Sorry for the non-sequitor post, I started writing a review for the Seven Sisters Inn and I got sidetracked, so I ran with it. You should see the Seven Sisters Inn review up by the end of tomorrow, with the Renaissance Vinoy coming over the weekend

Well said Logisti. Yeah, it seems as the seasons go on the are more of a "celebrity" than actual invesestigator. I'm sure they have to be getting paid something to do this show. Otherwise how would they be making any money? The whole Roto-Rooter add in in the begining of every show is a little rediculous now. Yes we get that J&G were plumbers. As of now, I'm sure they do not have time to fix running sinks or jammed toilets. They are too busy filming the show, doing their radio show and touring the country on these Ghost Hunts with other "famous" paranormal worms.

It won't be long and their 15 minutes will be up.

An ironing board falls out of the closet! Let's spend 2 & 1/2 hours debunking, to prove it's not just a coincidence. Therfore it MUST be paranormal. Was the closet door closed or was it unlatched? At first I was amused when they captured it on camera. I was then in disbelief when they stuck Grant(of all people)inside to PROVE the ironing board could not open the closet door.
Talk about coming to an iron clad conclusion….

Well done, Logisti. Most Haunted and Paranormal State are embarrassingly bad. And now Ghost Hunters and Ghost Hunters Intl, with me anyway, are slipping perilously close. And could TAPS be any less professional? I'm not sure what one wears to a ghost hunt, but I'm guessing it ain't flip-flops or halter tops or upside down visors.

Is there just not an audience for a show that takes the paranormal seriously? Even if they never found a thing, I would still enjoy the unexpected sounds, knocks, etc. that GH 'claims' to hear. I remember one GHI episode where Robb asked, "Did you hear that?"……Hell. I could barely hear Robb ask, "Did you hear that?" from all the spooky music/sound effects.

Am I the only one who thinks the episodes from prior seasons which air before the episode of the current season—-especially those back when TAPS was in some humble trailer in the woods—-are much more entertaining? Not that they were any more scientific than this season's episodes, but at least everyone seemed to be having fun and there's a light-hearted goofiness that's now missing. From this season's episodes, it often seems Jay, Grant, and company are getting bored with it all and are just going through the motions.

I agree with you, Harry. And I'll even go a step further and say that I find the episodes where TAPS investigated private homes much more interesting and entertaining than when they investigate 'well known haunted' buildings, castles (I'm looking at you, GHI), museums, etc, – or pretty much any place that gives tours.

It's difficult to enjoy pseudoscience if it is not done in an entertaining manner and the pseudoscientists seem to be taking themselves too seriosly lately.

FYI-According to one of the people that make of SAPS (Bobby) Jason and Grant are indeed still on the roster of Roto-Rooter. This person wrote their headquarters and found out that they are indeed on active status. This was confirmed both in writing and phone. You can read the company's reply here:

http://www.skepticalanalysis.com/reports/ghosts/roto-rooter.html

My guess is that even if they never do another plumbing job for Roto-Rooter, they would still be kept on the payroll in some capacity for both the benefits and pensions involved with the job. After all, look at the wealth of advertising the company has received. To be fair, they have earned whatever benefits and pension they have, and have evolved into some kind of spokespersons. Not a bad deal on either side.

Note to Pilgrim Productions:

Tell the "STARS" of GH and GHI to start acting like they give a sh*t.
Or it's time for both series to "GO DARK".

Maybe the "Stars" don't give a sh*t. Maybe they are fed up with Pilgrim and want the series to "Go Dark".The demands that Pilgrim must make on them to find exciting evidence to keep the ratings up might be getting to be too much to handle. If they are truly the dedicated and honest investigators that at least I got the impression of in the beginning, then the constant focus on trying to 'do what you can' to make as much money as possible must be destroying them. (It would me.) And we all know that money is what television is all about!
Let it "Go Dark". I don't like it the way that it is now!!

Leslie, don't hold your breath waiting for the show to be canceled. Apparently the general public still is satisfied with the show as it is, although the consensus here, myself included, is that the show is slipping badly in content and attitude. According to Jason (and other sources):

"Rumors of SciFi channel canceling the hot paranormal series Ghost Hunters simply aren't true according to Jason Hawes co-founder of TAPS (The Atlantic Paranormal Society) and star of the Ghost Hunters TV series. Hawes' recent myspace entry updates viewers with the promise of new Ghost Hunters episodes in fall 2008 to complete season 4, and twenty-six new episodes scheduled for season 5 to kick off in spring 2009."

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/946173/taps_jason_hawes_scifi_ghost_hunters.html

That's 26 more for 2009. Plenty of episodes; more then most other series can boost. No chance of it nosediving anytime soon, for better or worse.

Shannon, Brian and Donna all three left? Where the heck have I been? I saw that Donna was going because she was ill, but I assumed this was some type of "Brian" drama and we would see her again. Brian and Shannon left also, WOW! They are all three from GHI. Maybe they left because it is so crappy. I mean seriously they never found anything but a paycheck!

Robb borders on coma inducing, has this man ever been excited in his life? Andy I used to love on GH, he was the debunker man, not so much now. Barry is hell bent on finding demons where ever he goes. That new girl Brandy has the worlds worst voice, where did they find her? Hey did you hear that ummmm yeah it came out of her!

Logisti, thank you so much for putting this post up. I love to watch these shows and am a believer. I also believe that these shows can do much, much, better and I don't care if they debunk everything at least it is something interesting to watch.

