Paranormal State

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.

If you have read a lot of bad reviews on it, you might notice that most of those reviews have to do with the lack of evidence shown on TV. I think that this show compared to other ghost shows, i.e. Ghost Hunters, Most Haunted, is a nice fresh look on paranormal investigations. Instead of just going in to gather evidence and prove whether or not a location is haunted or if the clients are fakes, they go in to help a client. They try to relieve pain and suffering, offer counseling, and try to find a way out for clients and their 'friends.' So if you want to watch a ghost program that aims to show the viewer evidence, watch Ghost Hunters, or if you want to watch a show that involves a client feeling relieved about a horrifying haunting, Paranormal State is for you. And being a fan of all three mainstream ghost programs, Ghost Hunters, Most Haunted, and Paranormal State, each has its own atmosphere. Most Haunted is more of an experience show, having a large group of investigators to go in and show you a 'haunted location' and show you what they found. Ghost Hunters is an analytical program, trying to base whether a location is haunted based on video, audio, and personal evidence. Paranormal State, as I stated earlier is a program going in to help a family needing help in experiencing a haunting. I hope you enjoyed this comment and maybe noticed the same differences I noticed. Happy Ghostshow hunting!

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'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.