I liked this story a lot. It seemed like somewhat of a Rorschach test in that some people were inclined to say "see, interstellar travel was and is impossible." Others said, "nice try you lying aliens -- you can't trick us into staying home!"
When I listened to the first 75 or so episodes of EP I never even knew of these forums. Now that I've started leaving some feedback I realize that I'm definitely a sucker for a great idea. Sometimes even if the author doesn't take it all the way, or even very far, I find myself wanting to read more of his/her stories, to see what other ideas are being birthed.
Also, to those who were frustrated, I think part of what the author was trying to convey was that feeling of frustration at not knowing what really happened. Was it a hoax? Was it real but landed on Earth millions of years ago? Or was it sent down from the moon recently?
Also, I really liked the style of the story. At first I kept thinking why are they describing an obscure TV show and then as the plot developed I realized that the show wasn't an artifice to tell the story but rather it was the story. Well done, sir!
For those who might be looking for more Robert Reed stories, I thought Truth (Asimov's 11/08) and A Billion Eves (Asimov's 10/06) were both five star outstanding.