Nancy Grace Baby Blog

Casey Anthony's trial is a summer obsession

Orlando, Florida (CNN) -- Here in the land of Mickey, where parents lavish time and money to immerse their little ones in the magic of childhood, another name has stolen the show: Casey.

Casey Anthony, 25, is accused of killing her doe-eyed toddler and the murder trial is inescapable this summer: Inside the diner, the gym, the hair salon -- even the car wash -- TV screens are tuned in to the coverage and grabbing eyeballs.

At Fields BMW in suburban Winter Park, no one has switched channels in the customer lounge since testimony began four weeks ago.

"I don't think anybody's brave enough to grab the remote," said Whitney Lore, the cashier.

The drama sucked in Trevor Ball this week as he waited for his wife's BMW to be serviced. He fired off a Casey update to her by text: The prosecution rests.

Half the people who turn on their TVs in Orlando during the daytime are watching the trial, says Steve Hyvonen, news director at WKMG , a CNN affiliate. That usually only happens here when a hurricane hits.

So it's no surprise that all the local television stations have abandoned normal daytime programming to carry the trial live. Even the U.S. Open comes in second to Florida vs. Casey Anthony.

"It's the biggest thing that has happened in Orlando in years," said Mike Boslet, editor of Orlando magazine. "The whole world is watching."

Cable TV's usual suspects -- Nancy Grace, Greta van Susteren and Geraldo Rivera -- come and go in black SUVs from "Casey Land," the tent city that occupies a vacant lot across the street from the Orange County Courthouse. The scene is reminiscent of big trials of the past: O.J. Simpson, Michael Jackson, the Menendez brothers, Scott Peterson.

Why the Anthony case?

"You've got this attractive young mother and this horrible death of a child," said Robert Thompson, who teaches television and popular culture at Syracuse University.

"And then there are all those details -- all the made-up jobs and made-up people and the 31 days the child was missing. Those are the kind of details that make this better than a crime drama," he explained.

"Once you start following this story, you're hooked."

The true-crime spectacle often threatens to obscure a sad truth: A little girl named Caylee never got to grow up. And a teenager with a wild streak had a baby too soon.

Overheard on CNN.com: No dad-bashing on Father's Day! – This Just ...

Comment of the Day:

"Funny, my Father's Day wish is to go the hell back to sleep when I wake the hell up that morning. Here's hoping I get my wish, because I'm usually waking the hell up and helping the kids with their breakfast, cleaning the hell out of the kitchen, vacuuming the hell out of the house and then sometime in the late afternoon drinking a hell of a beer."– BeerBrewerDa

A Father's Day wish: Dads, wake the hell up!

Stay-at-hom dad Jeff Pearlman gave some tips on enjoying the kids and helping around the house and apparently hit a nerve. Many CNN.com readers were furious at what they saw as being lectured right before Father's Day.

NewsEditor said, "As a father of two wonderful kids, I find this article completely insulting and about 30 years too late. Fathers today are involved with their kids’ lives more than ever before, despite the outdated and totally unfair custody laws that still exist in most states. I'll be making my kids' dinner and doing their laundry tonight, but it will be because I always do and not because my wife has to nag me about it, just like most men of my generation I know."

sensiblem said, "On Mother's Day, women get long flowery prose about how mothers are the sole reason for their kids' success. On Father's Day, men get berated for not being better parents. Yes, I get that there are a lot of people out there who grew up with distant or absent fathers. My father wasn't really around either. But as someone who is involved in his kids' lives, is it really too much to ask for people to lay off the 'deadbeat dad' stereotype and actually, ya know, appreciate fathers on Father's Day?"

mediaisajoke said, "This article is both pompous and presumptuous, and would have been better received had it not been written like a laundry list of chores left on the refrigerator by the wife. Also, a recent CNN article shows that more than 50% of modern males do more than their fair share in raising children, despite long workdays and household chores that need to be done. Every guy I know is a devoted dad who bends over backwards for his kids. Yes, I am a little riled up over this article; extrapolate from that what you will."

BeerBrewerDa asked, "Would it be so bad for us to get breakfast in bed or taken out to brunch? Mother's Day is all about flowery prose, as you say, and all of the enjoyable trappings that go along with that. How about throwing some of that our way? I wouldn't mind a card that says how awesome I am, as opposed to another one about farts and beer.

The suffering will not be televised, African American women and sentimental political storytelling

Books in print

Cumulated Dramatic index, 1909-1949, a cumulation of the F. W. Faxon Company's Dramatic index

Nonprofit Management 101, A Complete and Practical Guide for Leaders and Professionals