Everyone is watching Skyscraper Live for one reason and it’s why Netflix shouldn’t do it
Alex Honnold is climbing a 1,700ft skyscraper live on Netflix
Skyscraper Live could be disastrous – nay, fatal – for Netflix. It’s one of the most intriguing and dangerous things it’s ever produced – and it may be a harbinger of small-screen doom.
This Friday, January 23, Alex Honnold will climb Taipei 101, a 1,667ft skyscraper without any ropes or safety equipment. This is known as a “free solo”. All he’ll have is chalk and his experience to get him to the top.
What if he falls? In Honnold’s own words to CNN, “if something happens, I would die”. There are balconies that could catch him, but what if they don’t? In short, splat.
It’s an audacious stunt. Some will say it’s brave, others will think it’s stupid. But the issue isn’t the free solo itself – it’s the decision to broadcast it live.
Skyscraper Live is courting death and that’s why it’s exciting
If Honnold completes the climb, it’ll be a historic moment in television; a triumph of athleticism and overcoming enormous risk for the sake of entertainment.
It’ll also be extremely stressful to watch. If it’s anything like Honnold’s Free Solo movie (one of the best Disney Plus films), it’ll stir up gut-swirling vertigo even in those who claim to be unafraid of heights.
“I’m sure viewers will probably be on edge watching this. I assume that most people will be sort of uncomfortable watching the whole thing,” the climber told Netflix.
But, as anxiety-inducing and (hopefully) cathartic as it’ll be, there’s a darker – and fundamentally human – reason why people will tune in. It’s not to see him succeed, it’s to wait for a tragedy that may never come.
Most people wouldn’t want to see him hit the ground – or maybe they would? – but the inherent, morbid thrill of the whole thing is the possibility of seeing Honnold lose his grip.
That split-second where gravity enforced the natural order would be utterly horrific, but undeniably breathtaking. Millions are tuning in knowing that could happen – how is that not an alarming proposition?
What happens if Alex Honnold falls… and what if he doesn’t?
Let’s consider the worst-possible scenario: Honnold falls, misses a balcony, and plummets to the ground for the whole world to see.
What happens next? It’d surely go down as one of the worst TV disasters of all time, and (unless Netflix livestreams it with a delay) viewers will be left with the trauma of watching a man die on their television.
Answer this: would Free Solo have been released if Honnold fell? Obviously not, but not because people wouldn’t watch it. In Skyscraper Live’s case, it’s courting (un)certain death; that doesn’t make it okay.
Sure, Honnold isn’t the first ‘daredevil’ to do something dangerous on TV. Evil Knievel jumped over 14 buses on a motorbike in 1975. But is that the same as climbing a skyscraper without ropes or a parachute?
You could wager that Felix Baumgartner’s stratosphere jump was a worse example. However, as perilous as that was, he had a parachute.
So, let’s say everything goes exactly to plan. Same question: what happens next? As one Redditor has worryingly speculated, “higher buildings, worse conditions, tighter schedules, bigger crowds”.
That same user said it feels “less like celebrating human achievement and more like crossing an ethical line”.
It’s hard to disagree. When you watched Squid Game, or 2025’s The Running Man, was there any part of you that thought, “I’d watch this if it was on TV”?
Skyscraper Live is a testament to the answer: yes, because death (or the possibility of it) is undeniable entertainment. We may be about to cross the Rubicon.
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