The
other what? What can I say, bad research = bad script. Well,
I watched it from beginning to season's end. I'm not saying
I wish I hadn't, I'm saying I did have to force myself to stifle
yawns and bite my tongue a few times so I wouldn't scream out
my frustration and scare the family from their slumbers. Yeah,
they all fall asleep about 15 min. into the show. Can't blame
them. I don't think the series lack of depth is the fault of
the acting crew.
Their research is pure schlock, caving in to every stereotype
regarding psychics there ever was. The few things they got right
such as, not all psychics are gifted with the same or all of
the psychic talents, and that psychics have everyday problems
in their lives like everyone else did show that some research
was done. But it doesn't take much work to put that to paper.
However, after they establish this in the first two episodes
they loose their edge completely.
I haven't got anything nice to say about this hour long drama;
so, in order to bypass my own obviously biased and jaded opinion
I went out and about asking the opinion of psychic and non-psychics
alike who had also been watching.
The response from the non-psychic audience that I interviewed
was scattered, some knew the difference between real psychics
and what this show was portraying, others did not. The non-psychic
viewers that were educated were not as insulted as the actual
psychics who were watching, however neither of these groups
were planning to continue watching the series.
Some of the non-psychics who were not educated were mad at me
for not loving it, they seemed to think I should be more appreciative
that someone would have the audacity to put a show like this
out. As if it was a "giant leap for psychics" that a show like
this would be on air. Oh pleeeze. I can't believe these people
could get sucked into this stuff.
The psychics I asked about this shocked me. It became obvious
to me that many were afraid to admit they were disappointed
in what could have been an exciting show if researched better.
When I broached this subject they were more forthcoming and
stated in essence that they were actually afraid to let other
people know that they couldn't realistically do all the things
that are portrayed in this show. And also that what they did
do encompassed so much more that it might frighten people if
truth be told.
Well, let's face it, TV is a visual art, many things that psychics
do are not seen by the visible eye and a show like this has
to make the psychic events visible, how else are they going
to do this without some schlock? While this is true I ask, does
it have to be so blatantly unrealistic? Couldn't some compromise
between reality and visual effects have been made?
The one episode of the telephone-hot-line psychic who is possessed
by the spirit of an egomaniacal con-artist of long ago interested
me. This hot-line ho is of course is the only one who can talk
to one of the main character's dead father. One of the main
female characters is supposed to be a spiritualist, that is,
one who communicates with the entities in spiritual dimensions;
however, she can't seem to contact her own dead daddy. Their
reasoning is that she is too emotionally involved - which in
truth can happen but not in this instance at all. This episode
was so lame that if the performance hadn't been so well executed
I would have turned the channel. Again it's not the acting crews
fault, they're pretty good considering what they've got to work
with.
Ah, well. I really had high hopes for this series, but at this
point I think it should really just fade away into some other
dimension.
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