Parachute Fail Lands Guy in Jail; Is Reality TV Becoming Too Real?; Should Companies Require Interviews with Minority Job Candidates?
VELSHI: Welcome back. A parachute failed landing a guy in jail. Take a look at this. A base jumper dangling 60 feet high, he left off California's tallest bridge, the Forest Hill Bridge in Auburn, standing 730 feet high over the American River. He got his parachute caught in a tree. Police used a helicopter to rescue the jumper. That's not easy trying to grab a moving target from a chopper.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They were dealing with a parachute hung up in the tree. The motor wash moved the victim around a lot. He was kind of precariously hung into a tree. He's not only the motor wash a problem, but the length that they have to do to try to get away from the victim as much as possible. The longer you are away from a helicopter swinging on a line. It's like a pendulum floating underneath something.</s>VELSHI: Police say he dangled there about 90 minutes before he called 911 from a cell phone.</s>COSTELLO: He dangled there for 90 minutes? Wow. Wouldn't your head explode?</s>VELSHI: Well, police arrested him because it's illegal to base jump without a permit. Stupid to base jump with one.</s>ROMANS: All right, everyone has their favorite reality shows, right? Whether it's "SURVIVOR," "THE REAL HOUSEWIVES," "JERSEY SHORE"? They're an escape from your own reality. You're watching something exciting and different, maybe a little nutty. That's what I like hoarders personally, but reality shows are taking a new turn. They're hitting a little closer to home for millions of out of work Americans. Take a look.</s>ROMANS (voice-over): From the Kardashians to the housewives and the millionaire matchmaker.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK, girls. Are you ready to meet a millionaire?</s>ROMANS: We know Americans love shows about people with money, but when did watching economic struggle become entertaining.</s>A.J. HAMMER, HOST, HLN'S "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT: " Now reality television is reflecting something so major that's going on in virtually everybody's lives, the economic downturn.</s>ROMANS: Call it Recession TV. There's pawn stars.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fifteen?</s>ROMANS: Downsized.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. It says --</s>ROMANS: American pickers.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A lot of people look at this stuff as their savings accounted, like, I bought this. I think it's worth more money.</s>ROMANS: Repo games.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Recall it in the morning.</s>ROMANS: A&E; Network just shot a pilot called "Job Whisperer," a show about finding a job and even "Sesame Street" introduced Lily, a muppet struggling with hunger.</s>LILY, MUPPET, "SESAME STREET": You don't even know whether you're going to have a next meal or not. That can be pretty hard.</s>ROMANS: So is reality TV becoming too real to watch?</s>JEFF GARDERE, AMERICA'S PSYCHOLOGIST: There will always be the escapism type of TV, whether it's scripted, whether it's reality, where people are just frivolously just spending money and having a lavish lifestyle. Sometimes we need that, but I think we're redefining what life is as a middle-class American, and they're getting that information from</s>TV. ROMANS: For now, many Americans will dream of a fairy tale wedding through our TV sets.</s>ROMANS: And for some that fairy tale wedding is really just getting a job. I had a great conversation with Robert Thompson from Syracuse University and Pete Dominick about why - what we're calling recession TV. You can watch that discussion on "YOUR BOTTOM LINE" tomorrow at 9:30 A.M. Eastern. I don't know if finding a job is as entertaining as they're going to try to make it.</s>COSTELLO: I think it's depressing.</s>ROMANS: But repoing a car is depressing and it's wildly popular.</s>COSTELLO: Well, they make it so exciting, though. "The Repo Guys" are like, you know, it sounds like out in the Wild West, instead of lassoing cattle, you're lassoing a repoed car.</s>ROMANS: If they can make finding a job like "Survivor" or like the great - the race -</s>VELSHI: Right.</s>ROMANS: -- what is that, "The Great Race" or the race thing, you know -</s>VELSHI: Yes.</s>ROMANS: -- where you're actually, you know, showing your skills and trying to get a job, then maybe it's going to be entertaining. But, I mean, now that it seeped into even reality</s>TV - VELSHI: Yes.