YES OR NO TO PARA-SHOWS?

24.09.2008 09:48 UFO - Source: UFO Digest

Alexandra Holzer is a member of the SCBWI Organization, Poetry.com, Firstwriters.com and IMDBpro.com. Her father is the original ghost hunter, published Author Professor Hans Holzer, Ph.D of 163 plus titles in the genres of parapsychology, the supernatural, religion and healing. Most famous for "Amityville Horror: The Possession", "Ghosts", "America's Haunted Houses" and most recently "The Journey of the Magi" and "Murder in Amityville: Fact or Fiction". While raising four incredible children, she wrote children's short stories, poetry, sci-fi/fantasy novels, screenplays and supernatural horror thrillers. Alexandra's complete bio is available here. Alexandra's new book 'Lady Ambrosia' has been Field Nominated for the Printz Award for Young Adult Literature by the American Library Association.

'Spirit Talk'
by Alexandra Holzer

YES OR NO TO PARA-SHOWS?

Posted: 01:06 September 3, 2008

Most Haunted English Television Over the past couple of years mainly due to cable networks we have seen an upsurge of television shows in the genre of the paranormal field: ranging from reality type to live audience and stage acts. I say yes to para-shows (paranormal shows) because as with anything on television today, it will capture our attention one way or the other. This is what we have become as a society in what I usually refer to as a 'microwave era' that we are in. We should have exciting book shows for authors that captivate the audience into perhaps being interested enough to read that book and understand where the author was coming from when creating it or researching for it. Those on today can put me to sleep in a nano second and I have four noisy ghosts at home so that says a lot.

When you understand the demographics of who is watching many of these shows then the debate begins as to what is deemed worthy of watching. The typical age range for many of these shows is under forty. That is pretty youthful so I have to say as with any television programming, all those involved are responsible to a level of proper etiquette, mannerisms and content.

We were taught growing up to please behave, say yes please, no thank you and throw out your dishes when you're done, but it seems that when it comes to some shows all that goes right out the window. This brings up the question whether or not those involved have a moral obligation to our youth watching to be cautious in this subject matter.

There are many shows that depict crime, violence, murder and such as there are many depicting the opposite with sit-coms, humor and relatable material. However, when programs such as 'In Search Of', 'Unsolved Mysteries' and 'That's Incredible' came about it was done more out of entertainment purposes then seriousness at times. When an area commands popularity a vast amount of audiences have your attention. Now what? Well, now you have the platform in which to break out of the past molds of these genre shows and catapult it into the future. But how much forward should one go and how do you portray the field properly to everyone's liking in today's times?

Honestly, you will never please everyone no matter how much or how little you say on these shows. You simply cannot appeal to everyone's likes or dislikes. There is a description for famous materialistic objects when we try to imitate the original...it's called 'designer inspired' at half the cost. But at what cost are we paying if it's 'paranormally inspired? Food for thought I suppose but the point here is to educate our youth and do the research at whatever cost to ensure the proper information flows out the tube into your homes. It's like anything else in life so this should be no different.