On The Media

Having lived through at least one other time of these kinds of shows, what is similar to me is that parapsychology usually accompanyies a time of seeking para-religion. While there is a surge, especially in the U.S.A. toward more fundamentalist relgions to cope with fear and uncertainty, for those who are not "religious" in the usual sense, this does fall within that broad movement which is vaguely called "Spirituality". We tend to have forgotten already that "Spirituality" is a phenomenon of the last few decades. Having re-read that term back into the past, including all the narratives of the major religions, we ignore the highly individualistic plethora of meanings and content of anyone's "spirituality". Isn't this re-interest in "parapsychology/parareligion" an interesting extension of that - when many of the individuals' "spiritualities" have left them feeling a void or emptiness in the face of multiple crises compounding to create a fear-filling, un-controllable world.

I am disappointed that a NYT television has made such an unsubstantiated claim about the plot of Wonderfalls. This series never completely broadcast by the amazingly mediocre executives at Fox was full of mysticism but never made any statement about a monotheistic 'god' force. Much of the mystery in fact focussed on the main character's confusion about why she was hearing voices and what was causing them.

I know that her claim makes it is easier to fit the series into the critic's overall schema about the role of god in TV, but if she were to review the episodes she might realize that it is simply not the case.

I'm a little disappointed that OTM didn't really check their facts. To begin with, in the last twenty years or so there have always been a few "supernatural" shows out there. In the 80's we had a short resurgence of Dark Shadows, in the late 90's we had Buffy the Vampire Slayer and then its spin-off Angel. The popularity of those shows spawned Charmed and a bunch of short-lived copycats. And let's not forget the popular Crossing Over with John Edwards. Supernatural shows have really been going strong since the networks realized that the Sci-fi/Fantasy genre has a cult following of viewers who pretty much watch anything that comes out. Last year we had the Dresden Files on the SciFi Channel.

As to the shows that are mentioned in your story, Supernatural is in it's THIRD SEASON. It really seems to be the CW's answer to the lose of the "Buffy" shows. And two of the other shows you mentioned, True Blood and New Amsterdam, have not even aired yet and as far as I could see have no definate air date.

Many of your assumptions regarding mysticism and religion in American culture are true and as stated in the show often follow a war or scientific discovery. But in this case, I felt that your examples were not fully researched.