Mermaids: The - New Evidence

While the storytelling in was convincing enough to break ratings records, the "evidence" it presented was entirely fictional.

: The show heavily relied on the Aquatic Ape Theory , a real but controversial evolutionary hypothesis, to provide a sense of "intellectual possibility" for the existence of mermaids.

The program was a "docufiction" or mockumentary produced by as a sequel to Mermaids: The Body Found . It used a blend of real-world phenomena and fabricated narratives to create a persuasive story:

: It linked the fictional discovery to the "Bloop," a real underwater sound recorded by the NOAA in 1997, which scientists have since attributed to icequakes, not marine life.