</s>ROMANS: -- and money has always been in reality TV, but not having money being in reality</s>TV - COSTELLO: Although, it'll be nice if there was something in the middle, because I don't like watching those other shows, either.</s>ROMANS: Do you do "Quarters" (ph)?</s>COSTELLO: Yes. I do find that interesting.</s>ROMANS: I like "Quarters" (ph).</s>COSTELLO: I have to admit it, I do. Let's go to Atlanta to check in with Rob Marciano who has his own kind of reality.</s>ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes and it's not pretty. I can tell you that. Good morning. It's Friday, guys. And for a lot of people the reality is that we've got a couple days off. If you don't, sorry. But the northeast will see not the best of weather for this Friday and it will last through tomorrow. We don't have much in the way of rain from New York to Philly, but some of that is heading up into the Upstate New York area or parts of Western Mass. But the back side of this, this is kind of a storm that's gathering some strength. We saw a tremendous amount of rain with this across parts of Virginia. A couple reports of tornadoes in Virginia and the Newport News area up through just north of Richmond as well. And, ooh, here's some of the video. I wasn't able to see this earlier, so I'm just seeing it for the first time as well. But there you see some of the damage. Likely it's a tornado touching down there. All right. The back side of this is going to have some wind with it. Gusts to 65 miles an hour potentially. We've got high wind watches that have been posted just to - just to the east of the Great Lakes. And some of these winds will get into the bigger cities as well over the next couple of days. So that coupled with the rainfall will slow down some of the travel throughout the day today. Thunderstorms in the New York metros. Over an hour delays there expected especially at LaGuardia and Boston, Philly, Chicago. I mean, you can pick them as far as the major cities are concerned, you'll have your problems. Although, for the Detroit game yesterday, they managed to get it in without any sort of rain delay. So that was impressive, nonetheless. All right. The dry continues. The dry weather continues across the midsection of the country and in the desert southwest and SoCal will continue their stretch of very warm weather; 91 degrees expected in Los Angeles; 88 degrees in Dallas; and 71 degrees up there in New York City where they're debuting the iPhone 4s. They're having parties down in Battery Park. Good times.</s>COSTELLO: Wish you could be there.</s>MARCIANO: I'll be there on Monday, guys.</s>VELSHI: Nice.</s>ROMANS: Awesome.</s>MARCIANO: My cousin Rudy's getting married tomorrow, so -</s>VELSHI: Very good. All right.</s>ROMANS: Hey, congratulations, Cousin Rudy.</s>MARCIANO: Yes.</s>ROMANS: There you go.</s>VELSHI: See you in a bit, Rob.</s>MARCIANO: Yes.</s>COSTELLO: Thank you, Rob. Now's your chance to "Talk Back" on one of the big stories of the day. Today's question, should companies require interviews with minority job candidates? The black community is hurting. Sixteen-point-seven percent unemployment and many in the African-American community say President Obama is trying, but not hard enough. Robert Johnson, CEO of the Black Entertainment Television and an influential guy in the world of politics. Listen.</s>ROBERT JOHNSON, CEO, BET: And I think the president and the Congress both sides, I'm not picking on one or the other, they need to go the extra mile to increase opportunities for African-Americans.</s>COSTELLO: Johnson's idea, going the extra mile? Expand the NFL's Rooney Rule throughout the business world for executive level jobs. That's the rule requiring NFL owners to interview at least one African-American candidate when there's a vacancy in a coaching or GM position. OK, I hear you. That smacks of discrimination. Not so, says Johnson. It would be strictly voluntary.</s>JOHNSON: There's no mandate to hire anybody. It's simply - it's called what I call, best practice enhanced commitment to diversity inclusion.</s>COSTELLO: Especially, he says, with so many white candidates vying for the same jobs. As for how the Rooney Rule has changed the NFL? There are now eight African-American head coaches, before there were only two. And five black general managers, before that, only one. The Rooney Rule, though, is mandatory for NFL owners. So the "Talk Back" question today, should companies require interviews with minority job candidates? Facebook.com/AmericanMorning, Facebook.com/AmericanMorning. I'll read your comments later this hour.</s>VELSHI: OK. Coming up ahead on AMERICAN MORNING, a fighter jet going into an all-out nosedive at an air show in China. More of this incredible video and what happened to the pilot when we come back.