‘Deadliest Catch’ star’s absence from promo catches fans in PR net

A “Deadliest Catch” captain has gone missing -- in the rough waters of marketing and PR.

The interwebs were set abuzz Friday morning when Discovery released a promo reel for the upcoming start of Season 9 of the show about the hazardous lives of Alaskan fisherman.

Nowhere to be found was one Elliott Neese, the skipper who suffered through a miserable season of low catches and a stormy home life last year.

This led to excited headlines such as “Deadliest Catch Star Missing?,” even though, as everyone knows, Neese is in fact not missing. Not in the police sense of “Let’s file a missing-person report.”

All that happened is that the network -- which has already said Neese will indeed return for Season 9, which has already been shot -- failed to use footage in which he appeared for its promotional materials.

To build mystery and suspense.

Which journalists then dutifully reported.

Ever heard of falling for something hook, line and sinker?

There’s nothing wrong with reporting on a promotional reel -- in a world of fanboys, sure, that’s news -- but maybe it’s better not to get into a call-and-response with the network’s marketing department.

Or you might end up, you know, lost at sea.

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Twitter: @scottcollinsLAT

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