Extreme Paranormal Debuts Tonight: Get Your Grading Pens Out
A&E's Extreme Paranormal
Like we mentioned back in September, A&E has a new paranormal show debuting tonight. Following the same suspense building technique as “Paranormal State”, the show’s trailer looks very unimpressive.
I know I must be cautious about judging a book by its cover, but I think I’ll take chance here and say that this show will not bring anything productive to the eternal question of whether or not ghosts do exist. If you look at the trailer, you have a sense that what this paranormal investigative team will do is just real sisyphean work.
Here’s a homework assignment for all you GhostTheory readers:
Watch the premier of the show tonight (EPISODE 1:MONDAY OCTOBER 19 10/9C) and observe how the team works and what scientific method they used, as well as what they provide to the study of parapsychology. Let’s give these shows the benefit of the doubt by at least watching their opening episode. Tomorrow I’ll write up a quick review and we can all chime-in as to what we think of the show.
About The Show
In “Extreme Paranormal,” irreverent paranormal explorers Shaun, Nathan and Jason investigate chilling local legends, attempting to seek the truth by provoking spirits. Unlike other paranormal investigators, they put themselves directly in harm’s way – taunting ghosts, summoning the dead and daring the demonic to attack.
“Extreme Paranormal” gives rabid paranormal fans the ride they’ve always wanted: the chance to follow a team that dares to challenge legends, curses, and hauntings by actually attempting to provoke paranormal activity. These guys have spent the last ten years kicking sand in the face of ghosts across America. Every Sunday at midnight, they recount their latest mission on their popular radio show “Ghostman and Demon Hunter.”
While other paranormal investigators keep the spirit world at arms-length, our guys lack that part of their DNA that tells other investigators to “be afraid” and run away during intense encounters. The team has developed a bring-it-on mentality when it comes to their explorations.
Episode 1:
New Mexico StateMonday, October 19, 10/9C
New Mexico State Penitentiary, 1980, thirty-three inmates were hacked to death, burned alive and tortured with no remorse in what became the worst prison riot in U.S. history. Since then, visitors to this abandoned maximum security lockup claim there are confrontational tortured souls trapped inside. Our investigators want to see what’s really going down in this potentially volatile paranormal environment. They go as far as to recreate moments of this horrific event, even shedding their own blood, to provoke the violent spirits to show themselves to the cameras.
Written by Javier Ortega - javier@ghosttheory.com
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I kind of want to see this just to see how far out A&E goes once again. Did they learn nothing from Paranormal State?
I’m feeling particularly psychic today and I predict this show is gonna succcccccckkkkkkkkkkkk! I’ll probably just wait for your review Javier. Not sure I can bring myself to watch it. One thing that kind of bothers me- given the nature of this show you figure things like ouija boards will feature prominently. Now I think 99% of the time if ouija boards get in touch with anything they’re getting in touch with the subconscious of the user. But I think some people might be able to make contact with (or possibly create, ie a tulpa) something else. The first two cases that come to my mind are the Enfield Poltergeist and the original case that William Peter Blatty based The Exorcist on. This is another show with a thrill seeking approach to the paranormal- and this looks dumber than most. But something about what this show might end up promoting leaves me a bit uncomfortable. I think it’s irresponsible to combine things like black magic rituals with a thrill seeking approach to the show.
Wow….. just wow……
The clip was a bit jittery, so maybe I saw things wrong, but when they point out that the EMF detector is going crazy, was it only flashing one light? Typical static can do that. Say what you will about Ghost Hunters, but TAPS even consistently ignores large fluctuations on an EMF because it’s not truly reliable.
Oh boy. Looks over-dramatized. Too bad…
Changing diapers is more interesting than what I just witnessed.
Well. They took an hour to over-dramatize absolutely no paranormal activity whatsoever. They lost me with the introduction of the occult, cutting stuff. Very cheesy. Why not just save the production cost and have a “psychic” rant and say “extreme” stuff like “cut apart” and “burned alive” ad-nauseum on a night vision camera?? I will not watch this again.
