# TV series whose very existence drives you batshit insane **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 26, 2012, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-whose-very-existence-drives-you-batshit-insane/620041 "2012-04-26T17:57:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2012, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-whose-very-existence-drives-you-batshit-insane/620041/81 "2012-04-27T18:11:55Z")
> [@secretsmile36](#): > > Does anyone hear believe Long Island Medium lady can speak to the dead? How can you explain the things she knows about people? Is it all staged? A mix of cold reading, hot reading, barnum statements, the forer effect, combined with judicious editing, selective memory, and perhaps a dose of deliberate fakery. > [@Jenaroph](#): > > I’m with you on these. You know what I might watch? A ghost hunting show that was ACTUALLY skeptical. In theory, that is what _Fact or Faked: The Paranormal Files_ on the SyFy Channel does. They scrutinize the suggested videos and stories, they call fake on a number, they discount anything that looks obviously fake and try to pick the best examples that could conceivable be true, or at least aren’t immediately obvious. They then go investigate them, and attempt to replicate the stories or video. They have managed to successfully debunk some incidents. Like one UFO that was seen during the day in a metropolitan area. They not only deduced it _might_ be a large balloon, replicated the balloon and demonstrated that it looked the same and the location, but they actually idenfied someone who confirmed it was a balloon on that date and time being used for some sort of publicity stunt/commercial/movie something or other (my memory isn’t precise). They also demonstrated one where a car “magically” teleported through a chainlink fence. The demonstrated that if you run a car through a chainlink fence, the fence tears loose from the posts, folds out of the way, and then springs back into position afterwards and looks like nothing happened. (I have seen a similar situation, a buddy at work had a car accident and witnessed it happen.) However, I find I cannot watch the show because of a couple of factors. First, the staging of the show still uses too much “let’s go out in the woods where this monster that is attacking sheep was spotted and try to find it in the dark, by ourselves, with only cameras and thermal imagers”. Second, the “dramatic music” used over such segments grates on my nerves and ears, and makes the show intolerable. Also, while they attempt to be skeptical, some of them are a little too credulous in their results when they don’t solve the case. There was one, for example, where they attempted to replicate a string of lights in the sky. They tried three or four methods of replication, including bouncing lights off a glass sheet and lighted balloons. When none of their methods successfully replicated the results in the video, they drew the conclusion that there might be something to that claim. No, the proper conclusion is “we were unable to replicate the effect and explain what it was”. But I give them points for trying. ---
**Author:** ![Nawth\_Chucka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@Nawth\_Chucka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nawth_Chucka)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2012, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-whose-very-existence-drives-you-batshit-insane/620041/82 "2012-04-27T18:15:56Z")
> [@Infovore](#): > > The 700 Club. Back when Whose Line Is It Anyway? used to be on the Disney Family channel, we’d turn it on to go to sleep to, but the 700 Club was on right before it. Every time I tuned in early and saw Pat Robertson’s creepy face and listened to his crawly voice, I couldn’t get to the remote fast enough to shut it off. > > **Note that while I do dislike televangelists as a class of people, Pat (and his equally creepy looking son) are the only ones who get this reaction from me**. You haven’t watched the Jack Van Impe show then. ---
**Author:** ![kath94](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/67e7ee/32.png) [@kath94](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kath94)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2012, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-whose-very-existence-drives-you-batshit-insane/620041/83 "2012-04-27T18:34:05Z")
> [@UncleRojelio](#): > > “What Would You Do?” is the worst kind of idiocy. No entertainment value. No educational value. No drama. No nothing. The only thing worse on TV is when ‘news’ programs substitute opinions for news. “What Would You Do?” is just “Candid Camera” with a pseudo-moral, holier-than-thou slant. Hate, :mad: hate, :mad: hate. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2012, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-whose-very-existence-drives-you-batshit-insane/620041/84 "2012-04-27T18:49:22Z")
