Picture from Bloody-Disgusting.com
After 3 years of being off screen Ghost Hunters returned to our television this time on A&E with the only original member and co-founder Grant Wilson who infamously quit the show before the series ended. Why did he return? To simply put it, the time was right, he left the series to be with his family and all of his kids are grown up and the opportunity showed its head and why not.
All the other members of the original series have all gone on and doing their own thing on television so now is a good time to assemble whole new team that could bring all new dynamics to the series with all different backgrounds.
There are some familiar faces some not so much but all have good experience in the paranormal. What are we to expect from this new series, a different format, the same format?
All was revealed when it aired on 08/21/2019 with the introduction to the team and their backgrounds, the type of devices they would be using and answering fans questions.
The hour-long introduction was little long winded for my liking but was nice to hear about what got them in to the paranormal field and couple of the devices they were going to use.
what you have to take in to consideration is that all the paranormal series you watch is made for entertainment, I’m not saying it’s fake what I am saying is that shows are edited and pieced together with best evidence that they have gathered all packaged nicely.
One thing I find frustrating at times with all these TV series is the false impression that the devices they have is what you need. It would be fantastic if every paranormal group that starts up could afford all them nice toys but they can’t. It can take a long time before anyone or a new group to get them type of devices. You only need a few simple tools that can do the job and as time goes on the more equipment you gain, along with knowledge of the field you’re working in. That said it was good to see what each show would be bringing.
The first episode set what the series was going to go like and to be honest it looked exactly the same as the old one. As the saying goes “why change something if it isn’t broken”. It worked in the past I’m sure it will work now. It was like getting in to a nice comfortable sweater, something to break up the week.
The episode wasn’t in my opinion ground breaking but also wasn’t bad either. It just felt like another episode of Ghost Hunters and that it never really went away in the first place. Everyone is going to have their favorite person/persons on the show of course but how long is the cast going to last? Perhaps a couple of seasons before someone decides to leave to go on to something else? I won’t put anyone under the bus of course but shows like this only have a certain shelf date before new faces come in to play.
This isn’t a bad thing; this is the reality of things. Networks are not very forgiving at the best of times. If the public dislikes some people then it tends to trickle down like syrup on a bottle to cast members. Let’s hope that doesn’t happen here for a while yet.
I don’t want to put the series down and I am not trying to, I actually enjoyed it. To me Ghost Hunters was not the series to start the ghost hunting phenomena on television, that went to Most Haunted back in the United Kingdom. That series was stupid then and is now but for actual investigating yes Ghost Hunters was the series to watch. Now there is plenty to get your teeth in to.
If I was to pick a first episode for the new series it wouldn’t have been the school one. To me you need to start the series with a bang and end the series with a bang. This hooks you in the first episode and then hooks you on to the next series. I don’t expect there to be amazing results on every episode and neither should anyone else for that matter, you have to understands not every investigation is busy with activity, the process going over hours and hours is exhausting on its own. The quality of the episode is clean and crisp. A get in there and do the job. What I do like and if they continue to do it is have people to come in help debunk. In this first episode they brought in an electrician to give his expert input on the issue with the lights. Debunking is the way to go with the paranormal. A lot of things have explanations on what is going on. Also having such diverse members in the group with different backgrounds like this cast (construction worker, hypnotherapist) make a team, they can put their normal jobs in to practice. Grant looked relaxed and enjoying the ride. This is no first step and neither for the rest of the cast but it is first step for the team on probably the most loved paranormal television series. These are big shoes to fill and with the only original leader it looks as though it’s in good hand. I enjoyed the first episode and I am sure the fan base will be happy with it. I would say on to the next but that wasn’t really Grants thing more of Jason Hawes thing.