Horrible.
Sounds like I can chalk that one up on the ‘Glad I missed it’ category…
Wow! I just sat through the lamest hour of television I’ve watched in a long while. I guess some networks will give just about anyone a show nowadays. If you like cheesy, overacted, scripted audio dubbing over a “recorded investigation” by all means tune in because there is nothing extreme or paranormal about this show. For those who value the paranormal I would strongly suggest you find something, anything else to do for an hour…I sure wish I had.
Wow! I just sat through the lamest hour of television I’ve watched in a long while. I guess some networks will give just about anyone a show nowadays. If you like cheesy, overacted, scripted audio dubbing over a “recorded investigation” by all means tune in because there is nothing extreme or paranormal about this show. For those who value the paranormal I would strongly suggest you find something, anything else to do for an hour. I sure wish I had…
IT WAS VERY DISAPPOINTING I DONT NO WHAT A@E WHERE THING JUST AS RUDE AS GHOST LAB. I NO THEY SHOULD TEAM UP NICE TRY A@E.
Wow, I don’t even know where to start on this one. After reading the intro to the show I knew it was going to be bad, but I had no idea it would be THAT bad. This show absolutely gives ghost hunting a bad name. It seriously couldn’t have been lamer. What a disappointment. And I thought Ghost Lab was bad. Ghost Lab is a masterpiece compared to that crap. I guess I’ll just stick with the best, TAPS and the Ghost Adventure guys.
The show was really awful, and I’d guess authentic paranormal researchers and explorers were nauseated.
Shows like Extreme Paranormal have the very real potential to cause undue pain for the survivors, relatives, and descendants of victims of violent death, and for what? So the average hypnotized and dummied down TV viewer can get their rocks off?
I am a direct descendant of the victims of the Bonito Lake New Mexico tragedy being featured on Extreme Paranormal show tonight.
First of all, my ancestors have spilled more than enough blood already. You know, like REAL blood?? That their tragedy is being exploited for sensationalized reality TV is stupid, disrespectful and wrong.
When anything horrible happens anywhere: ghost stories spring up. Does that make any of these “ghost” stories true? I doubt anybody involved with Extreme Paranormnal has a clue…
The show’s chubby cheeked boy hosts have obviously never had any authentic contact with negative entities from the other side, cause if they had, the last thing they’d be doing now is trying to fool around with the ghosts of mass murderers. They would have already learned their lesson.
In the first segment, one guy cuts himself so his blood would help summon spirits of tortured dead people – and another uses a saw to cut through jail cell bars to harrass one of these poor souls? They ought to be ashamed and embarrassed.
And, this trend of increasingly disrespectful and aggressive paranormal shows is contributing to fast growing numbers of dumbshit copycat kids going out there causing property damage at supposedly haunted sites and invading cemeteries all over the U.S.A.
Lovely.
Incidently, when the “Extreme Paranormal” researchers contacted our family, they were dishonest, hiding the fact that they were out to taunt the killer, “…daring demons to attack” and all that macho childish crap. When my relative tried to straighten the researchers out on the actual facts, it soon became apparent that the show wasn’t likely to allow the truth to get their way.
Indeed, the show ignored the facts, like how they talked about the town beneath the lake, when their researchers knew the buildings were torn down before the lake was created.
So tonight, some bullshit super fictionalized story went out into the world, and for what? To feed gullible goofballs with too much time on their hands their daily dose of hype that now replaces meaningful interaction with actual people in the actual world?
By the way, if you want to know the truth about the Bonito City tragedy, google it in six months, my relative is writing the true story.
Finally, there is no basis to any ghost stories at the Lake. None of the longterm residents and fishermen who’ve lived or now live near Bonito Lake have reported any paranormal activity. Yet some say how on a clear night sometimes one can see the steeple from the old church poking out of the water. Yeah right, the lake is 75 feet deep, and oh, there was never a church in old Bonito City….The show is a sham, but you know that already, right?