Spinster that I am, I control the remote at my house. Perusal of the TV schedules & advertising have informed me of numerous shows that \*might \*drive me batshit insane. But I don’t have to watch them, so they don’t… ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2012, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-whose-very-existence-drives-you-batshit-insane/620041/85 "2012-04-27T19:10:06Z")
> [@Morbo](#): > > _Finding Bigfoot_, _Ghost Hunters_, etc. I feel like shouting “Hey! Let me save you all some time.” It’s the fact that they are on the SyFy Channel that bugs the hell out of me. Hey, I’m a big fan of fantasy and science fiction, and the thing is I KNOW it’s fiction! I like science too, the REAL thing, not that woo-woo shit they keep putting on the SyFy Channel. Woo has got NOTHING to do with science fiction and fantasy, so long as they are maintaining that on some level the shit they are doing is for real. That should be on ANOTHER channel, the IDIOT channel. ---
**Author:** ![Barking\_Dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Barking\_Dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barking_Dog)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2012, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-whose-very-existence-drives-you-batshit-insane/620041/86 "2012-04-27T19:54:08Z")
> [@Nawth\_Chucka](#): > > My money’s on Queen Elizabeth having the stamina to outlast Mrs. Roosevelt. First or second? Beth 1 isn’t in the contest, having never been married. I’ll put my money on Marie Antoinette. A bit long odds, I know. But I bet when it comes down to the blood and bruised knuckles, she’s a scrapper. ---
**Author:** ![Death\_of\_Rats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a6a055/32.png) [@Death\_of\_Rats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Death_of_Rats)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2012, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-whose-very-existence-drives-you-batshit-insane/620041/87 "2012-04-27T20:05:40Z")
> [@Drunky\_Smurf](#): > > I love Parking Wars because of the idiocy. I love watching the idiots bitch and moan about how it’s unfair their car is impounded because they have 86 tickets and no license and no isurance. > > My favorite part is the meter maid part. One guy tried to argue that the no parking sign didn’t apply to him because he parked on the sidewalk and not the street. > > I can’t really think of any shows that drive me insane. I find it amazing how many people in Detroit an dPhilly have no freaking clue what a “No Standing” zone means. > [@Irishman](#): > > In theory, that is what _Fact or Faked: The Paranormal Files_ on the SyFy Channel does. They scrutinize the suggested videos and stories, they call fake on a number, they discount anything that looks obviously fake and try to pick the best examples that could conceivable be true, or at least aren’t immediately obvious. They then go investigate them, and attempt to replicate the stories or video. > > They have managed to successfully debunk some incidents. Like one UFO that was seen during the day in a metropolitan area. They not only deduced it _might_ be a large balloon, replicated the balloon and demonstrated that it looked the same and the location, but they actually idenfied someone who confirmed it was a balloon on that date and time being used for some sort of publicity stunt/commercial/movie something or other (my memory isn’t precise). They also demonstrated one where a car “magically” teleported through a chainlink fence. The demonstrated that if you run a car through a chainlink fence, the fence tears loose from the posts, folds out of the way, and then springs back into position afterwards and looks like nothing happened. (I have seen a similar situation, a buddy at work had a car accident and witnessed it happen.) > > However, I find I cannot watch the show because of a couple of factors. First, the staging of the show still uses too much “let’s go out in the woods where this monster that is attacking sheep was spotted and try to find it in the dark, by ourselves, with only cameras and thermal imagers”. Second, the “dramatic music” used over such segments grates on my nerves and ears, and makes the show intolerable. Also, while they attempt to be skeptical, some of them are a little too credulous in their results when they don’t solve the case. There was one, for example, where they attempted to replicate a string of lights in the sky. They tried three or four methods of replication, including bouncing lights off a glass sheet and lighted balloons. When none of their methods successfully replicated the results in the video, they drew the conclusion that there might be something to that claim. No, the proper conclusion is “we were unable to replicate the effect and explain what it was”. But I give them points for trying. My problem with this show is that they are getting a little too desparate for video and try too hard to see paranormal things in ones that are obviously not. Like the video of the Alien walking behind the Argentine (I think) reporter that was OBVIOUSLY a bad CGI added later. It took them an expensive trip to \ and THREE failed experiment to notice that the video looked totally wrong and had the shadows going the wrong way. Something I noticed the first time they showed the clip. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2012, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-whose-very-existence-drives-you-batshit-insane/620041/88 "2012-04-27T20:06:20Z")