The past two seasons have been lacking in quality and caring from the cast. The phrase, "phone it in", may be over used in the lexicon but there is a reason it is out there. Maybe this is why I had no idea that three cast members left.

Robbin

For those of you who seem to wonder if J & G are making any income outside of Roto-Rooter, you bet they are! Not only are they LIKELY getting paid by Pilgrim Films, but they also earn money through TAPS as well. Just go to the TAPS website and see for yourself. They may not charge a fee to investigate a client's home or place of business, but they hold investigations of other locales that never appear on TV. And, the public is invited to participate at these locations . . . for a very hefty charge!

Don't forget the merchandise. I'm sure they get a cut of that too. AND the various appearances at conventions and seminars.

They're not going to be hurting for money any time soon. The rest of the cast, however, is probably not seeing much on their end.

I suppose it would be too much to ask that the production crew wear shirts with a recognizeable diamond pattern that is IR reflective ?

Or the team wear t-shirts with TAPS and their name spelled out in that same reflective material ?

… and that commercial aspect is where the problem lies. They've gone from plumbers to TV personalities making decent money — and I'll assume ghost hunting is a lot more fun than clearing out a clogged toilet drain.

The show is also making money for Pilgrim, Sci-Fi, etc. Now, if they investigate 20 consecutive locations and come up empty, it's back to Rooter-ville. And who wants that?

That reality MAY lead to some fakery — I'm not saying it has, but as shown on this wonderful site, the case can be made. If nothing else, however, those realities have clearly pushed all involved to act, not as totally impartial investigators, but as evidence seekers.

That's why we have the presence of the handy-dandy K-II that lights up randomly and lets us claim we're communicating with the dead; A flashlight rigged to light up with a bit of movement, or vibration? It's really a ghost detector; "Evidence" on demand that keeps everyone happy.

We also have the impact on debunking: The image of a man on the FLIR — nope, nobody said they were down there, must be a ghost. Can't find my flip-flop? Those darned trickster ghosts! A FLIR reflection in a window? Let's try one, quick thing to debunk it and move on — there's cold spots to feel and, most importantly, another episode to shoot.

It's for the reasons Wes pointed out above that I feel this show is appealing more to the true believers while at the same time being insulting to skeptics.

Just look at the weak evidence they expect us to buy into and the half-hearted, if even existant, debunking jobs.

In fact, what happened to them going into a place to debunk things? Now they are going in to find "evidence" to validate their own beliefs in the paranormal.

Maybe things will get better, but right now, they are going in the opposite direction and getting worse.

First of all, didn't Brian start investigating with the International Team? And do we really care why certain people are not on the show anymore. The show is about Ghost Hunting not "Days of Our Lives, Ghosthunter Style". I like the interesting sites the team has investigated this year BUT,… I have trouble with all the action being off camera and we have to rely on "personal experiences" to believe that it is truely a spirit that has made a noise or appeared to someone. The flip-flop scene was ridiculous in Florida and the K-2 meter they use to communicate is unbelievable. They make a joke out of it and if I was a spirit trying to communicate with someone I sure wouldn't like that person laughing at me.

Hi Lora-as Logisti's opening post here states, the show is a "docu-drama", meaning that yes, it is about ghost hunting but also has some side plots involving the main characters. This is supposed to make the viewers feel closer to the team and see them as individuals.

A straight ghost investigation show would not include in-depth analysis of the team members, other then an introduction as to maybe how they got involved with paranormal investigation and their area of expertise. One show that is more of a true research documentary is "Monsterquest", which hardly delves into people's stories/personalities at all.

If you go on the official TAPS message boards, you will notice how caught up fans are in the team members, almost akin to fan worship of celebrities. Since GH has been very popular for a number of years now, apparently Sci-Fi feels it has found the right balance between the "docu" and the "drama".

Hope this makes sense..Good call on the flip-flop and KII meter, a/k/a Electronic Ouija Board.

Harry–i just posted that on another Thread. There is one episode where Andy fights with Brian and J&G let him do more debunking. They actually spent 10 whole minutes debunking things that people said were ghosts. To some that is not scary but at least shows Taps is serious about this. Afterall, that first season they always say "we go into an investigation trying to disprove a hunting."

Yes we want to know what happened to members of Taps. Lisa and Paula, who once shared a site called "The Dutchesses of Darkness (something like that) with Donna just up and disappeared. Dustin went away for awhile then when Brian left GHI he came back. I believe Andy also vanished til GHI. We all know they had other jobs (still cant believe Steve was a cop) but is that why they are gone now? The very first season others like Brian Bell (the computer expert who also fought with Brian) and a couple other females who had very small roles also up and vanished without a reason why.

I noticed too that Kris' first meeting with J&G (God, i hope she isnt fooling around with Jay) seems different than when she first came on the show. I know the last time she talked about how she met them was not the same as when she first appeared.

I think I heard too that the next live show is back at the Stanley Hotel. That makes 3 visits. There has to be other haunted locations to do the Halloween show isnt there? I just read on Yahoo that the White House is ranked the most haunted place in the world. Maybe W will let them investigate sometime. Lets just hope they dont ask another wrestler to join them. I liked when Josh Gates hosted the last one. Maybe if they get the White House Bill Clinton can be the host and he can make the ghost of Monica Lewinsky appear again.