Excruciatingly bad acting; yes acting! I wish “Martin Nelson” dragged all their sorry asses to the bottom.
I was interviewed for the segment on Bonito Lake but they didn’t use it.
In my opinion, they didn’t use my interview because I answered the questions that Nathan asked me TRUTHFULLY and that didn’t fit with what they were trying to present as fact. Like the poster yvonne stated…the residents of the Bonito Lake area have reported NO paranormal activity in that area and that’s what I told the producer.
At least my honesty and integrity remain intact.
I just finished trying to watch it this morning. Too tired to stay up last night, so I used the trusty DVR.
I couldn’t finish it due to its being so bad. Excuse me, not just bad, VERY bad.
Will we even see a show that uses controls and proven scientific research methods to either prove or disapprove paranormal activity?
Congrats A&E, you’ve just given us the American version of Most Haunted.
The show was good compared to most of the other crap that is on television. Too bad most of the people writing these comments think that they could do better. Give the show a chance and don’t knock it till you have watched more than one episode.
Allison,
Some of these commentors have a direct connection to this place and were contacted by the show. I’d certainly think they were being truthful.
Unfortunately Allison, I don’t have the time with shows like this. If thought was put into these shows (especially the pilot episode), you would think they would put their best foot forward to begin with. If you are going to sell your show to the crowd, you have to get them to keep coming back, not a ‘keep watching…we’ll get better’ approach.
I’ve seen enough comments on this show to know where it is going…
This show was just awful. I also DVR’d it just to see what this might be like. I am a fan of Taps and Ghost Adventures, and I’m always looking for new shows on the paranormal. I did not even make it to the end of this one. It was very disrespectful, not only to the spirits (if they exist) but also to the people involved with these events. Cutting the bars on the prison? Really? Locking your partner in the cell without a key? What? How did you plan on getting him out? Oh wait I have this convinent saw here that I am using to torment spirits with! The actual prisoners used blowtorchers left over from the construction in the builing by the way. Just plain awful. Sorry about the rant but just watched this show and want my 27 mins back.
this show is hard to look away when some people actually like it and i believe all “three actors” wont make it to far when people see how disrespectfull they really are but ill more and likly will still watch it beacause it is a whole new comedy……i wonder if comedy central will give them a contract….and all three men have no respect for the old penatentry when you cant bring the 80’s back ever. hopefully they will learn thought time.
Well if you think this show is so bad, why not do something about it, go make your own. Oh wait you don’t have a show…….
I think you ghost techie folks are looking way to deep and to traditional ways, no wonder why there is no ghost paranormal shows out there that last.
For me i enjoyed it, was spooky, edge of my seat suspenseful, and most of you saying they are disrespectful to the spirits….. how the hell can you say that when they murdered, or raped when they were alive im glad they taunt and harass the spirits i laughed some parts held the pillow at parts. Its bloody entertainment television, if you don;t enjoy it go watch the show that was next from it, a woman saying ohhhhh she sat on this bed and it’s cold I am a physic really……… get a life people.
Matteo,
Touchy, touchy. Your right we don’t have a show. If you are a religious reader of this site, you’ll find that we have been offered a spot for a show but we turned it down because of the fact that it would lead to the same embarrassment that “Extreme Paranormal” is receiving. As you can see for yourself from our readers here, this show was no hit.
Honestly what I don’t get from your comment is how it was “Spooky”? I fell asleep half way through it cause I was bored of the team attempting in being EXTREME. You laugh at them taunting the spirits and harassing them? This is how childish your mentality is, I see that. If you just want to be entertained by a bunch of B.S. stick to it my faithful reader. I suppose going to a building where there has been deaths and stirring up a bunch of noise, acting like idiots and putting that on television is entertaining. I don’t even want to get into the rituals performed. As I said, Ghost Whisperer is way more entertaining than this show. At least Jeniffer Love Hewitt actually crosses most of her ghost through the light.
