Paranormal State

I'm a fan of the paranormal and ghosthunting is close to my heart. This show is entertaining enough t watch, you just have to do it with the knowledge that at the end of every show you will likely be subject to a dose of religion. Not always Christian as some have suggested, but almost every time, some religious connotation ends the show. And that's okay. Afterall, if you're watching the show about invisible beings interacting with the living how's that any different from most religions? Andwer; it's not. They've used native American, Christian, Hawaiian, African, catholic religions to conclude episodes so you can't say there's Christian overtones, but you can say religious overtones. All that aside, the show is worth watching if your into ghosts and psychics and this sort of thing. As for the cast, it features Ryan, the overly dramatic leader; Elfie,an odd looking woman who can research with the best of them, but goes out of the way to make her odd appearance stand out by detailing it with piercings and such; heather a capable, but ridiculously quiet member of the team. If she would speak out more I truly believe the show would be easily 40 percent better; Serge, a techie who despite looking aikenish, seems to know what he's doing with the equipment until it's actually time to film the ghostly activity. (Note: And this is true of every ghost hunting show out there. They all have cameras following the 'researchers' around. It should be them holding the cameras. We should never see there faces during the investigative stage. Afterall, if all we're seeing during they're "personal experiences" is their reaction to whatever they've seen, then what's the point. If they wore hats with minicams attached they might actually 'catch' activity on film. Instead it's Tupac time ((All eyez on me)) a very pointless way to conduct an investigation. Afterall weren't they there to catch ghosts?) Next in the cast is the eye-candy, Katrina. I can watch her beauty on screen 24/7. IMHO they should have her in every scene. Talent wise she can ask scripted questions, but little else. Finally there's the guest psychic, shaman, wiccan priestess. Usually we get "chip Coffey". This guy rocks. He's definitely legit. He knows with certainty what is going on at every case withing moments of his arrival. Frankly, I think he should have his own show. Other guests have not had his presence and in some cases seem downright hokey. Eitherway, the show is entertaining and I'll continue to watch it. Not with enthusiasm, but rather because there's nothing better on TV at 2 AM.

So, I'm writing this after the completion of season one. I must say I enjoy it. I've tried to watch "Ghost Hunters", and a few other shows on hauntings, and have been turned off by all the scientific mumbo-jumbo. There's more to this show than a desire to debunk an occurrence. There's a very human aspect that is left out of those shows, but is found in "Paranormal State", and that is what keeps me watching.

As for the population that wonders if it's real, or feel as though the "evidence" or "facts" are being thrust at them, well, what do you expect with a show that is 3 days worth of investigation crammed into 22 minutes of air time? The show is more about the people that are being haunted rather than the events themselves, or proving something does not exist. Where Chip is concerned as a psychic, he's a lot more real than some others I've seen on similar shows.

To the Penn State PRS crew: Keep on keepin' on.

I suppose I should be fair and point out that I don't believe in ghosts. That said, I'm very interested in the subject and I enjoy a scary story as much as the next guy. I am a fan of Ghost Hunters because they at least try to give their investigations a scientific angle. Even early episodes of Most Haunted had a camp entertainment factor to them. Paranormal State has neither of these qualities. The cases themselves have the potential to be interesting, but as with so much "reality TV" these days, it suffers from overproduction, poor acting and silly scripts. The makers of the show freely admit that writers "guide" the stories. I hear they are even going to shoehorn in a romance subplot to appeal to the young female demographic. The show has many other flaws too. As others have stated, the narration quickly becomes like nails down a chalkboard. Over the top visual and audio effects quickly become just as irritating. I'm willing to suspend some disbelief for the sake of entertainment, but this whole "demon with a vendetta" story arc is just ridiculous. Given that the producers of this show are also responsible for brain dead fodder like MTV's Laguna Beach and Newport Harbor I suppose this is really no surprise. If you are a die hard fan of Ed & Lorraine Warren or a big "reality" show junkie I guess you'll find much to like in Paranormal State. For the rest of us....I recommend you avoid.

I can not believe that you want to condemn the people of Paranormal State as they tell you they are trying to learn more about the paranormal. They utilize different beliefs or are you that close minded to only have watched a minimal amount of shows before passing your judgement. If you believe the show is silly then just do not watch it. I happen to never miss a show and I have seen much more than you write about. Remember to keep an open mind and you may learn more than you expect. I lost my 57 year old Mother and I have been wanting her to contact me. She does thru music. The day my Mother died she died in my arms and her namesake my 4 week old baby of the time, who was being held in the arms of the nurse, flung her arms out to the side and arched her back while being held by the nurse. I saw this and the nurse said wow what was that? I replied my Mother's spirit just entered the baby, no sooner did I say that then the baby gave us a huge grin. The nurse said if I was not holding her I would have doubted it.

This show was rushed, and relied heavily on surprise cuts to commercials (When it came back from commercial, the noise or "surprise" was something simple like a mouse) This is a pure rip-off of Ghost Hunters and it attempts to go "beyond" them, and fails miserably. Also, what is with the Directors log thing? Is this star trek? It just ruins the novelty of this show, which wore off quick. The only reason it's been watched is that people want to laugh at the pure anti-climatic nature of it. They never find anything, and most likely never will. Funnily enough, they always point out something that is the thing they are "hunting" and guess what?! It's the local radio station's tower light that is blinking red!