TV-Reviewed

I didn’t get a chance to watch the entire thing, but from what I saw of this year’s “live” investigation, I wasn’t that impressed. To be honest, it seemed to me more like a “plug” promotion deal for every SciFi show on the air. Of course, last year, Josh Gates was the host–so that didn’t really bother me. And, they did have an ECW wrestler as well–just like last time. However, we also had Amanda Tapping, which was all right, since I do like her as both an actress and person. Oh, and Rob Demarest from Ghost Hunters International was there, too–which did fit since that tie-in obviously works with GH. Yet…

From the parts that I saw, you would constantly get interrupted with Josh saying, “Let’s take a look now at” such and such program, which was related to whomever–from said program–was just on with the TAPS team, such as Amanda Tapping; I.E. “Let’s take a look at her new hit show Sanctuary.” Right. Once might’ve been OK, but I only watched Ghost Hunters’ Live for 3hrs, and they did this several times over. Every show involved I presume received its promo, at least, three times, maybe more.

This became frustrating because it kept interrupting the investigation for (me) the viewer. Just when you got comfortable watching whatever investigation area might be on–BAM! promo. Ugh. That was getting almost more irritating than the commercials. Speaking of which, there seemed to be an inordinate amount of good ol’ advertising goodness. More and more it was like: Is TAPS taking this investigation seriously? I mean, the commercials were understandable for the network–they can’t help that. And the promos were irritating, but I guess that’s the nature of the beast. However…

Jason Hawes, Grant Wilson

Several times over, there was just a lot of, to me, fooling about in a cool haunted fort: Fort Delaware. OK. As we all know TAPS, in order to stave off boredom, often does have some fun, and I suppose you need that when it’s freezing cold. But, like when Steve and Tango and Amanda were in the POW quarters, they didn’t have much to do, it seemed, but monkey around with the games that were in there. Sure, Steve tried to conduct an EVP session, but it quickly turned into horsing around. Even Jason and Grant didn’t seem to be taking themselves too seriously. Who knows, maybe they were just caught at those moments more than the serious investigation ones. It’s hard to say.

Then, we had the interaction (or, lack thereof) for the viewer. Yes, the panic button was in place and it got well used from what they kept saying, but sadly it was for not from what I saw. Not once did anybody come up with anything. The closest we got was a technically-glitched telephone call from a viewer who suggested they whistle dixie. While not a bad idea, I suppose, it didn’t really get taken too seriously.

I don’t know, I guess I could bash this year’s Ghost Hunter’s Live into the ground. However, there were a few bright spots from what I remember seeing. First of which was Rob’s investigation in the officer’s quarters. He did his darnest to illicit a response from anything that might’ve been there. In fact, he did a pretty good job, though he ended up catching nothing. At least, he seemed to be in the spirit of, well, “ghost hunting”. Also, it was just great seeing all the TAPS team members reunited. Though, Brian and Donna were still missing.

In the end, it should be interesting to see if TAPS DID catch anything last night. I mean, I’ve always been of the believe with the “live” stuff that the post-production Ghost Hunters episode is much more exciting with the oft dramatic background music and quick camera edits. It somehow feels more complete than watching an actual 6-hour investigation as it happens. I know, that probably sounds odd. But, the total silence, while great on perhaps picking up audio evidence, just makes the show feel flat and, hate to say it, boring. That’s just me, though, I’m sure. So, I’ll be eagerly awaiting the big reveal anyway, which I’m hoping will be worth it. Only time will tell.

Rating: 6.5