> [@Nawth\_Chucka](#): > > You haven’t watched the Jack Van Impe show then. I just watched a couple minutes of a Jack Van Impe video on YouTube. You’re right, he’s creepy too. But not as creepy as Pat. I know it’s not cool to make fun of people for their looks, but Pat doesn’t even look _human_. He looks like a space alien wearing a human suit…badly. Combine that with his message (I agree, Jack is every bit as creepy message-wise) and it’s just…\ ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2012, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-whose-very-existence-drives-you-batshit-insane/620041/89 "2012-04-27T20:08:58Z")
I can’t get this worked up over any TV series. Unlike commercials, you can simply decide not to watch a scheduled TV show. ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2012, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-whose-very-existence-drives-you-batshit-insane/620041/90 "2012-04-27T20:47:01Z")
I totally loathe and despise the shows, usually “talent” shows, but including Big Brother, where thicko couch potatos can feel important by voting off some completely forgettable nonentity each week. And in between, swoon and gush over fake spats between the talentless nobodys, aided and abetted by “celebrities” who play good cop/bad cop with them. After the artificial assistance promotionwise finishes, the winners of these tend to fade into obscurity in a short while, or end up appearing as the panel/judges on equally dire crap fests. God I hate them ! But apart from that I have no strong views on the subject. ---
**Author:** ![Jenaroph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2012, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-whose-very-existence-drives-you-batshit-insane/620041/91 "2012-04-27T20:49:30Z")
> [@Irishman](#): > > In theory, that is what _Fact or Faked: The Paranormal Files_ on the SyFy Channel does. They scrutinize the suggested videos and stories, they call fake on a number, they discount anything that looks obviously fake and try to pick the best examples that could conceivable be true, or at least aren’t immediately obvious. They then go investigate them, and attempt to replicate the stories or video. I have seen an episode or two of this, I think. I wanted to give it a chance, but when they went to debunk a case of [“ghost children push a car off the train tracks, saving the occupants”](http://www.snopes.com/horrors/ghosts/handprint.asp) it took them till the end of the segment to “realize” that the section of road wasn’t flat, and if you put your car in neutral, it tends to roll by itself off the tracks. They had to investigate all the woo-woo shit first, including researching if a busload of kids ever really died there, and dusting the back of the car with powder to see if any ghostly children’s handprints showed up. The whole time they’re doing that stuff I’m sitting there yelling at the TV, “For pete’s sake, drop a handful of marbles and see what they do! That’s the EASY PART!” ---
**Author:** ![Nawth\_Chucka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@Nawth\_Chucka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nawth_Chucka)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2012, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-whose-very-existence-drives-you-batshit-insane/620041/92 "2012-04-27T21:35:28Z")
> [@Barking\_Dog](#): > > First or second? Beth 1 isn’t in the contest, having never been married. I’ll put my money on Marie Antoinette. A bit long odds, I know. But I bet when it comes down to the blood and bruised knuckles, she’s a scrapper. I meant Mystery Option #3, actually, Bertie’s wife Elizabeth the Queen Consort who vexed Mr. Hilter so much. Plump, energetic country gal who could roll w/ the punches and hold her liquor; not like your wan, simple-minded Austrian teen, hardly worth a pence. Would get your back either, I’d wager. Ya know, Prince Andrew served in the Falklands War, can we count Fergie as a War Wife? ---