I can only agree. That show was awful, embarrasing an painful to watch.
And I wonder how much that “expert” on magic rituals really know…
He started to draw what he called a “death rune” (he´s propably been playing too much Worldcraft) and came up with a kind of W on a stick…
That is not a rune at all. I think I know what he was trying to draw,(I live in Sweden and have a few runestones around where I live), and it´s a rune that represents a person who have died, and it does NOT look like that. It looks more like a crows foot (like children use to draw them) if you know what I mean.
A terrible show, but I propably will watch the next episode, just for the hell of it.
Matteo-
No disrespect to your opinion but that was not entertainment. You mean to tell me that you find watching a knucklehead swim in a lake while the other two professors sit in a boat looking at some floating candles entertainment? I agree with you that it is television and they are there to entertain but the show is just plain bad.
What really grinds my gears about your post is not that you liked the show but that you attacked everyone who didn’t agree with your opinion by saying “…get a life people.” and something about a psychic, which made no sense and was irrelevant to the conversation here. It’s strange that your post had so much emotion behind it, so much so that it caused you to make an irrational and innappropriate statement.
I apologize if I’m out of line in my response Javier.
Matteo,
it dose not matter who makes a show its the way they make the show…..and wait…..look how many people agreed….its my opinion and i think it was bad. if they atleast acted better it would be a little better, i am glad they are now adding more paranormal shows but the people need to under stand that you never always get evidence that soon and they also destroyed history thats what bothers me the most.
the show unfortunatly was very fakeish and frankly i never laughed so hard in my life it needs alot of work
*laughter*
This is a scripted…directed show….
It has to be….
CE
*laughter*
This is a scripted…directed show….(and a bad script at that).
It has to be….
CE
I watch every paranormal show there is because I’ve always been interested in ghosts, but WOW, what in the hell is this crap?
This show reminded me of the that repo show that in the beginning the disclaimer said its a reenactment. (You honestly don’t need the disclaimer to figure that out because its so fake.)
Extreme Paranormal is so scripted and horribly acted.
Boooooo for A&E.
dont know if any of you guys saw this but there’s a thread on the a&e message boards where someone with an “inside scoop” wrote about why the show ended up sucking so much. it sounds like they got this information from a production assistant or something. not sure what to believe here but you guys can check it out…
http://boards.aetv.com/topic/Discuss-Extreme-Paranormal/First-Show/700023981&#msg700468449
KellyK82
KellyK82
Posts: 1
Registered: 10/27/09
Alright guys, I saw this discussion and had to get involved because I happen to have a little inside information on the subject that i dont think many people are aware of.
first of all the show sucked. we can get that right out of the way first and foremost. but i think that i know the reason why it sucked. it was supposed to be a different show when it was conceptualized.
i cant vouch for the validity of this information as i cant tell names because people will probably get fired if i do, but this is the story that i heard from VERY reliable sources.
this show idea was originally dreamed up by gogolucky productions about a year and a half ago when they saw a bunch of videos on youtube by a “ghost hunting” group by the name of “ghost hunters incorporated”, which one of the cast members of Extreme PAranormal, jason gowin, was a member of at the time. just so you know that im not making this up heres a link to one of the videos that has ghost hunters incorporated with jason gowin when he was in it. theres several more videos by this group out there but you can poke around and find them by yourself.
this is a short trailer for a webseries they were working on that has jason gowin in it -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1MWukSq_Ro
“ghi vs bigfoot” (really long documentary with jason gowin in ghost hunters inc but its really funny) -
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5890016862457128854#
as i heard it the producers of the show saw these different videos and decided to contact this group because of their “irreverent” views on ghost hunting and their willingness to go places/do things that were different from other ghost hunting teams. i believe theyre around the same age as the kids on paranormal state.
