Most Haunted Live V Medium

[poliphilo]

I had a problem last night. The double bill of Medium on the Sci-fi channel was directly up against the three hour Most Haunted Live Halloween Special on Living. In the event I sort of solved it by majoring on Medium and flipping over to Most Haunted Live during the commercial breaks. I seem to have caught all the grooviest bits- the bit where David Wells described the dead people he was seeing, the bit where Yvette got them (the dead people) to sing to her, the bit where the witch (who was dead) threatened the team and David explained how he'd strengthened the protections because this ghost meant business.

David Wells is cute. Unlike the bombastic Derek Acorah (whom he replaced after Acorah was caught not only cheating but cheating lazily) he doesn't act like it's all about him.  He's openly gay, but not theatrically gay.  Also- dare I say this- I think he's honest. Yeah, yeah, I believe in this stuff- please don't make fun of me. The other night he made rather a good joke. He was apologizing for coming up with a "generic" name for one of the dead people he sees and Yvette told him not to apologize and he said, "I know, but we seem to get more Marys than I meet on my Saturday night out."

Not a lot actually happens on Most Haunted so it's possible to dodge in and out and not lose the thread. Medium, on the other hand, is smart and twisty and you'd better be paying close attention. The more seasons it puts under its belt, the more far-fetched the stories- but it hasn't yet entirely cut loose from planet Earth. The writing is neat and the acting is fabulous. And the kids who play the daughters are so brilliant I fear for them. 

This is where I should be drawing the threads together and explaining just why the TV schedules are overflowing with psychics and ghost-busters and what it says about our society- but actually I'm blowed if I know.  Sure we're anxious- and maybe tales of the Great Beyond soothe that anxiety-  but we were anxious during the Cold War too and the only spooks TV offered to comfort us then were the kind that wear tuxes and flaunt berettas. So, whatever. It's a fashion, a phase, a trend, a fad.  And I don't want it to stop.

Comments

[veronica-milvus.livejournal.com]

I love "Most Haunted" but we only have FTN so I never get to see the live ones actually "live", I have to wait for the repeats. It is mostly utter tosh, with Yvette getting the screaming habdabs and that other girl who is always saying "something just touched my leg". Suggestible! Acorah indeed had the whiff of fraud about him, he reported Jack the Ripper in the London dungeon which was geographically all wrong, and all those posession histrionics seemed like bad acting to me.

But Wells does feel honest, and he and one or two of the other mediums they have used do get near the truth, if we believe they were not briefed beforehand.

The other programme I became addicted to was "Sixth Sense" with Colin Fry. Some of the stuff he said seemed far too specific for guesswork.

I can't believe that souls survive death. But I wonder whether there might be something called "psychic energy" that lingers in a place. And in the case of traditional mediumship in things like Sixth Sense, could Fry be tapping directly into people's memories somehow?

There is more to space / time / memory / energy than we currently know.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

They seem to have toned down the screaming. And Carl and Stewart seem to have toned down the bad language too. Recent shows have had a more adult feel to them. Really, after doing it for nearly a decade, they must be pretty much accustomed to being around spooks.

I also suspect it's got something to do with the influence of David Wells and Kieran O'Keefe- both of whom seem to be serious about what they.

Acorah was shameless. He was clearly cheating like mad, but doing it shoddily. And it was farcical how he was getting possessed all the time- and almost always by stompy, shouty misogynistic males.

I don't have any problem believing souls survive death. It's something I used to agonise about and now just accept as obvious...

[happydog.livejournal.com]

The question of why people are very interested in the Great Beyond these days is something I thought about too, especially in the face of folks like Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins telling all and sundry that belief in the supernatural must be left behind as we ascend into their cold Ayn-Randian future-world of pure intellect, unsullied by intrusive dreams or outdated hopes.

I think maybe that as Western society becomes more oriented toward materialism, consumerism and commercialism, the abreaction to that is the exploration of the mystical. One of the interesting things about the collapse of the Soviet Union was the immediate emergence afterward of a very active occult movement, which had been very much alive but repressed under Soviet Communism.

I am no exception, most of my reading these days seems to be about the Fae and their history. And no matter how rational or irrational the times, the Fair Folk, historically, consistently keep appearing regardless of whether or not they are supposed to exist. And you know what? I'm with you - I like it that way. God/dess forbid that we should explain everything.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I think you're onto something.

People like Dawkins are operating with blinkers on. I don't see what's so scientific about materialism. Science can't disprove the supernatural any more than it can prove it. All it can do is offer explanations- some of them very far-fetched.

Besides, modern science has revealed the universe to be quite extraordinarily weird. Dark matter, particles that behave in impossible ways, all that stuff. If you can stomach all that as cold hard fact why draw the line at gods and ghosts and faeries?

Derek Acorah and David Wells

[(Anonymous)]

I have been interested in the Paranormal for almost 30 years and got caught up in whole GHI, Ghost Adventurers and Ahem MH and TAPs! I have been a paranormal investigator for 5 yrs now and have saw many mediums etc live including been present MH Live which is not live at all! its editted into a three hr show! Derek left as he was refusing to play up to camera as much as yvette and that wanted him too, ive saw him live few times hes very very accurate and specific and David Wells is an amazing guy too, but that show could of easily ruined them but im glad people finally seeing MH for farce it is ever since Bryan Shepherd came on ive not watched it hes a FAKE well and truly, yes some phenomenon MH have is genuine majority of it not, you can have one day in a location somewhere nothing but next night well and truly active you can go 6-7 hrs somewhere nothing happens but go in somewhere else 1 hr and loads happen, Paranormal Investigating not glamourous at all its long hrs for little evidence at times, and in all types of weather, can be little freaky at times but mostly interesting and exciting and trying to debunk phonemenon is too id say GHI and TAPS more accurate to Paranormal Investigating and closest to true means being a Paranormal Investigator is! Bottom Line MH the Fake not Derek or David but most certainly Bryan Shepherd is Fake and most others been used questionable too, id say only two I would have faith in 100% MH used us David and Derek

Re: Derek Acorah and David Wells

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I gave up on the show after David Wells left. None of his replacements impressed me. One of them I'd met IRL and had reason to regard as a faker.

I enjoyed Derek Acorah's work. I thought he stretched things a bit but had a real gift. It remains the case that he was fell head first into several traps that had been set for him.