**Author:** ![Nawth\_Chucka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@Nawth\_Chucka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nawth_Chucka)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2012, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-whose-very-existence-drives-you-batshit-insane/620041/93 "2012-04-27T21:36:31Z")
> [@Infovore](#): > > I just watched a couple minutes of a Jack Van Impe video on YouTube. You’re right, he’s creepy too. But not as creepy as Pat. > > I know it’s not cool to make fun of people for their looks, but Pat doesn’t even look _human_. He looks like a space alien wearing a human suit…badly. Combine that with his message (I agree, Jack is every bit as creepy message-wise) and it’s just…\ You mean to tell me Rexella won’t haunt your dreams w/ her breathy introductions? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2012, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-whose-very-existence-drives-you-batshit-insane/620041/94 "2012-04-27T21:41:35Z")
> [@](#): > > I meant Mystery Option #3, actually, Bertie’s wife Elizabeth the Queen Consort who vexed Mr. Hilter so much. Plump, energetic country gal who could roll w/ the punches and hold her liquor; not like your wan, simple-minded Austrian teen, hardly worth a pence. Would get your back either, I’d wager. Plus, played by Helena Bonham Carter. That doesn’t hurt either. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2012, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-whose-very-existence-drives-you-batshit-insane/620041/95 "2012-04-27T21:52:11Z")
> [@Nawth\_Chucka](#): > > You mean to tell me Rexella won’t haunt your dreams w/ her breathy introductions? You kids have it so easy-_I_ grew up watching Kathryn Kuhlman. _“I beleeeeeve in miracullllls!”_ ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2012, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-whose-very-existence-drives-you-batshit-insane/620041/96 "2012-04-27T22:00:20Z")
> [@Roadfood](#): > > Without having seen the show, I would ask you this: Has this medium _ever_ related something from “the dead” that some other currently living person did not already know? I will bet you that she has not, and that therefore the most likely explanation is that what she relates does not come from the dead but rather from the currently living. If you watch such a show and react with, “How could the _medium_ possibly know that?” then you’re just falling into the trap. Instead, ask yourself, “Does the dead person’s living relative already know everything that the medium is telling them?” Looking at it that way, it’s far less impressive. OTOH, if no living person knows the answer to the question, the medium can say any damn thing. The trick is to come up with a question for which no answer is currently known, but for which any asserted answer can be easily tested and found either true or false (e.g. “what sequence of left and right turns will get me to a given point in an unexplored maze?”). ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2012, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-whose-very-existence-drives-you-batshit-insane/620041/97 "2012-04-27T22:12:00Z")
> [@Nawth\_Chucka](#): > > You mean to tell me Rexella won’t haunt your dreams w/ her breathy introductions? She _did_ look a tad…um…undead, now that you mention it. ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2012, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-whose-very-existence-drives-you-batshit-insane/620041/98 "2012-04-27T23:41:54Z")
Any show that has a laugh track should just be put out of it’s misery. I catch my kids watching this inane crap and tell them they are getting dumber just by watching it. Disney and Nickelodeon are guilty here. I am OK with those filmed before a live audience with real laughing, but the ones with the canned laughter are just stupid - if we have to be cued as to when to laugh it is not funny. At. All. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2012, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-whose-very-existence-drives-you-batshit-insane/620041/99 "2012-04-28T00:32:24Z")
I’m getting a bit bored with the genealogy/ancestry shows where the descendants of slaves and slaveowners act like they knew nothing about the practice. “Human beings were packed on ships, chained together? And sold? Do people **know** about this?” ---
**Author:** ![secretsmile36](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@secretsmile36](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/secretsmile36)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2012, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-whose-very-existence-drives-you-batshit-insane/620041/100 "2012-04-28T12:39:29Z")
> [@voltaire](#): > > You may think that _I said_ that not watching reality shows puts me on some kind of pedestal. I did not. At all. > > In fact, I actually mentioned two reality shows that I do watch. Read for comprehension. You implied it. Frankly I’m really sick and tired of you following me around the board and insulting me. It’s getting rather old. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-whose-very-existence-drives-you-batshit-insane/620041.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-series-whose-very-existence-drives-you-batshit-insane/620041.md?page=6)