Bad move, A&E

The A&E Channel has a new show coming up: Psychic Kids: Children of the Paranormal. Sounds awful already, doesn't it? But it's worse than you think: they're looking for disturbed kids who think they've got magic powers, and then they're flying in "professional psychics" to coach them in dealing with their awesome powers, i.e., indulge their delusions, get off on feeling superior to unhappy kids, and collect a paycheck for psychic child abuse.

They're putting kids in the hands of a creepy skeevo like Chip Coffey, all for your entertainment.

This is quite possibly the most loathsome thing I've ever seen on TV, and my cable gives me access to the Trinity Broadcast Network, so that's saying a lot.

Skepchicks are mobilizing the skeptic hordes. Call or write to A&E and let them know that their schlock has reached a new and despicable low.

I mentioned that I have cable…but there's almost nothing on. The quality has been on a steady decline for years; cable stations like A&E, TLC, the History Channel, and the Discovery Channel were all set up with the noble goals of providing good educational/informative programming, and they've all sold out to provide little more than dreck ala Psychics with Serious Mental Illnesses Hunting Hitler's Ghost While Driving A Big Truck with Their Freakish Family. It's cheap, it's easy, the 'talent' they hire are all boring nobodies with only their disturbed personalities as a selling point — these are modern freak shows, plain and simple — and audiences eat them up.

Meanwhile, look here: somebody has a petition begging someone, anyone to pick up Richard Dawkins' thoughtful and intelligent documentaries. They're done, they're just sitting there, they're begging to be broadcast…but I guess he just doesn't have the charisma of a hammy metaphysical child abuser.

More like this

I know a lot of you will be interested in this and may want to comment on it. It is obvious to me that Netflix pays close attention to this blog, so your comments will matter a great deal. It is almost like you were on the board of directors or something: Dear Greg, It is clear that for many of…
Ever since starting my blog nearly seven (!) years ago, I've concentrated mainly on skepticism in medicine, in particular examining various implausible medical claims that proliferate on the Internet and in our media like so much kudzu choking out science and reason. The reasons are two-fold. First…
In the wake of the dramatic events surrounding the discovery of three women including Amanda Berry, being held captive for a decade by a monster, it's important not to forget another sociopath played a role in this drama. That sociopath is the psychic who told Amanda Berry's mother that her…
Just think of how stupid the average person is, and then realize half of them are even stupider! -George Carlin Over at The Onion, I found this article about science on television, and I laughed too hard to not reproduce it here. (Link to original.) Science Channel Refuses To Dumb Down Science Any…