TVSquad

I confess I've written more than my fair share of posts complaining about the never-ending march of paranormal, ghost busting shows haunting TV these days. You know the shows I refer to -- the "documentaries" promising to prove the existence of ghosts without ever finding anything resembling actual proof.

Every time I've written something bemoaning the arrival of another such show, I think it has to be over soon. There can't be another hour of clods stumbling around in night vision and reacting to sights and sounds the audience doesn't get to experience.

But, they keep coming. They keep finding nothing. But, evidently, people keep watching them. Now, we have Ghost Intervention -- running through December. The 4-part docu-series from TLC "chronicles a case manager and a team of women with psychic abilities as they try to help different families who are struggling with paranormal activity in their homes."

I'm a recent convert to the whole ghost hunters-paranormal brand of television programming. I love watching people go into dark and scary places like abandoned insane asylums and ancient prisons to track down those pesky spirits.

Even if part of me is thinking, "Why bother the poor ghosts? They're not bothering anyone in these places. They probably just want to be left alone." But of course, people continue to do it, and we continue to watch because it's fascinating.

But one thing I'm not all that keen on is when these shows turn to unnecessary reality programming type fare. I'm talking about Ghost Hunters Academy. I don't need to see novice ghost hunters learn how to be a ghost hunter, and then get eliminated one by one. I don't need to see them being duped with goofy fake fog or weird sounds to see how they'll react and freak out. I'd rather the real ghost hunters just get back to doing what they do best: hunting ghosts.

What about you? Are you watching -- and liking -- Ghost Hunters Academy?

The Ghost Hunters name is starting to rival CSI and Law & Order in the spinoff department. What else do all three of these franchises share? There's just as much hard paranormal evidence in the last two as appears in the first.

Please don't misunderstand me -- since I've gone off on this topic before. I'm not saying ghosts don't exist. I'm not saying there's no afterlife. I don't begrudge any scientific investigation into parapsychology or realms described as paranormal. I'd just like any of the endless march of "ghost-based" shows to dig up one scintilla of proof that they found something and, therefore, deserve to be on TV every week.

The latest entry is Syfy's Ghost Hunter's Academy -- sort of Most Haunted meets The Rookies from the 70s. Each week, ghost hunting "professors" (the show's conceit, not mine) Steve Gonsalves and Dave Tango welcome first-time paranormal investigators onto The Atlantic Paranormal Society (TAPS) team.

Even though the show has been on forever, I still enjoy my weekly dose of the new South Parks. But lately, they seem to be running out of targets or have narrowed their focus too much on one particular evil: reality television.

The season opener featured a rather nasty swipe at Disney's Jonas Brothers. The recent "Dead Celebrities" chortle-fest took a much needed pot shot at Ghost Hunters, aka, "the gayest f#*$ing show on television." And last week launched an all out attack on Discovery's Whale Wars and Deadliest Catch, particularly against Whale Wars star Paul Watson.

The show has always been a bitch to write and making every episode a satirical masterpiece is impossible without suffering a full-on breakdown. But should the show lay off reality TV and take some bolder shots at reality, which as we all know are two completely different things?

Part of my Halloween tradition is to watch the Ghost Hunters Halloween Live special, broadcast (live, of course) from some spooky place somewhere in the country. Tonight, the crew is at the Essex County Hospital in Cedar Grove, New Jersey, along with some recruits from the new Ghost Hunters Academy, which premieres Wed., Nov. 11 at 10/9c.

It's pretty cool because you can log into the Syfy Web site and watch the live feeds on several cameras positioned around the hospital in dark tunnels and ancient rooms. There's even one in the morgue. If you see something suspicious, you're supposed to hit the "Panic Button" and the team will go check it out like hungry hound dogs.

I'm not sure what's so intriguing about all of this, but it's pretty fun. Maybe it's the interactive nature of viewers helping the team search for ghosts. Is anyone else watching? Have you seen anything spooky on the live-feed cameras? I haven't, but I'm still looking!

I've never been big on scary ghost stories -- perhaps I'm still traumatized from my older siblings scaring the crap out of me in my early years. But for some reason, I've found myself watching some of the ghost hunter-type shows on the air right now. I'm actually looking forward to the Oct. 30 live broadcast of Ghost Adventures from the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum. Asylums are darn scary even in broad daylight.

Maybe I'm just getting in a Halloween mood. Maybe I need something to jolt my psyche into fast-forward. Whatever the reason, I'm currently into ghosts -- even though I have to believe they're just sitting around laughing with glee over all the people who are out looking for them. I probably won't see Paranormal Activity, though, because I DO want to sleep again, after all. But Extreme Paranormal on A&E will suffice just fine.

It's that time of year when we get all the deliciously creepy shows and movies haunting our TV sets as we head into Halloween. Turner Classic Movies is airing some great ones this weekend, including Poltergeist, Dr. X, and The Blob. Check out their schedule to see when they're airing.

I have to agree with John that sometimes the ghost hunter shows don't always deliver. Then again, sometimes just the idea of where they're going is frightening. Last night, I watched an episode of Ghost Adventures on the Travel Channel, and the guys took their gear into the bowels of an abandoned insane asylum. I happened to grow up in a town with an abandoned insane asylum (converted to very nice retail/business now), and I know firsthand that these places are pretty creepy.

If a show like Top Chef never found a meal, would you watch it? If Ice Road Truckers couldn't find snow, would you pay attention?

