"Psychic Detectives" on Court TV -- is this for real?!

[BrainGlutton]

Court TV has a new show called Psychic Detectives: http://www.courttv.com/onair/shows/psychic_detectives/

When detectives are out of time and out of luck where do they turn? Over the years law enforcement has developed an arsenal of investigative tools that are used to aid a stalled investigation. But how often do investigators actually enlist the help of a psychic? Psychic Detectives tells the true stories of real cases where psychics help detectives solve some of law enforcement’s most baffling cases.

Jeez, don’t these people have any sense of social responsibility at all? This show belongs on the Sci-Fi Channel right after John Edwards – not on a network which purports to be about serious, real-life stuff! Don’t we have enough trouble with the American public being ignorant, superstitious and credulous?

Maybe I should have started this thread in the Pit, but it is about a TV show, so . . .

What do you all think about this?

[Eve]

I thought about starting a Pit thread when I saw an ad for this show . . . Anybody have an e-dress for Court TV so I can tell them what I think of them? Though, being psychic, they probably already know . . .

[BrainGlutton]

@Eve

Anybody have an e-dress for Court TV so I can tell them what I think of them?

There’s a whole page of contact links here – http://www.courttv.com/contact/ – but they’re all for e-mailing to specific anchors or specific shows or specific departments, none of which seem appropriate fora for bitching about program selection.

[Eve]

Problem is, I’d actually have to watch the show to complain about it, and I know my head would explode before the first commercial break . . .

[BrainGlutton]

I did some googling – apparently Court TV has done this before, in March of this year – no indication of whether the coming show is new or a rerun. See http://members.aol.com/garypos/court_tv_albany.html.

From The Skeptic’s Dictionary at http://www.skepdic.com/psychdet.html:

Psychic detectives (PDs) are alleged psychics who offer to help law enforcement agencies solve crimes.

In their book, The Blue Sense: Psychic Detectives and Crime, Arthur Lyons and Marcello Truzzi list many reasons people without any psychic powers gain a reputation for assisting in the detection of crime. In many cases, most of the evidence in favor of the psychic detective is provided to the mass media by the psychic rather than by an independent source. The mass media are rarely critical or skeptical of the claims of psychics. For example, alleged psychic detective Sylvia Browne has declared many times that she has used her psychic powers to solve crimes, yet it is rare to see her challenged as she was by Brill’s Content.

Brill’s Content has examined ten recent Montel Williams programs that highlighted Browne’s work as a psychic detective (as opposed to her ideas about “the afterlife,” for example), spanning 35 cases. In 21, the details were too vague to be verified. Of the remaining 14, law-enforcement officials or family members involved in the investigations say that Browne had played no useful role.

“These guys don’t solve cases, and the media consistently gets it wrong,” says Michael Corn, an investigative producer for “Inside Edition” who produced a story last May debunking psychic detectives. Moreover, the FBI and the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children maintain that to their knowledge, psychic detectives have never helped solve a single missing-person case.

“Zero. They go on TV and I see how things go and what they claim but no, zero,” says FBI agent Chris Whitcomb. “They may be remarkable in other ways, but the FBI does not use them” (“Prophet Motive,” Brill’s Content, November 27, 2000).

[Tuckerfan]

What crap. For years the network has done a valuable service by showing people how critical thinking and technology can solve crimes. Now, of course, they’ve flushed it all down the crapper.

[hajario]

@BrainGlutton

Jeez, don’t these people have any sense of social responsibility at all? This show belongs on the Sci-Fi Channel right after John Edwards – not on a network which purports to be about serious, real-life stuff! Don’t we have enough trouble with the American public being ignorant, superstitious and credulous?

That would be John Edward. The Democratic VP nominee has nothing to do with this.

Your point is well made though and I agree.

Haj

[Mr.Roboto]

Dude, Psyhic chich found old dude in pickup truck 30 ft. under-water in a quarry.
What have you found lately?

[BrainGlutton]

@Mr. Roboto

Dude, Psyhic chich found old dude in pickup truck 30 ft. under-water in a quarry.
What have you found lately?

Well, I went fishing not long ago and caught some suckers . . .

[Gr8Kat]

@Mr. Roboto

Dude, Psyhic chich found old dude in pickup truck 30 ft. under-water in a quarry.
What have you found lately?

Even a blind squirrel find a nut every now and then.

[Tuckerfan]

@BrainGlutton

There’s a whole page of contact links here – http://www.courttv.com/contact/ – but they’re all for e-mailing to specific anchors or specific shows or specific departments, none of which seem appropriate fora for bitching about program selection.

Here’s an idea: Why not write to all the sponsors of the program and tell them that you’re not going to be buying any of their products/services so long as they continue to sponsor such dreck? It’s worked in the past when the fundies have done it.

[ralph124c]

He’s dead now, but people still think that he was psychic (and solved crimes). Actually, despite his self-promotion, there isn’t a shred of evidence that he solved even ONE crime.
I remember seeing one of these frauds on TV…invariably, they always “see” water somewhere. Of course, many murderers dump their victims into lakes, ponds, etc. :smack: