Another day, another outrageously incendiary idea from our current administration. Apparently, our looksmaxxing Secretary of De–er, War–may have seen our recent music on the struggles his boss’ eponymous “network” has been having and seized the opportunity to sell him on a special that would seem to have at least have the potential to break triple digits on concurrent views. POLITICO apparently required both Leo Shane III and Mark Satter to author their “breaking news” yesterday morning:
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth declared Thursday that the military will carry out a public execution for the first time in more than a half century in a firing squad by troops at the base where the crimes occurred. Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, who was convicted of killing 13 people at Fort Hood in 2009, is scheduled to die on Dec. 3. The White House has called his crimes an act of terrorism. The Pentagon said it would be livestreamed.
Unsurprisingly, Skyd–er, CBS NEWS’ Kathryn Watson picked up on the trail later:
Hegseth told Real America’s Voice the execution would be public “because people need to understand that there’s serious consequences for these types of things.” Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said that Hegseth recommended, and President Trump approved, a plan to use an Army firing squad.
“Death penalty through firing squad, and he deserves it,” Mr. Trump said during an unrelated White House event on Friday. In an interview Friday night in Syracuse, New York, with WSTM-TV, President Trump said he “wasn’t involved in that decision” to livestream the execution, “but I understand that decision.”
Of course he does. After all, he comes from the unapolgetic world of reality television, where no idea is considered too lowbrow and where uncomfortable truths about what an audience will tolerate in the privacy of their homes have been well known to those of us who have even been tangentially associated with it for decades. I know that as a former employee of FOX , which arguably started that revolution when it commissioned to series what was pitched as a celebration of law enforcement personnel called COPS, the first cinema verite (and therefore eminently more cost-effective) crime drama in TV history. The network order came after the ratings success the owned-and-operated TV stations achieved with the first batch produced by our in-house development team and the crackerjacks from Barbour-Langley Productions. In my defense, all I did was what I would hope to do with any show–figure out the most opportunistic time slot opportunity and promote the living crap out of it in the hopes of getting sampled. This was one of the few occasions where the show was appealing enough to get the samplers to return.
What we learned once we commissioned test groups for feedback surprised some of us who were in the moment willing to buy the producer’s spiel of that celebration of the brave men in blue. What our respondents–especially those in more rural areas–told us was they were most engrossed by the drunk drivers and domestic violence suspects that were being tracked, and were waiting for someone to get shot. It was that feedback that had my colleagues able to continually scoff at the complaints from our sales team that most advertisers wouldn’t touch COPS with a ten-foot pole. And as was so often the case with buyer resistence once COPS was able to double the 18-49 ratings of the tepid sitcoms that preceded it on the network’s Saturday night schedule many of the protesters ultimately wilted and happily bought spots.
Almost four decades later COPS still produces original episodes for FOX NATION, which is headquartered a floor or two away from where Pistol Pete spent more than a few weekends as an on-air personality before he won the central casting call from one of the platform’s most loyal viewers. And with the apparent need to sober up before heading home it’s likely Hegseth may have stumbled upon the bibles that were put together for that as well as the countless other reality shows that followed in their wake.
No, FOX did not produce a live execution even during the heyday reign of who I’d contend is the absolute godfather of the genre and the subject of a previous musing, Mike Darnell. Darnell himself shot that possibility down cold in a 1998 interview with the SOUTH FLORIDA SUN-SENTINEL where a reporter naively asked what, if anything, might be off limits to someone who was reinventing and testing the limits of unscripted television with such id-appeal fare as ALIEN AUTOPSY, JOE MILLIONAIRE and THE WORLD’S SCARIEST POLICE CHASES. (The latter show–a natural evolution from COPS–set a then-network record for share of adults 18-49 and beat a World Series game head-to-head).
