Well, the votes are in and I’m a little surprised. I thought Destination Truth (20 votes or 13%) would do better than it did. Sure, they really never find anything extraordinary but they seem to have a great deal of fun trying. They don’t take themselves seriously and that might be half the appeal.
UFO Hunters (40 votes or 27%) did very well, but then, since this blog is mostly about UFOs, that isn’t much of a surprise. I’ve always been a little annoyed at the show but only because of its sense of wonder. Everything seems to surprise them, even stuff that the rest of us have known for decades.
Fact or Faked: Paranormal Files (23 voted or 15%) has come under some criticism here, but only because it seems that they sometimes miss the obvious. I wonder if that isn’t because if they find the obvious, then there isn’t much of a show left. They have done some very interesting things, solved some of the mysteries, and added another layer to a few.
Ghost Hunters (15 or 10%) didn’t do well here, but again, it might be that the subject is too narrowly defined for the audience here. I confess that I have little time for chasing ghosts and don’t care to watch others do it.
But, of course, the big winner was None of the Above. After I put up the poll, I realized that I had missed any number of other shows that appeared on other cable channels such as Paranormal Kids, which frankly, has little appeal to me.
I suppose the question that needs to be asked is what of all the shows devoted to these sorts of investigations and I would include Brad Meltzer’s Decoded in this, do any of you watch. And no, Gold Rush and Storage Wars do not count.
It wasn't too long ago, these kind of shows were called 'infotainment'. But, those days when information was considered a driving factor in the production values of the shows are long gone, sadly.
ReplyDeleteThe trick, nowadays, is to sift through the dross of "Oh my god, its a 'squatch!" to find the grain of "That's an interesting visual image that we can't explain".
All of these "shows" prove P.T. Barnum was right when he said "There is a sucker born every minute."
ReplyDeleteIt's TV. Doesn't that just say it all?
ReplyDeleteIf any of these shows ever actually found what they're purportedly looking for (ghost, big foot, ufo, etc.) nobody would tune in next week, much to the sponsors', networks', and production companies' chagrin.
It's one thing to watch these shows as brain candy after a hard day. It's another to take them seriously. If the latter applies to you, a reality check is in order.
The old Unsolved Mysteries was good, so was In Search Of. These shows retold the story and kind of left it to the watcher to digest what was presented.
ReplyDeleteMost of the ghost hunting shows are lame at best. Even when the hosts do find something they hedge their bets when talking to the clients. And that one show with the guy that gets possessed every other show is the worst.
Fact or Faked seems to operate on the idea that if it COULD have been faked it probably WAS.
Perhaps it is the money that keeps them from real research and clear discussion of the facts. After all a program that just showed the reports and videos with commentary and solid opinions by experts would be more like The Debunkers than The Defenders.