Paranormal Television 2013
I recently saw a number of promotional T.V. spots for new Paranormal T.V shows coming this season and I got curious about something. Just how many paranormal shows are there, anyway? How many have there been, and how many are in development? So, I do what I usually do. I did some research and I didn't think I could be surprised anymore, but I was.
These shows are only the non-scripted, reality shows. This does not count the fiction or drama shows like my absolute favorite show, Supernatural, or any of the numerous paranormal-based or fantasy-based fiction T.V. like Grimm or Once Upon a Time.
These statistics are approximations based upon what I could find on the record. According to my count, there have been at least 121 paranormal shows on T.V. that have been cancelled, only between 2000 and 2010. 121. Wow. That is a lot of paranormal acTiVity, don't you think?
Some of my favorite paranormal T.V. shows which have been, regrettably, cancelled, were Psychic Detectives, Extreme Paranormal (these guys were so bad, so over-the-top, so extremely dumb, it was great T.V. entertainment), Ghost Hunters Academy (I'm a teacher, so give me some slack, I loved this educational show for novices), and Paranormal Cops (These guys weren't former cops, they were active cops still on the force doing their cop thing and investigating the paranormal.They used impressive investigative techniques...except for the psychic.). A few of my least favorite and most controversial shows in the past ten years, that have been cancelled, thank goodness, were Paranormal State, Paranormal Kids ( one of the worst, most irresponsible, dangerous paranormal show ever), The Real Exorcist and UFO Hunters (surely one of the dumbest, least convincing, horribly produced shows ever).
It was an interesting decade. It all started with Ghost Hunters, the grandfather of all paranormal reality T.V. shows. Thank you Jason and Grant, and thank you for still being around, well, one of you anyway, keeping it real, believable, serious, and responsible. At least for now.
However, something happened in 2010, and here we are now; in para-deep with no way out. 2010 ushered in so many paranormal reality shows that it just defies explanation. I guess the T.V. producers just couldn't get enough, so they kept churning these things out, over and over again, as long as someone was watching and they didn't have to hire those endangered species; writers and actors..
What confuses me is this; I can understand the SyFy Channel producing paranormal reality shows. That makes perfect sense. Even the History Channel makes sense to me, because so much of paranormal investigating involves history and historical locations and events. It seems to me to be an even match. But A&E., Arts and Entertainment? What? And what about the Biography Channel? Huh? Animal Planet? Ok..so animals, theoretically, can experience the paranormal...but this is a stretch. Now we have CMT = Country Music Television jumping on the bandwagon with Voodoo Paranormal, a new series in development...ok. Why?
So here it is. My list, unofficial but as complete as I can get it, of all of the paranormal reality T.V. shows that are still on the air as we speak.
Ghost Hunters SyFy 2004 -
Decoding the Past History Channel 2005 -
Destination Truth SyFy 2007 -
Ghost Adventures Travel Channel 2008 -
Ghost Stories Travel Channel 2009 -
Celebrity Ghost Stories Biography Channel 2009 -
Fact or Faked, Paranormal Files SyFy 2009 -
River Monsters Animal Planet 2009 -
Ancient Aliens History Channel 2010 -
Brad Meltzers Decoded History Channel 2010 -
Finding Bigfoot Animal Planet 2011 -
Haunted Collector SyFy 2011 -
Long Island Medium TLC 2011 -
Dark Matters, Twisted But True Science Channel 2011 -
The Dead Files Travel Channel 2011 -
Haunted Highway SyFy 2012 -
Ghost Mine SyFy 2012 -
The Haunting Of Biography Channel 2012 -
Stranded SyFy 2013 -
Deep South Paranornal SyFy 2013 -
Alien Mysteries Destination America 2013 -
Monsters and Mysteries in America Destination America 2013 -
Killer Contact SyFy 2013 -
Joe Rogan Questions Everything SyFy 2013 -
Psychic Tia A & E 2013 -
The Unexplained Files Science Channel 2013 -
Notorious Hauntings SyFy 2013 -
Paranormal Witness SyFy 2013 -
Stalked by a Ghost Biography Channel 2013 -
Mountain Monsters Destination America 2013 -
Our Haunted House Biography Channel 2013 -
American Haunting A & E 2013 -
I'll Haunt You When I'm Dead ? 2013 -
Here is a list, probably incomplete, of the new paranormal reality shows now in development:
Buyer Beware SyFy
Ghost Town, USA SyFy
Deadfinder SyFy
Ten Million Dollar Bigfoot Bounty Spike
Voodoo Paranormal CMT
Cajun Paranormal TLC
Dead Famous ?
Meatloaf Rocks the Paranormal SyFy (In case this one totally boggles your mind, Meatloaf is a rock star, not a yummy beef delight served with mashed potatoes and gravy. )
So, what do you think? I know I have some very sophisticated readers out there because I occasionally hear from you. Tell me which show is your favorite, which show is your most hated, which show you believe to be totally faked from beginning to end, and which show you believe to be true, reliable and real.
I will publish the results of my unofficial poll if I can get a good number of readers to reply.
Enjoy the shows. There certainly is enough of them.
P.J.
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