Yet, every week, paranormal investigation shows like Ghost Hunters or Paranormal State hit the air and unveil the whole pile of absolute squat they found. Now, there's a new contender in the "Hey! Look! We found pretty much nothing!" category with the Discovery Channel's Ghost Lab.

Each week two thick slabs of Texas beef named Brad and Barry Klinge (right) take their Everyday Paranormal investigation team out into the wild haunted yonder. They come armed with their traveling "ghost lab" -- a 24-foot car hauler "capable of providing 200,000 watts of electricity to power audio, video and photo analysis stations; flat-screen televisions and an interactive touch-screen smartboard."

I visited the pumpkin patch last weekend and totally massacred a 30 lb. pumpkin and feasted on its flesh, so I am officially in the Halloween spirit. Luckily, there's a crapload of TV to help sustain my ghoulish mood. TV Tango has compiled a pretty comprehensive list of Halloween-themed programming starting today and going through the rest of the month.

Some of the highlights include a Moonlight marathon starting today on SyFy, as part of their "31 Days of Halloween" programming. On Sunday, The Simpsons is airing their 20th "Treehouse of Horror" episode, while Monday has a some good kids' fare, with Halloween-themed America's Funniest Home Videos on ABC Family, and Pooh's Heffalump Halloween Movie on Disney.

If you can't get enough of Ghost Hunters, then the Sci Fi Channel is ensuring that you'll never be able to get enough of it.

The network is expanding the popular paranormal reality show into "dozens of hours of programming" with renewals of some current spin-offs and pick-ups of even more spin-offs. At the rate they keep spinning this show off, it's going to have its own family tree by the end of the decade.

Right now there's the original Ghost Hunters and its international cousin, the cleverly named Ghost Hunters International. Both of those will return next season with new episodes.

Well, this was probably inevitable. With the success of A&E's Paranormal State hanging over the heads of the SciFi Channel, the network has given a thumbs-up to a new Ghost Hunters pilot that will join the original as well as Ghost Hunters International and Ghost Hunter Babies. All right, there is no such thing as Ghost Hunter Babies, but it would be a good idea. Think about it for a moment -- the babies would literally be peeing and pooping in their pants when they saw or felt something ghost-like rather than just saying that they did.

The new pilot is called Ghost Hunters: College Edition. In this edition the hunters would be, you guessed it, college students. Instead of teaming up and performing investigations on their own -- like they do on Paranormal State -- these students would team up with professional investigators to examine claims of paranormal events across the globe. In other words, look for some cross-overs between this show and its two older siblings.

I understand that Ghost Hunters is one of the SciFi Channel's hits, but isn't the network heading towards the point of saturation by adding a third series? With three series you begin to parse out smaller and smaller groups of viewers to each show, which brings down the popularity of the original. Something to think about, network executives, when you decide on giving a green light to Ghost Hunters: The Animated Series.

I haven't even gone to get my badge yet, where I hear from Cinematical that there's lots of goodies to have, and lookee here -- Sci Fi stuff! The fine folks over at Sci Fi Channel were nice enough to drop off a ginormous purple bag full of loot, like the Raider model above; t-shirts, breath mints, temporary tattoos ...

Check the gallery for more, and check out what they're giving to registrants over at Cinematical.

During the panels for the Sci Fi shows present at Comic-Con this year, we're being given a unique opportunity to have you, our readers, ask questions to the panelists. What shows are we attending and who will be there? Here's the rundown:

• Stargate: Atlantis (Joe Flanigan, Robert Picardo, Brad Wright, Jewel Staite, Chris Sanagustin)
• Sanctuary (Amanda Tapping, Martin Wood, Robin Dunne)
• Battlestar Galactica (Tricia Helfer, James Callis, Katee Sackhoff, Michael Trucco, Ron Moore, David Eick)
• Eureka (Colin Ferguson, Sallie Richardson-Whitfield , Joe Morton, Jamie Paglia, Charlie Craig, Tony Optican)
• Ghost Hunters (Robb Demarest)

Use the comment form below to submit your questions and we'll give the best ones to the moderator to ask. We'll post the answers to those questions and others as soon as we can get to a WiFi hotspot and post away. You've got until this Thursday morning to send in your questions, so ask away!

Friends telling you Lost is the best thing since sliced bread? Everyone laughing at you at work because you're lost when they talk about that wacky island? Don't know who Jack, Kate and Sawyer are and whether or not John Locke is more than just some old dead philosopher? Ridiculed for being a Lost-less moron but too cheap of a bastard to go out and pick up those DVD sets? Well, good news.

Rarely does a show hit television that's so serialized it's almost impenetrable to come late into. And even more rarely does a network let it last past ten episodes; FOX'll yank it in one if they think they can get enough videos of aquatic life attacking compiled in time for a special. Well, never fear ... it's Sci Fi to the rescue!

That's right, starting September 15th, you can catch four episodes of Lost every Monday on Sci Fi. And Lost is a show that works even better in large chunks like that. I recorded the entirety of season three to my DVR before I even started it and wolfed it down in a weekend! But wait, there's more ... like what that picture has to do with this story!

It's not often that I write up about an episode of Ghost Hunters, but this one was quite different than the rest. Unfortunately I'm not talking about something spectacular the GH team caught on video or a wild EVP recording.

During the second half of the 'Widow's Watch' episode, Grant, Jason and crew headed out to the Moss Beach Distillery in Moss Beach, California, to investigate reported sightings of a mysterious "Blue Lady" ghost. Spencer Gray, the exec chef at the restaurant, gave the team a hammy tour of the place, pointing out the various places where sightings and sounds had been reported.