Dead Famous

Perky girl next door Gail Porter struggles to carry this show on her wee shoulders. Together with the least convincing medium I've ever seen (including Uri Gellar!) she investigates paranormal activity relating to dead celebrities.

Even Gail can't fully go along with the medium because he's so ridiculous. "Stop being weird" she says to him during one investigation and not without good reason. Everywhere he goes he wanders around like a tourist before screwing his face up and wobbling his mouth and making horse noises in a weird way. Then he has a revelation that is to say the least bleeding obvious or falls into a trance where he froths at the mouth and snarls out messages. If Gail should dare to ask him any details he turns incredibly defensive and pissy about the whole thing which is funny, though you can't help but feel a bit sorry for her stuck with that pantomime act.

The best moments are when he is allegedly deep in communication with spirits and there's an unexplained noise, he squeals and panics and any pretence that he's got any spooky powers vanishes. Funny stuff. I cheered every time it cut his lame possessions short.

It's still kind of interesting if you want a short history of famous Hollywood people who have crashed and burned in various was. There's Gail too, who could present a documentary on how doorknobs are made and would probably make it seem fairly interesting. I like ghost shows but I don't think there's really much material to work with, I've never heard any really good celebrity ghost stories beyond the ones spun by people hoping to play up the connection between their business or home and a celebrity.

It's not great but it's still worth a watch, if only to chuckle at that medium who makes Derek Acorah look convincing. They do visit some interesting places and some of the stars might be of interest to you as well.

Unintentionally hysterical paranormal rubbish and occasional psychodrama from wee Ms. Porter. A show so full of biographical errors, random locations, "orbs" and the like that it makes you wish you could hide on set and jump out screaming at a crucial moment and see Gail Porter become the unofficial spokeswoman for Tena Lady for the rest of her natural.

Best way to watch this show is with a bottle of wine already sunk, the lights off and poltergeist activity of your own on the landing outside your bedroom - you may then be a little scared (or levitating surrounded by Fisher Price toys, depending on your mood).

I wish I could think of something genuinely positive. There have been moments when I've wanted to hug Gail and do v. bad things to her male co-host in one of the rooms at the Roosevelt Hotel but they generally pass. I did actually really appreciate the way Chris could be channelled by a v. p'd off Joan Crawford and yet his hair remained perfect the whole time. Hmmm, maybe it was her.

Anyway, if you find yourself a bit tipsy of a Tuesday evening do watch this show.

This show could actually have good potential. Unfortunately I think it's a bad misfire. Gail Porter does do a good job as a presenter, but I think I would have believed more in Chris Flemmings paranormal abilities if he hadn't gotten information about the places they went beforehand and gotten the some of the stories as he was walking through the places. There are a lot of shows in this paranormal category which I think are much better than this one and I could name the British Most Haunted and A Haunting which is shown on Discovery Channel. The thing about this one is that it seems to present no skeptics to come up with an alternative to the findings of Chris and Gail! The funniest thing about the show is the X-Files rip-off theme, which is so alike the original that it's shameless!

The reason this show works so well is that unlike certain other ghost hunting shows it is not full of believers. There are only 2 presenters, Chris Fleming and Gail Porter. Chris is the 'sensitive' with the gift of being able to communicate with, feel and 'see' the dead. He has been developing his talent since he was a young boy and is definitely one of the best I have seen. Gail Porter on the other hand is a skeptic and needs a bit on convincing. Together they travel America looking for the spirits of the 'Dead Famous'. They are both rational and don't freak out at the slightest little noise which is where I think a lot of paranormal shows are going wrong at the moment. They are willing to admit when they don't find anything and this makes the show refreshing and unfake! An excellent show.

Gayle's attitude of skeptic is valid. Chris abilities as sensitive are valid. She says she doesn't believe but in every investigation she cannot be left alone anywhere. She gets angry if he doesn't run to her every scream. Also, he allows her to remain a skeptic. She gets aggressive with Chris on the supernatural possibilities that are presented to her. At times, she discredits his abilities. Even though she has been touched on many occasions and runs out of any dark room.