‘Death’ as Ultimate Sweeps Stunt

Call it dying for dollars, another thriller cooked up by the body bags at Fox.

Want more gore than you’re getting? If carnage in the Balkans or on the streets of Los Angeles is not exciting enough for you, Fox is kicking off the coming ratings period with its own trademark brand of pulsating jeopardy.

The “Robbie Knievel Grand Canyon Death Jump Live.”

Did someone say death? It could be ugly, but what’s a poor network to do? Fox wants Knievel to use a safety net or strap on a parachute, but he refuses, said Mike Darnell, its executive vice president for alternative programming and specials. “I think it’s the daredevil profession,” he said. “It has something to do with bravado.”

Son of retired daredevil Evel Knievel, 36-year-old Robbie is hardly living in his old man’s shadow after making scores of major leaps himself. And he opened the February ratings sweeps by flying more than 130 feet on his motorcycle, from one Las Vegas rooftop to another, in front of more than 13 million Fox viewers, a high proportion in the advertiser-coveted 18-49 age group.

Now comes the crapshoot of his career.

Based on its coming program’s title, Fox again is intent on making potential violent death a spectator sport by telecasting Knievel’s scheduled April 29 jump across the Grand Canyon, at a point where its depth is between 1,200 and 2,400 feet.

In what some observers see as an encouraging display of restraint by Fox, if Knievel reaches the other side he will not be greeted there by Pit Bulls That Eat Human Flesh.

And if he doesn’t make it? Well, Fox isn’t ballyhooing this as “Death Jump” for nothing, for it says there won’t be even a bungee cord to save him.

Not that beaming unnatural death to America would be groundbreaking TV. Jack Kervorkian is facing a long prison sentence because “60 Minutes” aired a tape of him killing a man with Lou Gehrig’s disease. And last August, Los Angeles stations aimed live cameras at a fire-singed, half-nude motorist on a freeway overpass as he ended his life with a shotgun blast that blew apart his head.

Moreover, the public’s taste for the gruesome appears to be growing, a barbaric appetite that not just Fox is pleased to titillate on behalf of ratings. For example, here was an NBC promo during a Wednesday night station break: “A terrified woman is trapped in a raging river! Will she get out alive? Find out when we return to “World’s Most Amazing Videos!’ ”

This mirrors what “Mayhem” author Sissela Bok labels “the paradox of entertainment violence.” Lethal savagery played to packed amphitheaters in early Rome. From disaster stories to horror films, vicarious terror also has been a hot ticket in modern times, allowing observers to confront their own fears and test their responses to mortal danger without having to actually feel the pain. When it comes to watching perilous stunts, in fact, a twisted minority of the audience probably looks forward to the thrill of the kill.

But despite its shrill hucksterism, the World’s Most Shocking Network vows that under no circumstances will viewers see Knievel die.

For one thing, his jump will be telecast live only in the East, with the rest of the country receiving it up to three hours later on tape. For another, said Darnell, even though Knievel won’t have a safety valve, Fox’s live telecast will: A seven- to 10-second delay that will give the network time to cut away should something unfortunate happen.

“We’d go to another shot or a logo or something,” Darnell said.

And finally, Darnell acknowledged that . . . well . . . you see . . . ahem . . . it’s like this. Knievel may not be in much peril after all. Then what about the “Death Jump” in the title?

“The word ‘death’ is there for hype,” Darnell said. “I think it makes it sound riskier.”

So there’s no possibility of Knievel dying? “Virtually none,” Darnell said, confidently.

“I wouldn’t say no chance,” amended supervising producer Jeff Androsky, phoning in from near the northern Arizona jump sight. “There’s still a 3-5% chance something could go wrong.”

Even that makes the extreme hazard implicit in “Death Jump” misleading and dishonest, an untruth in advertising.

Darnell disagreed. “We don’t think he’s going to die, but it’s a risky, risky jump,” he said. If death isn’t the risk, what is?

“The danger is in the landing,” Darnell said. “If he hits the landing wrong, he could get severely injured.”

In the unlikely event of a calamity, Androsky said they’ll be ready with two ambulances, a chopper and medevac team plus climber paramedics posted on two ledges and the Grand Canyon floor.

A lot of good a paramedic would do him down there. If Knievel did not survive, Darnell said, Fox that night either would substitute another special for other times zones or attempt to assemble a different kind of program reporting what had happened to Knievel.

Darnell did not say if Fox would cut away should Knievel merely injure himself upon landing. Shrinking from showing death is one thing, but wimping out over a measly broken back or some other injury could tarnish Fox’s image.

Besides, Darnell said he had even a bigger fear about Knievel. It’s that “something will be wrong with the weather,” he said, “and he won’t go.” In other words, no jump, no suspense, no big ratings.

It would take a strong head wind or downpour for Knievel to abort, said Androsky.

Knievel’s customized cycle--a sort of dirt bike--will not be rocket powered, Androsky said. Although Fox initially said Knievel would zoom about 260 feet, the producer said only about 180 feet separated special launch and landing ramps being constructed for the jump, which is scheduled for between 8:40 p.m. and 8:50 p.m., West Coast time.

Darnell said that prior to liftoff, the hour will include “a lot of talk about the jump and the height and the danger. We’ll show some of his previous jumps, and we’ll push a motorcycle over the edge to see what would happen if it would crash.” And Knievel would crash. “We’ll probably meet his family, too,” said Darnell.” Who says Fox doesn’t have family values?

If successful at the Grand Canyon, Knievel is known to have his sights on something even more ambitious, soaring his cycle across Idaho’s wider Snake River Canyon. His father tried it on a rocket-powered cycle 25 years ago, failing when his parachute opened prematurely and he floated back to the side of the canyon from where he had launched. If the younger Knievel tries that jump, Darnell said Fox will telecast it live, too.

Although some may accuse the network of being totally profit-minded and insensitive about all of this, these “death”-hyping Fox guys are softies like you can’t imagine. Prior to Robbie Knievel’s va-va-room in Vegas, Darnell said, “his daughter sang the national anthem, and it was very touching.”