home esoterica Original binnallofamerica.com Audio the United States of Esoterica merchandise contact

Bookmark and Share

4.4.11

How To Make The Perfect Paranormal TV Show
In An Imperfect Normal World

Ghost Hunters is the highest rated paranormal television show. And why not? It's got all the fixings. Two serious, straight-laced leaders and a cast of researchers who have respect for the work. They go from one haunted locale to the next. Most of their stops are famous landmarks and they almost always yield results (no matter how irrelevant to the viewer or the Paranormal Community at-large.)

At a glance it would seem that shows like Ghost Hunters have the perfect formula for success. At a glance. For starters, there aren't enough women. Amy Bruni and Kris Williams only represent a small percentage of the women who are actually in the field. Make no mistake, they do their jobs and they do it well, but the women who aren't on television need more.

So why aren't there any more women represented on these shows?

Which is why I propose that Syfy, National Geographic and the History Channel (and others like BRAVO, etc.,.) seriously consider doing a paranormal show with a mostly, if not all, female cast. And I'm not talking about your average formulaic paranormal show. It has to be something that's never been done before: A show for women, with women and about women from different professional backgrounds, investigating the oldest, weirdest, most paranormally significant places on Earth.

I'm talking the very spot on which the Oracle of Delphi sat. Why not have a woman sit in that very spot and see what all the hype was about? Or what about visiting the very mountain that was said to house Olympus? What about Queen Hatshepsut's Temple or Sacsayhuaman (pronounced as 'Sexy Woman' believe it or not)?

It's been said that women are more in tuned with the paranormal. Women were vessels for communing with the (g)ods, after all. Fallen angels fell for the daughters of man and ancient men castrated themselves just to worship in the same temples with women. Basically, if you want to see some serious paranormal happenings going down, just bring a woman.

I have experienced this first hand. It's no coincidence that Witches are mostly represented in the female form. In fact, in ancient Egypt it was the women who wore tattoos... they were used to aid in child birth, ward off evil spirits and invoke power. The fact that not many men at all were discovered with tattoos still remains a mystery.

It's pretty much fair to admit that when it comes to the art of the paranormal, women have a special kinship with the unknown. So why aren't there more shows with more women? Which is why I propose the perfect formula for the ultimate paranormal television show:

a) A female leader who has had her fair share of haunts under her belt. Someone with a sense of humour. Someone who isn't afraid to sleep in a haunted house or enter a dark, uncharted cave.

b) A cast of maybe 3-6 other females, all experts in different fields that all come together to build the ultimate team. I'm talking a Ghost Researcher, A Ufologist, A Cryptozoologist, An Astronomer, An Archaeologist and maybe a Filmmaker... or Photography expert. A sound specialist wouldn't hurt either.

c) A roundup of hot spots that are relatively overlooked. Baalbek for instance. Or Macchu Picchu's lesser known, but just as equally intriguing neighbor, Choquequirao.

d) No scripting and no cheesing for the camera. A raw show like the Beast Hunter would show the audience at-large what it really takes to go around the world, getting dirty and researching in the name of the biggest, most intriguing mysteries of the paranormal.

e) Bring in experts who will actually get air time, like Loren Coleman, Nick Redfern, Jim Marrs and Jacques Vallee.

Which brings me to,

f) Consult with Scientists from all walks of life, from Ivy League Universities to Independent Labs and small colleges, etc.

g) Have special guests from, get this, legit case studies, as in Directors of Mufon and Leading Cryptozoologists from across the globe, not just celebrities for random face time.

But,

h) At the same time, introduce the least likeliest people to the field, like teenagers interested in the field who wouldn't get the chance to tag along behind a legit group and learn the ropes, otherwise.

The formula, although not simple (because networks hold on to the misguided belief that only women watch paranormal shows !NATCH! and therefore only watch for young men in semi-peril), is what we need in order to intrigue more women and gather them into the fold in a field that is populated with men writing books, doing interviews, producing podcasts and television shows and expelling information to the general public.

When I entered the realm of researching into the Paranormal it was because of the women I knew and met along the way in my quest for the truth. Not to say there is anything wrong with a strapping young man hunting for Bigfoot, but c'mon... at some point in your life a woman wants to aspire to be like another great woman and a man has a secret yearning to be just like Indiana Jones. Is it really fair for only men to populate the Paranormal programming when, honestly, I don't know many men who are eager to cancel their Wednesday plans to watch Ghost Hunters?

So, in conclusion, the formula needs worked but it is a culmination of needs, wants and desires in Paranormal programming... not just mine, but that of many women who give these shows ratings. The only way to bring it to fruition is to call me. You hear me Syfy?


Contact Tina Sena

Esotericana Archive

Tina Sena's blog : YUFOlogy