Uzo [Aduba] has been part of the Netflix family for a long time and has been recognized before for awards. So, she gave an incredible performance. Not surprised at all by her nom. We thought that she would and should absolutely get it. So, to me, that's great, that work. That work was completed and people loved it, and she was amazing and then gets recognized for it. That's great. That, to me, doesn't change kind of the story. And moving forward, it's like, 'Isn't it great that we made this, she was incredible and she got recognized.' I know a lot of factors go into a cancellation, but does getting four Emmy nominations make you second guess that decision? No, because I always knew she'd be recognized. Will Netflix campaign for a canceled show as hard as it would for one that is ongoing? We're gonna support— yeah! I mean for her and the show, like, we did — of course. Here's the thing: I think what people forget is, like I said before, we developed it, we championed it, we really marketed — we did all of the things. And they're all people involved who we work with and continue to work with and will continue to — so we're always going to support that, for sure. You have five of the six prerecord variety special nominees. One of those is Y. Nate is hosting the Emmys, so you have to like your odds there… (Laughs) Is that how it works when you have the host [as one of your nominees]? Definitely, they just give you one. Oh good. Yeah, they give you one. Right, right, right, right, right, yeah. So we have five of the six [nominees], and we're definitely getting [that] one? Yeah. It's like when my dad coached Little League and he picked me as one of the team's two all-stars — nobody can say anything about it. Oh yeah, you get one. There you go. Best of The Hollywood Reporter 'The Studio': 30 Famous Faces Who Play (a Version of) Themselves in the Hollywood-Based Series 22 of the Most Shocking Character Deaths in Television History A 'Star Wars' Timeline: All the Movies and TV Shows in the Franchise Solve the daily Crossword
Forbes
18-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
What Became Of Heene Family From Netflix's ‘Trainwreck: Balloon Boy' Doc?
Falcon Heene in "Trainwreck: Balloon Boy." Trainwreck: Balloon Boy — the latest in Netflix's Trainwreck documentary series — is already one of the most popular films on the streamer in the U.S. What is the Heene family featured in the documentary up to now? The official summary for Trainwreck: Balloon Boy reads, 'On October 15, 2009, a father [Richard Heene] in Fort Collins, Colorado, calls 911, claiming that his home-made flying saucer has escaped from the backyard, carrying his 6-year-old [Falcon] son inside.' The summary further notes, 'This stranger-than-fiction claim is backed up by footage from a news helicopter, which catches up with the balloon and is live-streaming the chase. What starts as a local emergency quickly escalates into a national one, as everyone from the National Guard to the sheriff and Homeland Security struggles to come up with a plan to safely rescue 'Balloon Boy.' 'As the balloon softly lands, people pray for a miracle reunion – but instead they discover no boy inside. What appears to be a tragedy takes a sharp turn into something else. Public sympathy quickly turns into righteous outrage, as Balloon Boy quickly becomes one of America's most infamous and bizarre news stories.' As of the publication of this story on Thursday, Trainwreck: Balloon Boy — which was released on Netflix on Tuesday — is No. 4 on the Top 10 most-viewed movies list on the streaming platform. Who All Appears In 'Train Wreck: Balloon Boy'? Trainwreck: Balloon Boy features both archival and new footage of Richard Heene, as well as his wife, Mayumi, and their sons, Falcon, Ryo and Bradford, who were 6, 8 and 10, respectively, at the time of the 'Balloon Boy' incident in 2009. Richard, Mayumi, Bradford and Falcon Heene participate in the documentary with new interviews, while Ryo does not. The documentary also features interviews with a couple who were neighbors of the Heenes, as well as a pair of journalists who recalled the events and a new station helicopter pilot who covered the incident. In addition, Bob Hefferman, an investigator with the Larimer County (Colorado) Sheriff's Office who investigated the Heenes after the 'Balloon Boy' incident is interviewed, as is Larimer County Sheriff Jim Alderden and the Heenes' attorney, David Lane. Consisting of new and archived interviews, as well as video footage from news outlets, law enforcement and home video taken by the Heene family, the 'Balloon Boy' incident began on Oct. 15, 2009, when the saucer-like device that Richard Heene filled with helium became untethered and began floating away. The inadvertent launch of the saucer was caught on videotape, as was the panic after Falcon's older brother, Bradford, yelled that the 6-year-old could not be located. Since the boy liked to play around inside the saucer, Richard Heene believed that his son was inside the lower compartment of the device and he and Mayumi Heene called the Federal Aviation Administration and 911, followed by a plea to a local TV station to use its helicopter to help locate the flying sauce. Before too long, the live coverage of the silver device flying in the air was picked up by the likes of MSNBC, Fox News and CNN on cable, followed by coverage on all the major broadcast networks. Richard and Mayumi Heene and their sons in "Trainwreck: Balloon Boy." After reaching altitudes as high as 10,000 feet during