Rumors of the Demise of ‘Defying Gravity’ are Greatly Exaggerated

Yes, this is supposed to be a blog about the Oregon coast. But sometimes I can’t help but go on and on about some of my passions.

One of these is the ABC show Defying Gravity, which is apparently not cancelled – or at least not officially. One of the great purveyors of this inaccuracy is Examiner.com, which is basically a blog pretending to be a real news media site (the kind of thing that gets my journalist blood boiling anyway). So when I went to Google News to check out when and where this show would appear again (and OMG am I jonezin’….) , I discover a handful of articles reporting its demise.

But when I saw Examiner.com was the biggest source, I immediately relaxed. That is, until I got mad about the inaccuracy – but I’m straying. I’ll get back to this issue of reputable news sites in a minute.

The main point is, according to other more reputable news sources, Defying Gravity is still around. Minutes ago, I just finished what was billed as the season finale - some 24 hours after it aired. Holy Moses, what a monster of an episode. I found myself, however, screaming at my computer,“I wanna know what Beta is!!!!”

We sit through more soapy stuff, of course. But we learn some more tantalizing, oddball bits about this mysterious mission (which, like LOST, lead to even more questions). We learn not everyone is willing to put up with this wall of secrecy about Beta, including Beta itself.

And what it does at the end, and the talk of fractals. Wow.

What’s happening with the show is unclear. It was billed as the season finale (NOT the series finale, dear goofy journalists who got that wrong). Only eight of its 13 episodes have aired, thanks to bad planning by ABC or something (reports say they didn’t have time to air the whole thing because the fall season came upon them too fast). But the lack of announcements about when the final five will be aired is adding to speculation the low-rated lovely is kaput.

I, for one, think it’s one of the most awesome shows on TV. But then I was enamored of other neglected geeky gems like “Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles,” “Battlestar Galactica” and the “Stargate” franchise.

Whatever. Screw the masses. I’m right.

Anyway, some media outlets (like aceshowbiz.com) are actually quoting a source on the show. Publicist Nicole Marostica has told them it is still around, but nothing has been decided on the next airings.

And speaking of screwing the masses, I’m sorely disappointed in this whole Examiner.com thing, and others of this ilk. Most of the time they post some badly written missive on the Oregon coast there’s at least one glaring, goofy error. This whole citizen journalism thing is ridiculous – as exemplified by several large endeavors by net companies in recent years. That’s called blogging. Let’s keep the terminology straight.

Citizen journalism DOES work well in the world of the average joe capturing video of something. But the checking of facts and names should be left to the pros.

Be careful that what you read on the net is from an actual news organization – not a blog or a badly written citizen journalism rag posing as a real outlet.

This, by the way, is a blog. It’s about opinion, but it’s also written by an actual news person: the editor of a real media organization called BeachConnection.net.

OK, I’m done ranting.

- Andre' Hagestedt (Oregon Coast Beach Connection)