So it’s been an interesting week for paranormal television. First off, after I promoted Animal Planet’s Finding Bigfoot for the past few weeks, the network went ahead and moved the show’s debut up without notifying me (they will get their comeuppance, don’t you worry!), from June 5th up till this past Monday, so I am guessing a lot of people, like myself, missed it. Luckily my DVR was already set up to record it, so I have it on my DVR, but I’m sure lots of people missed out on getting to see it. I haven’t had the chance to see it yet, but there’s apparently already some controversy about the show. I read post today on Loren Coleman’s blog Cryptomundo in which Matt Moneymaker from the BFRO (the team of investigators featured on the show) responds to some of the criticism, and does so in fine fashion. I think it’s interesting that people are pulling out the “we did that first” card, just like they do in ghost hunting groups. I’ll be really surprised if ghost hunters don’t start crawling out of the woodwork to claim that they were the first sect of paranormal researchers to use the “we did that first” rallying cry. But back to what I was saying…the article on Cryptomundo was very interesting, so be sure to check it out. Matt Moneymaker actually responds in the comments section, and it’s always great to see movers and shakers in the field participating in these discussions.
Now normally, I would be the last person promoting a paranormal show on the SyFy network, but that’s mainly because it usually ends up being a spinoff of Ghost Hunters, and we all know that can’t really end well. However, there is a show premiering tonight that I will check out, for a few different reasons, called Haunted Collector. One, it doesn’t feature TAPS or any of their “not quite attractive enough for TV” friends castoffs. Second, it’s not really a ghost hunting show, per se. No running around chasing every little sound, or daring others to crawl under porches and confront their fear of spiders, or coats being tugged by invisible strings. Lastly, the cast. John Zaffis is pretty well-respected in this field, and though I don’t know him personally, some people I know and respect can vouch for him. And one of the people I know personally and respect who can vouch for him? Yeah, he’s on the show. My friend Brian Cano from SCARED!, one of the groups my team works with at a variety of paranormal functions at Snug Harbor on Staten Island, NY, is part of the team on Haunted Collector. I’m hoping these differences set it apart from the rest of the current crop of ghost hunting shows out there, and from what I’ve seen and heard so far, Haunted Collector will bring some much needed class and respectability back to the field. Haunted Collector debuts tonight at 9pm after the season premier of Ghost Hunters.
