Paranormal television
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Paranormal television is a genre of popular television broadcasting. Its scope comprises purportedly factual investigations of paranormal phenomena, rather than the openly fictional representations found in such shows as The Ghosts of Motley Hall and Ghostbusters and cartoon/children's series such as Scooby Doo or Rentaghost.
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[edit] Issues
Ethical and legal issues are raised by the depiction of purportedly paranormal events on a television programme, and many countries have legal or advisory Codes of Practice to guide production companies and broadcasters in this area. In 1992 the BBC faced a furore when its pseudo-documentary Ghostwatch caused viewers to panic;[1][2] the transmission was linked to one suicide[3] and two teenagers were diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.[4]
[edit] History
Accounts of supernatural occurrences have always been common in the print media—the 1705 pamphlet "A True Relation of the Apparition of One Mrs Veal" by the journalist Daniel Defoe being a famous example—and local news programmes in the UK and USA have featured ghost stories since the 1960s. Paranormal television arose from this tradition.
One of the earliest paranormal TV shows was In Search Of..., hosted by Leonard Nimoy which ran for six years from 1976. Rod Serling was originally slated to host the series until his death in 1975. In Search Of... explored many paranormal genres, including UFOs, Cryptozoological creatures, lost civilizations and other bizarre mysteries. Though the subject matter gradually lost popularity, the show gave way to future "reality" TV series following the same genre.
Discovery Channel started to explore the genre with some success from 1996. In 2000 the British satellite channel, LivingTV launched the series Most Haunted, the most popular paranormal investigation show today. Its success helped spawn other shows on the channel, including Dead Famous and Jane Goldman Investigates and the channel developed a distinctive identity based on paranormal programming.
Other notable shows have included Creepy Canada (which slightly predates Most Haunted), Proof Positive, America's Haunted Hotels. A Haunting and Ghost Hunters (not to be confused with the earlier European Ghosthunters). YTV, a Canadian youth oriented station has a more toned down version with Mystery Hunters.
Recently, this genre has expanded on to the internet in the form of web television. Specifically, www.biggytv.com has a large collection of paranormal videos in the paranormal phenomena section. Paranormal tv includes parapsychology, aliens and UFOs, ghosts and hauntings, and unexplained phenomena.
A new breed of paranormal TV is now emerging following the revolutionary format of "Docufiction" pioneered by the new show, The Sleep of Reason,[5] which merges fiction and reality.
[edit] Paranormal television programs
This film, television or video-related list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it with reliably sourced additions.[edit] References
- ^ Frean, Alexandra (June 29, 1995), "Watchdog condemns BBC ghost drama", The Times: 12
- ^ Culf, Andrew (June 29, 1995), "BBC censured over Hallowe'en spoof", The Guardian: 8
- ^ "Parents blame BBC spoof for son's suicide", The Guardian: 3, December 23, 1992
- ^ Simons, D; Silveira, W R (February 5, 1994). "Post-traumatic stress disorder in children after television programmes". British Medical Journal 308 (6925): 389–390. PMID 8124147. http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/308/6925/389. Retrieved 2008-01-24.
- ^ http://www.thesleepofreason.com
