OT: Spooky T.V.
Apr. 21st, 2008 09:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lazypadawanIs it just me or are there more paranormal shows on recently than on Halloween? Discovery has A Haunting, A&E has its new Paranormal State, Sci-Fi has Ghost Hunters, and has just started airing Ghost Hunters International this year, Travel Channel has "Most Haunted" and a revolving program of paranormal-themed travel shows, and Biography has started airing the Canadian import Ghostly Encounters. Fans of cryptozoology can view History Channel's "Monster Quest" and Destination Truth on Travel. Not to leave out the aliens, there's the new UFO Hunters. Even FoxNews's Sean Hannity has a "Beyond Belief" segment on his Sunday night show.
Here's the M.O. on each:
A Haunting--Nice family/couple moves into seemingly normal home. Then, a few odd things start happening. Then the events become more freaky and more frequent. It turns out an Evil Spirit is for some reason inhabiting the home. Family calls in the psychics, investigators, and if it's real hardcore, a priest. Things settle down and the family bails, leaving the house for the next sucker.
Paranormal State--Penn State is home to a crew of paranormal investigators who check out allegations of hauntings. Sort of like Ghost Hunters in only half the time and with greater reliance on psychics and rituals.
Ghost Hunters International--Exactly like the show that spawned it, only the investigations are in foreign countries. It's nice to see Brian ("Dude, run!") back on t.v.. Did you know he's a big SW fan and collects Vader stuff?
Ghostly Encounters--Hapless Canucks sit in front of a camera and recount their tales o' terror as actors re-enact the events in flashback sequences. If you've seen I Survived on Biography, it's almost the same concept.
Monster Quest--A very fascinating show documenting everything from large black cats terrorizing the Northeast and Midwest to odd sea creatures.
Destination Truth--A team ventures out from L.A. to investigate everything from the Yeti (they actually found a fresh footprint) to a giant dinosaur-like flying creature that supposedly munched on some unfortunate African villagers. I hope the crew of this show gets paid really well because they are often in scary and sometimes dangerous locations.
Ghost Hunters--A paranormal investigation team from lovely Warwick, R.I. travel the country to investigate hauntings. What I like about this show is 1) they don't rely on psychics and 2) they try to find alternate explanations for supposed hauntings. They're actually quite reluctant to deem a place haunted even with a couple of strange things happening during their investigations. But of all of the "spook" shows out there, they've managed to capture some very interesting things on camera and in EVP recordings. Sometimes it's downright freaky.
Most Haunted--A show I like to call "The British Scooby Doo." The show hardly ever captures anything remotely paranormal or unexplainable. Instead the entertainment value comes from its fraidy cat crew running around, screaming, and crashing into each other. The slightest bump that could've been caused by anything is enough to send them into hysterics. Never mind they do this for a living and really ought not be bothered by ghosts anymore. Moreover, they rely entirely too much on psychics and dopey seances. They got burned on the psychic issue back in 2005 when one of the MH gang proved to his co-horts that resident psychic Derek Acorah was a fraud. As though you couldn't tell. I do sort of miss Acorah's histrionics though.
Here's the M.O. on each:
A Haunting--Nice family/couple moves into seemingly normal home. Then, a few odd things start happening. Then the events become more freaky and more frequent. It turns out an Evil Spirit is for some reason inhabiting the home. Family calls in the psychics, investigators, and if it's real hardcore, a priest. Things settle down and the family bails, leaving the house for the next sucker.
Paranormal State--Penn State is home to a crew of paranormal investigators who check out allegations of hauntings. Sort of like Ghost Hunters in only half the time and with greater reliance on psychics and rituals.
Ghost Hunters International--Exactly like the show that spawned it, only the investigations are in foreign countries. It's nice to see Brian ("Dude, run!") back on t.v.. Did you know he's a big SW fan and collects Vader stuff?
Ghostly Encounters--Hapless Canucks sit in front of a camera and recount their tales o' terror as actors re-enact the events in flashback sequences. If you've seen I Survived on Biography, it's almost the same concept.
Monster Quest--A very fascinating show documenting everything from large black cats terrorizing the Northeast and Midwest to odd sea creatures.
Destination Truth--A team ventures out from L.A. to investigate everything from the Yeti (they actually found a fresh footprint) to a giant dinosaur-like flying creature that supposedly munched on some unfortunate African villagers. I hope the crew of this show gets paid really well because they are often in scary and sometimes dangerous locations.
Ghost Hunters--A paranormal investigation team from lovely Warwick, R.I. travel the country to investigate hauntings. What I like about this show is 1) they don't rely on psychics and 2) they try to find alternate explanations for supposed hauntings. They're actually quite reluctant to deem a place haunted even with a couple of strange things happening during their investigations. But of all of the "spook" shows out there, they've managed to capture some very interesting things on camera and in EVP recordings. Sometimes it's downright freaky.
Most Haunted--A show I like to call "The British Scooby Doo." The show hardly ever captures anything remotely paranormal or unexplainable. Instead the entertainment value comes from its fraidy cat crew running around, screaming, and crashing into each other. The slightest bump that could've been caused by anything is enough to send them into hysterics. Never mind they do this for a living and really ought not be bothered by ghosts anymore. Moreover, they rely entirely too much on psychics and dopey seances. They got burned on the psychic issue back in 2005 when one of the MH gang proved to his co-horts that resident psychic Derek Acorah was a fraud. As though you couldn't tell. I do sort of miss Acorah's histrionics though.
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no subject
Date: 2008-04-23 12:22 am (UTC)i think that many people have an interest in the unexplained phenomena of the earth, because it reaches something mythic in us that wants things to fill in the gaps when things can't be explained.
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Date: 2008-04-23 01:37 am (UTC)People like scary and mysterious stuff, and a lot of folks out there have experienced things that can't be explained.