its 2 1/2 hour flight, the saucer came to rest in a farm field 55 miles away, where officials and a news photographer found out that the boy was not inside. Following worries that the boy possibly fell out of the saucer, the Heenes say Falcon appeared inside their home. As it turns out, Falcon, after being ordered away from the device earlier in the day, recalled going to his 'new hiding spot' in the garage attic and fell asleep. While the Heenes largely declined interviews after Falcon was found safe, hours later they agreed to an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer on Larry King Live — and it changed everything. During the interview, Blitzer asked Falcon if her could hear people calling him as the search unfolded. Falcon acknowledged that he did and Richard repeated Blitzer's question and asked his son why he didn't come out of the garage. Falcon replied, 'You guys said … that, um … we did this for the show.' When Blitzer asked Richard, 'What did he mean, 'We did this for the show?'' the father replied, 'Um, I have no idea. I think he was talking about the, uh, media. They've been asking him a lot of questions.' The documentary then cut to a new interview with Richard, who said, 'He's only 6. Just 6 years old and people read into that whatever f------ thoughts they wanted to read into … and after that is when everything blew up.' As a result, the Heene family immediately fell under intense scrutiny by law enforcement officials and the press, who began to question if what happened with the flying saucer was a publicity stunt. 'It was the biggest nightmare ever,' Richard said in the documentary. Reflecting on his 'We did this for the show' answer, Falcon Heene said during the documentary, 'I think it was crazy how I was able to just say a single sentence and affect the whole state of the country.' An image of the Heene family's flying saucer in "Trainwreck: Balloon Boy." In the next few days, the press began to dig into the Heenes' past — which included an appearance on the reality show Wife Swap — and the tension began to mount as accusations were leveled against the family that the balloon launch was for publicity. In the Trainwreck documentary, Hefferman said that he 'learned that the Heenes had been working very hard to try to get themselves a TV show. It would be helpful if they ended up in the news or got their name out there somewhere. I think that's what their motivation was for this whole hoax.' 'That makes no sense. I never even would have considered doing something that was going to turn on me and potentially send me to jail,' Richard said in the documentary. 'Like, how am I going to get a TV show doing that?' Trainwreck: Balloon Boy shows footage from the days following the launch, including law enforcement video of Richard and Mayumi Heene taking polygraph tests, which led to the couple hiring attorney David Lane after criminal charges were filed. Falcon Heene in "Trainwreck: Balloon Boy." Where Is The Heene Family Now? One month after the 'Balloon Boy' incident, the Heenes went to court, where Richard Heene pleaded guilty to a felony charge of attempting to influence a public servant and Mayumi Heene pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of filing a false report, per History. The rationale for the plea deal, as Richard Heen said in the documentary, was that he feared that their family could be separated had they lost the case at trial. Per the plea deal, Richard Heene was sentenced to 30 days in jail, while Mayumi Heene was sentenced to serve 20 days of community service. Ninety days later, Richard Heene finished his jail time, and in the documentary, he recalled telling his probation officer that he wanted to move because of the attention he and his family were attracting. 'After this whole incident, we came to Florida and started a new life and found a place.' Richard didn't give the location of where the family was living, but said it 'feels like a fortress.' 'It's a place where you can hide and just forget about what happened,' Richard Heene said. Richard Heene in "Trainwreck: Balloon Boy." According to Colorado Governor's Office records, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis granted Richard and Mayumi Heene a pardon on Dec. 23, 2020. 'In the case of Richard and Mayumi Heene, the 'balloon boy parents, we are all ready to move past the spectacle from a decade ago that wasted the precious time and resources of law enforcement officials and the general public,' Polis said in a statement. 'Richard and Mayumi have paid the price in the eyes of the public, served their sentences, and it's time for all of us to move on," Polis' statement continued. "It's time to no longer let a permanent criminal record from the balloon boy saga follow and drag down the parents for the rest of their lives.' 'I'm surprised that the governor pardoned him without reaching out to us in law enforcement or anybody that had been involved,' Larimer County Sheriff Jim Alderden said in the documentary. 'The thing that upset me is he did without having Richard make any sort of admission to his guilt.' At the conclusion of the documentary, Richard Heene reminisced one more time about the flying saucer experiment and hinted that he was working on another invention. 'With the flying saucer coming to an end, it's kind of a sad story because I loved it — but that doesn't hold me back,' Richard Heene said in the documentary. 'I'm working on something new … and it's going to be really big.' Trainwreck: Balloon Boy is streaming on Netflix.
