The Syfy Channel has launched a new paranormal investigation show, and I'm alarmed that they have stuck it in what must be one of the worst possible time slots (10PM Thursday). "Fact or Faked: Paranormal Files" deserve to be a headlining show. Sadly, it has all the earmarks of a show which the Syfy Channel is planning to cancel at its earliest convenience. (Presumably to make room for more WWE Wrestling.)
You might wonder whether the world needs another paranormal investigation show, in a world where every major Basic Cable channel has one. (The nadir surely must be Animal Planet's "The Haunted," which focuses on stories where house pets tip off their owners to the presence of ghosts.)
I say: maybe not, but the world needs THIS show.
The idea behind "Fact or Faked" is that the investigators attempt to recreate supposedly paranormal or cryptozoological phenomena, using materials and skills that could reasonably have been used. Then they evaluate the results. And by extension - although not always - the claims themselves.
This supposedly simple idea turns out to be surprisingly powerful in action. You always say "I bet it's just a guy in a suit," but then someone else says "Dude, no way a human could run that fast!" and then you just kind of stare at each other. But the "Fact or Faked" team actually goes to the location where the (in this case Bigfoot) footage was filmed, sticks a guy in a gorilla suit, and asks him to run across the hillside.
Surprising facts pop out, when they actually try to recreate the footage. In the case of the Memorial Day Eastern Washington Sasquatch, one anomaly had been explained as "maybe the Sasquatch picked up a baby Sasquatch and set it on his shoulders."
But it turns out that you can reproduce the "head got bigger" effect precisely by simply pushing the gorilla mask up on your face. And furthermore, if you have been running across that particular hillside in a gorilla suit, the effect happens right about when you start getting sweaty and out of breath - and needing to push up the mask.
Voila: what was once an uncanny bit of Sasquatch footage suddenly becomes a college student running through a popular state park on a big national holiday as a prank.
The investigators handle their tasks with an admirable combination of zest and fair play. For the most part, they avoid confronting the filmmakers directly, which is the sensible choice. It's difficult to discuss the filmmakers without devolving into a meaningless ad hominem attack, so I applaud the investigations where the team restrains themselves on this count.
Cable television - and America as a whole - needs a lot more of this kind of unbiased research. The Ghost Hunters always say "We're skeptics," but come on. They totally aren't. The "Fact or Faked" team is both skeptical and open-minded, and I hope to see more from the show in the future.
(I have only one quibble, which is that every show starts out with a staff meeting where they decide what to investigate. This offers no value to the viewer, and is tedious besides. Just cut to the chase, srsly.)
You might wonder whether the world needs another paranormal investigation show, in a world where every major Basic Cable channel has one. (The nadir surely must be Animal Planet's "The Haunted," which focuses on stories where house pets tip off their owners to the presence of ghosts.)
I say: maybe not, but the world needs THIS show.
The idea behind "Fact or Faked" is that the investigators attempt to recreate supposedly paranormal or cryptozoological phenomena, using materials and skills that could reasonably have been used. Then they evaluate the results. And by extension - although not always - the claims themselves.
This supposedly simple idea turns out to be surprisingly powerful in action. You always say "I bet it's just a guy in a suit," but then someone else says "Dude, no way a human could run that fast!" and then you just kind of stare at each other. But the "Fact or Faked" team actually goes to the location where the (in this case Bigfoot) footage was filmed, sticks a guy in a gorilla suit, and asks him to run across the hillside.
Surprising facts pop out, when they actually try to recreate the footage. In the case of the Memorial Day Eastern Washington Sasquatch, one anomaly had been explained as "maybe the Sasquatch picked up a baby Sasquatch and set it on his shoulders."
But it turns out that you can reproduce the "head got bigger" effect precisely by simply pushing the gorilla mask up on your face. And furthermore, if you have been running across that particular hillside in a gorilla suit, the effect happens right about when you start getting sweaty and out of breath - and needing to push up the mask.
Voila: what was once an uncanny bit of Sasquatch footage suddenly becomes a college student running through a popular state park on a big national holiday as a prank.
The investigators handle their tasks with an admirable combination of zest and fair play. For the most part, they avoid confronting the filmmakers directly, which is the sensible choice. It's difficult to discuss the filmmakers without devolving into a meaningless ad hominem attack, so I applaud the investigations where the team restrains themselves on this count.
Cable television - and America as a whole - needs a lot more of this kind of unbiased research. The Ghost Hunters always say "We're skeptics," but come on. They totally aren't. The "Fact or Faked" team is both skeptical and open-minded, and I hope to see more from the show in the future.
(I have only one quibble, which is that every show starts out with a staff meeting where they decide what to investigate. This offers no value to the viewer, and is tedious besides. Just cut to the chase, srsly.)