But that doesn’t mean that the possibility of someone dying on air wasn’t something that the power brokers at FOX didn’t openly discuss or otherwise grow obsessed with. In the wake of what proved to be a temporary career speed bump for Darnell when his WHO WANTS TO MARRY A MULTI-MILLIONAIRE special was tainted by scandalous revelations of protagonist Rick Rockwell’s sordid past, THE NEW YORK TIMES’ Alex Kuczynski and Bill Carter noted these were among the ideas being noodled around:
Fox executives are accustomed to keeping Mr. Darnell from following his own instincts too far. Last year, they balked when Mr. Darnell suggested crashing an airplane in the desert. In 1997, Mr. Roth pulled ”Prisoners Out of Control” — an hourlong special about violent prison rioting — calling it ”inappropriate for broadcast.” They also twice blocked his plans for a show called ”Space Jump,” which Fox executives rejected in 1997. The program involved flying a man in a weather balloon to a high altitude, after which he parachuted out and went into a free-fall for 17 minutes.
And one of his more senior corporate colleagues was so convinced there was something way bigger with police chases that he repeatedly pitched out a channel dedicated to nothing but them. It gained enough traction that I was asked to tease out a concept that would ping-pong around the country following pursuits in real time. The owned-and-operated stations’ late newscasts were collectively chasing those stories themselves and would routinely extend past their scheduled end time to follow ones that just happened to begin shortly before the last break and, miracle of miracles, seemed to be happening more during a sweeps period. There were noticeable dents in competitors’ share of target adults when those “breaking news” extensions occurred. We showed these local chases along with the log line for the projected network as a piggyback to FX viewers providing feedback on shows like RESCUE ME and SONS OF ANARCHY–not exactly shows that avoided violent outcomes.
Once again, when we asked real people what they thought their answers were sobering. Many who lived in cities where those O and Os were then housed had already seen those chases and admitted they stay tuned through the end. When asked why, once again the prevailing reason was “I wanted to see if anyone would die”.
Eventually, such viewers got their wish. A 2012 BBC NEWS story with a byline-shy supplier memorialized it:
Fox News on Friday was covering a high-speed chase that began in Phoenix, Arizona, using a live helicopter shot. After driving for dozens of miles into the desert, the motorist stopped and ran on to a dirt road. He then put a handgun to his head and fired. TV anchor Shepard Smith later apologised to viewers for not cutting away. “We really messed up,” he said. “We’re all very sorry,” said Smith after the incident. “That didn’t belong on TV.” Michael Clemente, executive vice-president of news editorial at Fox News, said the channel had taken pains to avoid distressing viewers but had failed.
One might think after lo so many years they’d learn their lesson? Think again. Check out this array of archived real-time video from KTTV Fox 11 Los Angeles provocatively titled CHASE CITY. Apparently there’s a statute of limitations on moral cleansing. And who knows if it may have been suggested as a time-waster for Hegseth to peruse during those overly long commercial breaks for reverse mortgages that a weekend FOX AND FRIENDS typically schedules?
Yeah, I hear loud and clear the outrage at Hegseth’s brainstorm. Even Watson made note of a few:
Republican Sen. Thom Tillis, who is retiring, called the decision “beyond disgusting.” Tillis voted to confirm Hegseth, but is now expressing his regret in doing so. “Hasan should face the death penalty, but making his execution public and streaming it? Beyond disgusting,” Tillis wrote on X. “Public executions are what oppressive dictatorships like Iran and Afghanistan do. It should not be happening in America.”
Alonzo Lunsford, a former U.S. Army sergeant who was shot seven times during the Fort Hood shooting but survived, said he supports the gunman’s execution by firing squad. But Lunsford said this execution is “not something you should view for entertainment purposes.” “To show the whole thing without it being censored for the general public, for me personally, I don’t agree with that, but it’s not about my personal belief,” he told BBC Radio.
Republican Rep. Austin Scott of Georgia wrote on X, “I absolutely support the sentence of death, but live-streaming executions is what jihadists do. America is better than that.”
I used to think that too, Mr. Scott. But it sounds like you haven’t seen a test group lately, and you certainly didn’t work at FOX. We might not all be quite as good as you might want to think.
And as for that cosplaying pretend military genius, be aware, Peter boy, that Darnell recently landed a new gig at Netflix. Your paths likely haven’t crossed, and you could stand to learn a thing or two about your production instincts. I’d advise you try to get on his calendar sooner than later. You’re gonna likely need a new gig of your own soon anyhow.
Until next time…