In Hollywood, there’s no time to waste when it comes to capitalizing on a tragedy. Already, Discovery Channel is working on a special that will examine the disaster of the Costa Concordia, the cruise ship that ran aground off the coast of Italy last week leaving 11 dead and many more still missing. Yes, the passengers are not yet all accounted for, but Hollywood is already seeing dollar signs.
E! reported the network’s plans to put together a special about the ill-fated cruise ship. Discovery intends to seek answers to the “unanswered questions” and try to “piece together” what happened as well as what the legacy of the disaster will be. The luxury cruise liner has been at the center of media interest and public outcry due to the actions of the ship’s captain, Francesco Schettino, who left the ship on a lifeboat prior to evacuating all of the passengers. He was allegedly ordered back onto the ship but refused. This of course only increased the drama around the crash, and creates the perfect opportunity for Hollywood to dramatize it further. I smell a TV movie.
In addition to Discovery, Dr. Phil has already managed to have two of the American survivors of the crash on his show, where he interviewed them about what happened and where the captain was during the evacuation. Georgia Ananias told Dr. Phil that the captain “just wasn’t there”, nor were any of the other officers of the ship.
Discovery plans to air the special in the spring; by then we will likely have seen more of Hollywood’s rush to turn this sad story into ratings gold.