Daily Mirror
16-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
Netflix fans obsessed with wild documentary dubbed their 'best one yet'
It has already become the most watched film on Netflix Netflix fans are 'obsessed' with a new documentary dubbed 'wild' and is said to be the 'best one yet'. The latest feature film doc in the Trainwreck series was released on the streaming platform earlier this week. Available for streaming from Tuesday (July 15), it has already proved popular among subscribers. At the time of writing, the film has surged right up the charts to instantly become the most watched title among UK users. It has leapfrogged ahead of new releases K Pop Demon Hunters, Brick and is proving more popular than Oscar winning Oppenheimer. According to the synopsis, the documentary takes viewers back to October 15, 2009, when a father in Fort Collins Colorado calls 911, claiming that his home-made flying saucer has escaped from the family's back yard. However, he believes that inside is his six-year-old son. This stranger-than-fiction claim is backed up by footage from a news helicopter, which catches up with the balloon and is live-streaming the chase. What starts as a local story and unusual emergency situation quickly escalates into a national one, as everyone from the National Guard, to the Sheriff, and Homeland Security, struggles to come up with a plan to safely rescue the child who is quickly named Balloon Boy. As the balloon eventually lands, people praying for a miracle but instead something else and very unexpected is revealed. Public sympathy quickly turns into righteous outrage, as Balloon Boy and his family become one of America's most infamous, and bizarre news stories. Balloon Boy is the latest in Netflix's Trainwreck documentary series that explores various modern disasters and media-fueled events. Previous instalments have focused on the Astroworld tragedy, the rise and fall for American Apparel and Canadian politician Rob Ford. The latest feature film examines the extraordinary story by looking at archive footage. It also interviews some of the key people involved including authorities who attended the incident, reporters who covered the story and the family at the centre of it all. Fans have been quick to react to Balloon Boy on social media, with one posting: "Obsessed with Netflix Trainwreck.. but the Balloon Boy episode has me thinking.. how awesome would a giant Spacex Starship balloon be." Another simply stated they had put this latest Trainwreck instalment at the top of their list. They said: "New Trainwreck on Netflix. Balloon boy, best one yet." Someone else added: "Watching this wild documentary on Balloon Boy on Netflix, this is craaaaazy wild." One critic recommended that viewers should definitely stream it. In their review, they pointed out several issues that the doc seems to highlight and multiple viewings could reveal some thing new each time. They wrote: "Questions spring out of the narrative about child manipulation and the ethics of media frenzies, fringe thematics that might take deeper root in a documentary series that's more concerned with journalistic integrity than Trainwreck's pursuit of amusement." Another reviewer said: "So why do we need to see the Netflix series if the story was so well reported at the time? For one reason: Balloon Boy is the first time we're getting an in-depth look at the full story from the family's point of view. We're getting sit-down interviews with them all, including the now grown up Falcon, who still seems pleased that he was once at the centre of a national news storm as a little boy." They continue: "I can't wait to get the inside story straight from the source. If you're wondering what to stream this week, make it this as it has the potential to be one of the best Netflix shows."
Yahoo
16-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
I'm binging Netflix's Trainwreck documentaries like there's no tomorrow, but Balloon Boy could be too much to bear
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. It's good news for those of us binging the hit Netflix documentary series Trainwreck like there's no tomorrow – new installment Balloon Boy hits screens on July 15. The new unbelievable story made national headlines back in 2009, but has flown under the radar ever since. Since 2022, Trainwreck has brought multiple disturbing stories back into the public eye, with Woodstock '99, The Astroworld Tragedy and The Cult of American Apparel being among them. Of course, we can't leave the infamous Poop Cruise out, either. Think less serious true crime series and more fly-on-the-wall stuffed with personality documentary The Real Project X is still storming Netflix's top 10 chart since being released on July 8 but Balloon Boy is a surefire bet to leave you open-mouthed, even if you're familiar with the case details. Unlike deranged parties or people having to poop in red biohazard bags on their four-day trip to Mexico, Balloon Boy is a heart-stopping drama from beginning to end. Given the nickname by the press, Balloon Boy actually refers to six-year-old Falcon, who was allegedly trapped in a homemade gas balloon resembling a flying saucer when it was released above Fort Collins, Colorado. Parents Richard and Mayumi Heene told the authorities while the balloon was on its 90-minute flight, reaching heights of 7,000 feet. By the time anyone could get to the balloon, it had landed a few miles away from Denver International Airport, and there was no Falcon to be seen. When the balloon was being tracked in the air, an object supposedly fell during its flight, prompting everyone watching to think the worst. A search was quickly underway with international media flocking to cover the alleged tragedy. Here's the twist – Falcon was never in the balloon at all. Instead, he'd been hiding in the attic of the family's house the entire time, revealing during a Larry King Live interview that his parents had told him they'd done it 'for show'. News of the publicity stunt soon went viral, with local sheriffs confirming the Heenes would face felony charges for the hoax. Richard Heene pleaded guilty to attempting to influence a public servant and was sentenced to 90 days in jail and ordered to pay $36,000 in restitution, with Mayumi Heene sentenced to 20 days of weekend jail. So why do we need to see the Netflix series if the story was so well reported at the time? For one reason: Balloon Boy is the first time we're getting an in-depth look at the full story from the family's point of view. We're getting sit-down interviews with them all, including the now grown up Falcon, who still seems pleased that he was once at the centre of a national news storm as a little it all an intention ploy, or did a family joke just get way out of hand? Based on the news reports, you could argue both ways, but I can't wait to get the inside story straight from the source. If you're wondering what to stream this week, make it this as it has the potential to be one of the best Netflix shows. Squid Game: The Challenge season 3 is a win for Netflix, but one unhinged game from the K-drama can't be replicated Virgin River season 8 gets early renewal from Netflix, and this season 6 cliffhanger could be a sneaky red herring New Netflix movies: every original film you can watch on the best streaming service in July 2025
