“He’s alive!” No %$@#, Sherlock

The other night I and my family were sitting down for a fabulous dinner (that I cooked of course) and heard the name “Patrick McDermott.”  My son Mike and I looked at each other and wondered, “what”?  Patrick is the former boyfriend of Olivia Newton John who went missing after a fishing trip.  Hmmm, I was wondering what is the big deal?  I and my son  Mike did this story years ago when Mr. McDermott was thought to have turned into lobster or crab food.

But wait, Dateline NBC was reporting that they had hired a private investigator out of Texas to look into the details.   And the details that we were all bored with watching the other night took several months to come to the conclusion that Patrick McDermott was still alive. Huh?   The investigator on this case came across a little  like a “clown prince” and all that was missing was a brass band marching across hot beach sand with no shoes.  Oh, but  Mr. Philip Klein had all of the lines down: “we have leads,” and “I knew it,” “we are about an hour behind him,” “he was here.” It would appear from where I was watching that Mr. Klein would be most excellent at locating a Taqueria or an all-you-can-eat burrito buffet.   Oh he had a “kick stand” with him, a former L.A. County deputy sheriff who went “undercover” on the fishing boat that McDermott was last seen on…the rumor is that he had two hotdogs and a drink. Can the Loch Ness Monster be next for this crew? Almost seems that Mr. Klein should have been “pitched” to the cooking channel.    Wow, this is exciting! How many of you remember my good friend Geraldo’s great escapade on TV a couple dozen years ago to open a cement bunker of Al Capone?  That epic waste of time was exciting compared to this debacle of clowndom visiting Mexico.  A private source of mine from NBC was laughing in wonderment as to how NBC got into this mess of a “who cares” story, dredged up from deeply buried archives  under Who Cares!

When my son Mike and I were asked to look into this case over 2 years ago by EXTRA’s Jeremy Spiegel and Lisa Gregorisch it was a story, a damn good story.   I had through contacts in Mexico over a period of a weekend come to believe that Patrick was still walking the earth alive and well and enroute to Monterey, Mexico.   Some Dateline producer thought that this would be a career move? To reinvestigate this story years later and come to the same conclusion but with less concrete evidence, spending MONTHS instead of a weekend, and lord knows how much of NBC’s money ?    I am annoyed on several fronts, one is that I had to stay in a little town and had to walk a few blocks to get to the internet, I had no tv, no radio and we were our own film crew, yup! my son Mike was given some camera equipment and shot all the segments that were shown for several weeks on national television.  It was a peaceful and very calming place to visit…..and the food was very good!  Had Mr. Klein called me I could have given him a few tips on where to eat.  Ooops, but those places were along the dusty highway on the coast, where McDermott had actually been.  Klein and crew looked to be staying at nice hotels (duh) and traveling back and fourth from Texlost and I C U Mexico and having a ball. Also this crew never even contacted my office as to what we found years before.  You bet I am pissed, my son and I came to the same conclusion in less than a weekend and brought the famous hat back to the states with what may be Mr. Mc D’s DNA.   All on a tiny budget, no fancy hotels and no fancy harbors and no boat rides. I am not bitter and don’t say I am……well, maybe a little.

What comes to my mind in watching this embarrassment of an “investigation,” aside from wanting that hour of my life back, is that if bullshit could fly that story could power the space shuttle in to eternity.  Tall hats, big coats and carpet bags also come into my mind when I close my eyes and think of that story…”He’s alive”…no shit!

Welcome to Prime Time…..in  a crappy economy!