First things first: everybody watched Nik Wallenda walk across the Grand Canyon on Sunday night. Everybody. The Discovery Channel special averaged 8.5 million viewers over its full 2.5 hour run, and it peaked at over 13 million viewers for the actual tightrope walking part of it. Those figures made it both the top-rated show on television Sunday night and Discovery’s highest-rated live event ever. Apparently lots of people like watching someone risk his life in front of his wife and children. I’m sure TLC will have a Russian roulette themed show on the air by Christmas.
Anyway, because it was such a huge success, the obvious question on everyone’s mind is what Wallenda will do next, now that he’s traversed Niagara Falls and the Grand Canyon and appears to be running out of wide open spaces to tiptoe across. After the special he floated the idea of walking across the New York City skyline, from the Chrysler building to the Empire State building, but it appears the NYPD has already put the kibosh on that one.
“I would say no,” [Police Commission Ray] Kelly said. “I think it’s dangerous.”
He added that any attempt could be hazardous to those on the ground underneath in case of a fall.
“Here, there’s thousands of New Yorkers who certainly could be put at risk. So I don’t think it would be wise in this city,” Kelly said. [AP]
So, in short, if Wallenda decides to try this anyway, expect to see the first half of this headline again.
Screencap via Discovery