when the producers went ahead and contacted the group they actually got ahold of jason (the short fat guy with the baseball cap) who had actually just been kicked out of the ghost hunters incorporated group and he told them that none of the people from that group were interested in doing any ghost hunting stuff anymore and gave them the names of shawn and nathan (the two other guys on the show) and told them that they were the new members of his ghost hunting team. so instead of getting the ghost hunting team that they were looking for they got a completely different group of people and the original team never heard anything about it.
ghost hunters incorporated hasnt done anything in a long time but all theyre old team members run an online paranormal magazine called who forted? that is pretty good. one of them actually just wrote an article about extreme paranormal because he actually knew jason, so it’s a really good insight onto the groups reaction to seeing their friend on television in such a bad show. it’s even talks about jason being crazy and thinking hes an alien human hybrid and stuff like that.
i think that if they had stuck with the original team, judging from the videos and things that they put online, that the show would probably have been better. you can tell that this wasnt the project that they had in mind because they kept talking about the show being irreverent and funny and it wasnt either of those things so you know they changed it when they got the different team involved.
if you have any questions you can go ahead and ask because i might be able to help. i just cant tell anyone any names or stuff because people will get in trouble.
First of all, this show was, to a degree very addicting. There is definately no scientific philosophy behing it, nor any intelligence what-so-ever. But, all of the “ghost hunting” shows are bogus and set-up. So, for all believers who actually “believe” in ghosts, here is some info for you.
First, people don’t get left behind, or forgotten about. All of us return to where we came from. Second, the paranormal forces that exist on this planet, for real, are seriously evil and should never be messed with. These are all demons. The little girls, the sweet old women and men, all demons. They toy with you and play with you like Amityville! Begins in a beneign way and then the demons ramp it up until there is possession, death, and destruction. They feed on negative places and those that seek them should know better! All of these low key experiences people have, just the beginning of the demns fun. This is why paranormal state, minus the psychics, has it dead on. Demons are responsible for all activity.
Another point goes out to the person that loves ghost hunters. There are various clips now that seriously prove that those guys hoax as well. The Live event at the fort last year was totally bogus with the coat of Grant being tugged. Please! We enjoy ghostly tales and suspense because it elicits dopamaine and norepinephrine. The autonomic nervous system response we get from “believing” provides receptors with neurotransmitters that give us pleasure. None of these shows are rooted in anything other than fueling that pleasure.
This show is really nothing more than any of the others, so, as a fan of ghost hunters and paranormal state, this show has another fan until it becomes so unentertaining, emphasis on entertaining, that it just doesnt get placed in my rotation of fun, suspenseful, and purely fictional television viewing.
Peace!
healing waters,
Against my better judgement, I poured myself a glass of red wine and sat in front of the couch last night and watched the second episode of this show. The voodoo one.
My god…..
This is the most edited show out there. The team’s voices are dubbed over and sound like they are reading from a script. They charge blindly at shadows and noises as if they are going to wrestle a ghost or something. I don’t know if you guys saw that episode, but it was by far the worse one yet.
I think I’m done with that show.
-Javier
Javier,
I do agree with you that this show is by far at the bottom of all the shows out there, or at least on par with Most Haunted, however, there is still an entertainment quality to it. I mean to go to the lengths that these guys purport to go to, is by far extreme, and should get responses that are extreme in nature. They just didn’t, which validates my original postulation that there just aren’t “ghosts” out there. Places like Aleghenny, Eastern State, and Waverly, where extreme pain and sorrow have been housed are truly places that people should not mess with. If there is a place for demons to thrive, these are the places.
Ghost Hunter’s is a great group of guys and fun to watch. I was definately appalled to find that they were “rigging” evidence during that live episode. But, they still have captured stuff that is, indeed, hard to exlain. But, television is television, right? I will be a fan of paranormal phenomenon forever because it is a thrill and being frightened is a truly wonderful sensation. I assume that at some point we will all tire of these shows and the fad will be over. Perhaps, more shows like extreme paranormal will collapse it sooner than expected.
Peace!