Balloon Boy

Balloon Boy. Remeber him? On October 15, 2009, the country was captivated by Falcon Heene, the boy floating away a balloon ... or so it seemed.

Few things are as entertaining as celebrity mug shots. But as far as booking photos of the notorious go, the one below is immediately one of our favorites.

That's because it was taken when Richard Heene went to prison.

We thought the book was closed on Richard Heene. We should be so lucky.

Sadly, none other than Balloon Boy's dad is back in our faces again, denying in an interview with Larry King that his infamous hoax was a hoax at all.

The Balloon Boy stunt captivated a nation. Now it's saddled Richard Heene with tens of thousands of dollars in fines and landed him in jail for three months.

Heene and wife Mayumi, who together conspired and executed the now-infamous Balloon Boy hoax, both were sentenced to relatively light jail terms today.

The parents who orchestrated the Balloon Boy hoax were hit with a tab of $42,000 from local, state and federal agencies for their October, national TV stunt.

There may be more where that came from, too. But the Heenes' attorney, David Lane, told the Denver Post the Fort Collins, Colo., couple isn't ready to pay.

If you listen to music today, you're bound to hear some if not most artists aided by Auto-Tune, a phase vocoder that corrects pitch in vocal performances.

Thus, it has enabled individuals with no ability to sing, such as Kanye West, Heidi Montag and Britney Spears, among many others, to pretend they can!

Happy Thanksgiving from all of us at The Hollywood Gossip!

What would this traditional holiday be without family, food, football and reflection upon the things we appreciate most in life - in the case of THG, that means some of the turkeys we had the privilege of covering this year.

Worst parents ever Richard and Mayumi Heene have officially pleaded guilty to a felony and misdemeanor charge, respectively, stemming from the now-infamous Balloon Boy hoax that shocked and appalled the world last month.

A sentencing hearing has been scheduled for December 23.

Richard and Mayumi Heene will plead guilty to orchestrating the Balloon Boy hoax in Larimer County, Colorado court Friday, according to attorney David Lane.

Mayumi Heene will plead guilty to false reporting to police, a Class 3 misdemeanor (the lowest under Colorado law) with a stipulated sentence of probation.

Balloon Boy's dad is about to get popped by the D.A.

Larimer County, Colo., investigators have presented their case to the District Attorney, meaning charges are imminent against masterminds (a misnomer if here there were one, as they are masterful at nothing) Mayumi and Richard Heene.

Mayumi Heene, wife of Richard Heene and mother of "Balloon Boy" Falcon Heene, has confessed to lying to authorities and that the now-infamous October 15 incident was "intentional as a hoax," according to the Fort Collins Coloradoan.

The mother of the six-year-old temporarily believed to be hurtling into the heavens in a 20-foot Mylar balloon signed an affidavit that it was all staged.

The 911 call made by Mayumi and Richard Heene Heene to Fort Collins, Colo., police during the original Balloon Boy hoax last week has been released.

Pretending to be distraught and worried about son Falcon Heene, Richard says he's sure his 6-year-old is in the balloon, pleading with the dispatcher:

There are plenty of good fathers out there, and we laud their efforts. But unfortunately, some of the poorest ones have been dominating news cycles of late.

None garners headlines quite like Jon Gosselin. In the last six months, the Jon and Kate Plus 8 dad has gone through a ultimate midlife crisis like no other.

Don't take it from THG - although it's so obvious that you very well could - just ask the L.A. Department of Children and Family Services or the people he shopped reality shows to long before he orchestrated the Balloon Boy hoax.

Richard Heene was reported to CFS by Matt Wineroth in March 2006 for an incident Heene claims Wineroth filed the "erroneous" report over in retaliation.

The Heene family, accused of perpetrating the Balloon Boy hoax to promote a reality show, are looking at some serious criminal charges this week or next.

The couple's lawyer, David Lane, expects charges to be filed by Wednesday, and says the Heenes will themselves in to avoid the spectacle of a public arrest.

Richard Heene orchestrated the whole Balloon Boy hoax last week and had planned it for some time, according to authorities, who plan to charge him with a crime.

No sentence is long enough.

Robert Thomas, who used to work for Richard Heene (Balloon Boy's dad), said he was obsessed with becoming famous, wanted his own reality show, and had this wild idea for a media stunt that involved a weather balloon that resembles a UFO.

As with Heene's press conference, we wish we were kidding.

Earlier today, Richard Heene, the strange father of Balloon Boy Falcon Heene, said he was going to be making a big announcement at a press conference.

His announcement? That he is setting up a suggestion box.

Falcon Heene, who gained instant notoriety and a misnomer of a nickname (Balloon Boy) yesterday, is thankfully safe and sound, having never drifted away in his father's homemade helium craft as was originally believed.

But the six-year-old Colorado boy does have the flu.

Call us crazy, but before reporting our six-year-old was missing (or had up and floated away in a balloon), we might first look around our damn house.

That seems like a logical way to make sure the little guy were really on the thing before reporting it and sparking an insane, expensive media frenzy.

A six-year-old Colorado boy was believed to be trapped in a homemade balloon that was turned loose, sparking widespread hysteria earlier Thursday afternoon.

He was given an obligatory nickname - Balloon Boy - by the crazed media, which pounced on the breaking story faster than a Lindsay Lohan on an eight-ball.