Jack Briggs
Senior HTF Member
- Joined
- Jun 3, 1999
- Messages
- 16,805
All I know is what I read in the blurb listing in TV Guide. ABC, a network that came precariously close to dumping its prestigious Nightline news-analysis program in favor of entertainment (had it been able to snare Dave Letterman from CBS), is now stooping to a new low.
Tonight, the struggling network is broadcasting something called Contact: Communicating with the Dead.
According to the TV Guide description, a famous "psychic" is going to dazzle audiences (and, most likely, a much-too-large viewership) by attempting to communicate with the deceased relatives of celebrities. (Why celebrities' loved ones? Are they more interesting?)
In this age of rampant pseudoscience and fuzzy-think and weird New Age beliefs and nonsensical UFO-abduction claims, what was once a prestigious, sober-minded network is combing through barrel's bottom in a cheap effort to lure ratings. And the network is apparently borrowing from the Fox TV playbook: going for the lowest common denominator and giving us the Weekly World News in living color. It's on the level of the "alien autopsy" and "faked Moon landing" specials.
And I can say all that without even having watched the special.
This is an alert to the skeptics among you. It might be of interest to see firsthand how manipulative this thing is, as well as how credulous and gullible the participants are.
There is sure to be an in-depth report on Contact in the next issue of Skeptical Inquirer.
What new lows are to come to us from ABC in the coming months? No, wait. Let me try to devine the answer. *searches for Tarot cards*
Meanwhile, everyone might be interested to know--and I'm not making this up--that the cover story in the latest Weekly World News is headlined "Scientists Find Noah's Ark on Mars!"
Funny. I thought a manned landing on Mars was at least another twenty years away. Where have I been?
Tonight, the struggling network is broadcasting something called Contact: Communicating with the Dead.
According to the TV Guide description, a famous "psychic" is going to dazzle audiences (and, most likely, a much-too-large viewership) by attempting to communicate with the deceased relatives of celebrities. (Why celebrities' loved ones? Are they more interesting?)
In this age of rampant pseudoscience and fuzzy-think and weird New Age beliefs and nonsensical UFO-abduction claims, what was once a prestigious, sober-minded network is combing through barrel's bottom in a cheap effort to lure ratings. And the network is apparently borrowing from the Fox TV playbook: going for the lowest common denominator and giving us the Weekly World News in living color. It's on the level of the "alien autopsy" and "faked Moon landing" specials.
And I can say all that without even having watched the special.
This is an alert to the skeptics among you. It might be of interest to see firsthand how manipulative this thing is, as well as how credulous and gullible the participants are.
There is sure to be an in-depth report on Contact in the next issue of Skeptical Inquirer.
What new lows are to come to us from ABC in the coming months? No, wait. Let me try to devine the answer. *searches for Tarot cards*
Meanwhile, everyone might be interested to know--and I'm not making this up--that the cover story in the latest Weekly World News is headlined "Scientists Find Noah's Ark on Mars!"
Funny. I thought a manned landing on Mars was at least another twenty years away. Where have I been?