UFO Hunters

[tommyball]

Previews for the new History Channel show UFO Hunters aired last night during Life After People.

Apparently there are 4 UFO Hunters (Bill Birnes and three others I'm not familiar with). I'm hoping it's similar to MonsterQuest in tone and style, but it's hard to tell from the commercials.

It premieres on February 6 at 10.

-todd.

[subject x]

I'm sure it will be exactly like Monster Quest-

it will prove nothing.

Probably entertaining, though.

[CapnG]

Why go hunting? Can't they just call up Greer and have him vector in a couple?

[TClaeys]

Maybe Bill Birnes is going hunting for more UFO Magazine subscriptions.

[Gene Steinberg]

Originally Posted by TClaeys

Maybe Bill Birnes is going hunting for more UFO Magazine subscriptions.

Actually a TV series, I think.

[Michael L.]

MonsterQuest tends not to really prove anything although it is much more open minded than I expected. I have higher hopes for this show than the announced Sci Fi Channel show (that was announced with the same name but is a separate project produced by the folks behind Ghost Hunters).

Does anyone know who is producing this bad boy? Can we expect an interview on The Paracast about the show?

[spookyparadigm]

At least one episode has that guy taping "UFOs" near an airport approach over Lake Erie

http://www.wired.com/entertainment/theweb/news/2008/01/erie_ufos

The commercials highlight cantankerous yelling (though the longer preview looks more serious).

http://www.history.com/minisites/ufo

I'm thinking the model here is reality Show ala Ghost Hunters or any of those "workplace" shows.

[spookyparadigm]

Here is a much more detailed description of the show

http://www.sliceofscifi.com/2008/01/17/ufo-hunters-on-the-history-channel/

[TClaeys]

Maury Island, Betty and Barney Hill, Lake Erie, oh my!!

I guess I don't mind as long as they are critical of the stories and "evidence". Somehow I think I can hear, "It's up for YOU to decide what the truth", which is complete bunk.

BTW MonsterQuest does debunk a lot of stuff, including the ridiculous Espinoza "Rods", thank God!!

The best episode was where they caught live footage of giant squid. The first ever, now that is groundbreaking stuff. Of course we knew the giant squid existed already, but still really cool.

I have a feeling UFO Hunters is going to be too woo-woo and continue to promote the tin-foil hat mentality that the media and everyone already have.

[spookyparadigm]

I suspect they'll also have problems, in terms of being a TV show, with the reactive nature of ufology, rather than the proactive ghost hunting.

As I put it in my blog

http://spookyparadigm.blogspot.com/2008/01/dueling-ufo-hunter-tv-shows-and-why.html

Personally, I think the SciFi show has a better chance at success. The format has been tested and works. Two main characters, with an emphasis on them being "everyday" people, rather than degreed experts. The Mission Impossible-style rotating cast of investigators that are called in for each case (and importantly, not all male). The use of acronyms (ala the now famous TAPS). By contrast, the History Channel show focuses on four men (no women) who are older, and in the promos at least one of them, the most well known ufologist in the group, is already talking about how they know many of the answers, etc. in a style more suited to the stock-footage/talking head style UFO tv shows that History Channel runs every week. Furthermore, the History Channel show is focusing on historical cases, from decades ago, starting with Maury Island, hitting Socorro, and others.

This is part of the problem both shows will face. First off, while UFOs are hot now, popular interest in ghosts and ghostly matters is much higher, and was before Ghost Hunters ever hit the air. Second, part of the reason people watch ghost hunting shows of any sort is because there is the supposed chance that the camera crew and investigators, skulking around in creepy dark abandoned buildings, could run directly into the ongoing phenomenon. That can be thrilling and engaging. By contrast, ufology is for the most part a forensic study (if proper research is even being done at all), looking for evidence (physical trace, photographs, testimony) to understand a past event, a sighting. Attempts to build up dramatic tension will be much harder.