WASHINGTON - In a nation where Spencer Pratt and Jon and Kate Gosselin became household names via television fame, it's hardly unthinkable that the parents of the so-called Balloon Boy might have concocted a hoax aimed at nabbing a lucrative reality show contract.
But a reality show about life in prison after a brazen bid for celebrity likely wasn't what the father of Balloon Boy, otherwise known as six-year-old Falcon Heene, had in mind.
"The whole Heene family feels that they are in fact under siege at this point," David Lane, the family's lawyer, said Monday.
Criminal charges were reportedly in the works on Monday for Richard and Mayumi Heene following an alleged hoax last week involving their son and a runaway helium balloon. The drama resulted in the National Guard deploying helicopters and the Denver airport briefly delaying flights.
In the celebrity-obsessed, look-at-me culture of the United States, the Balloon Boy drama has indeed provided the Heenes with instant fame. Someone's even invented a "Balloon Boy" Web game in which players fly through the air holding onto a balloon as they dodge birds and helicopters.
But this time, Americans seem as disgusted as they are fascinated.
No less an authority than Elisabeth Hasselbeck - herself a former reality show contestant tapped for a spot on "The View" - had harsh words for Americans and their obsession with fame on Monday.
"This is what we deserved," Hasselbeck said during her return to the show on Monday after maternity leave.
The one-time "Survivor" star said the public's craving for reality TV has inspired Americans to pull crazy stunts in misguided bids for fame, and chided the media for its extensive coverage of such events.
Fame for no reason is one thing, apparently - witness Paris Hilton and Heidi Montag, Pratt's partner in reality show fame, to name just two examples - but even in a country where "Jon and Kate Plus Eight" is a wildly popular TV show, some observers said fame based on trickery and the exploitation of children is a bridge too far.
"The exploitation and abuse of children for the sake of entertainment - think of the now-broken (Jon and Kate) Gosselin family - requires unscrupulous parents and cynical producers," the Dallas Morning News wrote in an editorial on Monday.
"But without an audience in on the conspiracy, these children wouldn't have their childhoods stolen. Think of that next time you're tempted to tune in."
Others even suggested the Heenes should lose custody of their three boys.
"Does Richard Heene actually have to put Falcon in the balloon before Colorado takes those kids away?" wrote Joanna Malloy in the New York Daily News. "The kids were practically blinking out hostage messages during the family's press conferences last week."
The outrage follows breathless media coverage of the saga last week that rivalled the attention paid to O.J. Simpson's infamous white Ford Bronco chase down a Los Angeles freeway 15 years earlier.
Cable news outlets went into commercial-free crisis mode, showing live footage of the wayward balloon in mid-air, including an alarming shot of an object falling from it. Police officers on horseback patrolled the Colorado plains, looking for whatever fell. Reporters gathered en masse at the family's rural home, all but certain a tragedy was unfolding.
Richard Heene, a storm-chaser who reportedly clamoured for a reality show about a "mad scientist" and his brood, soon reported the boy had been found hiding in the family's home, fearful his father was angry at him for playing in the balloon.
And in less than 24 hours, Heene's story began to look questionable. Just hours after the ordeal, Falcon told Wolf Blitzer on CNN's "Larry King Live" that "we did it for the show."
The next morning, Falcon vomited twice on-air while his parents discussed their torment to a handful of network morning shows. Meantime, one of Richard Heene's colleagues alleged the entire incident was a pre-meditated hoax.
Robert Thomas provided copies of e-mail exchanges between him and Heene discussing his plans for a grandiose ruse to New York-based media blog, Gawker.com, for an undisclosed sum.
In the days following the drama in the Colorado skies, the media cacophony has only grown louder with continuing revelations about the Heenes that seem ever more damning.
Richard Heene believes the world is going to end on Dec. 21, 2012 - a fear he discussed on his YouTube web show, "Psyience Detectives?" Heene and his wife are both actors, and met at acting school. They once appeared on "Wife Swap."
According to the celebrity gossip website TMZ.com, Heene was arrested in 1997 in Los Angeles for vandalism, vehicle tampering and disturbing the peace. He reportedly served four days of a 20-day jail sentence, and was then placed on house arrest.
Outside the Heene household on Sunday in Fort Collins, Colo., a brawl broke out between a neighbour and the assembled media. Meanwhile, child protective services have been called in to determine whether or not the three Heene boys are living in a safe environment.
Lane, a high-profile Denver defence attorney, cautioned the public not to jump to any conclusions.
"The sheriff having a press conference saying that they're guilty does not make them so," Lane told CNN's "American Morning."
Lane said he expects the sheriff's office to lay charges soon, adding he hoped authorities would "stick to their deal" to allow the Heenes to surrender rather than being led away in handcuffs in front of the sons.
Sheriff Jim Alderden said charges could include conspiracy, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, attempting to influence a public servant - all felonies - and false reporting to authorities, a misdemeanour.
