Revenant said:

Nosfer asked: "Can we or should we review Mary?"

I watched the first episode and I just don't see a how we can.  It's not a question of "gathering evidence" and disputing "whatever."  Hmmm…oh…think of it in terms of how we treat "Most Haunted."  We really don't discuss it.  There's no point.  Maybe I can stomach a couple of more episodes, but…I don't see how we can objectively discuss it in the same manner as we discuss other shows and topics.

Just out of curiousity, what shows do you think we CAN discuss? I'm kind of at a loss at the moment to come up with that answer. Have not seen Fact or Fiction yet, so that's a possibility. GH[I,A] has pretty much gone the way of Most Haunted except that they are still trying to maintain that they are serious about what they do and not a ratings-grabber. Perhaps discussion of that franchise is still worthwhile to counter their claims and point out the trickery and deceit.

GL has some hope, we can still point out the science that they overlook or mis-represent (and for them possibly not deliberately but out of lack of a fuller understanding)

Mary? Well, I will reserve judgment until I actually can watch an episode. I don't know the format etc so hard to say at this point for me. You may be right, may not be worth it, but I'll wait until I see it myself.

GA. Ha! Guess we can point out the quirks and idiodacies…course we might be able to do that with Mary, too. But I think unless we can make definite statements about that one (Mary) that it is in our best interest not to. All of our analysis should stand up to the same level of scrutiny that we, ourselves, apply to the shows originally. If it won't, then we are no better, so yes, I'd rather not say anything than to say something that is not defensible.

Nosfer said:

Mary? Well, I will reserve judgment until I actually can watch an episode. I don't know the format etc so hard to say at this point for me. You may be right, may not be worth it, but I'll wait until I see it myself.

Well now that I've watched a full 12 minutes of this tripe I can can say that no, we can't review this show, and no we shouldn't even try. SciFi needs to yank the plug on this debacle and now…not after 6 episodes…NOW! (like I just did)

Why is this show even on syfy? Nosfer, I'm proud of you for making it through 12 whole minutes-I couldn't make up to 10!!

I think it might technically have been 11, and I had in fact written 11 at first, but it changed to 12 while I was writing the post and I didn't turn it off until the very end so I had to be very honest and write 12. :) 12 minutes too many, though.

Are we expected to believe that she (like Jason and Grant when they get calls from Kris while "plumbing") are constantly followed by an entourage of cameras just in case she has to make a prediction to someone?

It looks like SciFi's attempt to really break into the Reality world (I see an oxymoron starting to take shape here). Thank goodness it's cable and not broadcast, or if it's rebroadcast it's only minimal…I'd hate to think the signals constituting this show would ever be picked up by an Alien Civilization and used to determine if there is intelligent life here. If they were, I suspected the Tellurians would be mobilizing their starships to come this way and put us out of our miseries!

Yes, really. There are at least two separate angles here. One is her supposed psychic ability, which is the aspect where I was admonishing about calling BS without evidence or maybe I should say "support" since it's sometimes hard to cull hard evidence from these shows. I have not made any statement saying that she is or isn't psychic.

Suddenly you've lost your mind? Nope, never said that! You're damaging our credibility? Nope, never said that.

Afterall, you did not make any statement one way or the other about her abilities, either, and I never implied or insinuated that you had. Well you did question whether or not Paul had more but I recognize that for what it was so not going to count it. You weren't (at least I don't think you were) screaming BS about her abilities. You did say it would be hard to review with the editing, not showing misses, generalities, etc, and I acknowledged the editing could be an issue and said:

Mary? Well, I will reserve judgment until I actually can watch an episode. I don't know the format etc so hard to say at this point for me. You may be right, may not be worth it, but I'll wait until I see it myself.

So, at that point of not having seen it I was under the impression this was more like a format we were used to seeing with GH/GHI/GL and the like, I thought there might be a chance of at least picking out the edits. I don't think so now as those are probably among the least of the items. You mentioned those few things that preclude a review, let me add a few more:

Notice certain people had their faces blurred? Notice that some didn't? Wouldn't be because they've signed the release? Big can of worms there. Camera following her like that all the time? Remind anyone of the "Gettin' a phone call from Kris" scenes in GH? ie staged. Notice the various angles of shots shown on the fellow in the dry cleaner (I think that's where it was) Either they have multiple camera crews following her (unlikely) or that was shot in scenes, so much for spontaneity.

Now, the other angle is the one I was hitting last night in my post. That is the show itself. It's style, delivery, the performance, etc. My comments of course are just my opinion on it…as were yours. So where they rank, who knows. Someone may like it and that would be his/her opinion and no less valid than ours. And it appears ours are pretty much in sync now that I've actually watched the show. Not having seen the Jon and Kate you referenced, I sure didn't think this was going to be something that should have been on E! rather than SciFi!

There is a big difference between ripping her psychic abilities (which, again, neither of us have done) and ripping the show format, style, and/or presentation.

So yes, I think there is still room for damage if we go out and just blast her claimed abilities without proof. But neither of us have done that.

The not cool thing, though, is that I'd hope after all this time you'd realize that I'm not the type of person who's going to delete or lock a thread just because someone disagrees with me.

Post 2 was written sitting on a bench waiting for an airport shuttle so I apologize if it wasn't the most elegant. Course I didn't think you'd parse every syllable. Yes, judgment had already been passed and I think in a few cases even before the show had aired. And I stand by that analysis. Maybe/Probably not by you as regards the psychic abilities of Mary, but posts I was reading that morning were already calling her and all psychics frauds and I think some of those were written even before it had aired.

Judgment already starting to be passed. Not about show format, but about actual abilities and that's where the danger comes in. Just because it was in a thread you started doesn't mean it was all in response to your views.

Here is an example of the comments that were in my mind when I made the post, these were over at SciFi. The term skeptic or even hard skeptic was thrown around in a few of the threads these are from. I apologize for the language within but I've kept them "as is" You will note the dates and times.

14-Jul 06:16PM
The commercials are very irritating and all psychics are utter frauds. Real sci-fi shows don't claim to be real and are for pure entertainment. Pyschics are in it purely for profit and pray on the weak.

15-Jul 06:04AM
maybe she should have known those burgers and pizzas would fatten her up.. or maybe she couldn't read the food's mind?

14-Jul 07:14PM
I have never been more annoyed by commercials for a show as I have with this one. Pyschics are ALL frauds and hearing this lady say "hello I'm a psychic" every commercial break is the most irritating thing ever!

Pretending you are a psychic and preying on other peoples weaknesses is just plain cruel and borderline criminal.

15-Jul 03:30AM
and yes, psychics are bogus… either that or tin foil hats really work..

04-Jul 05:06PM
I just can't help but wonder, if this fat irritating woman was really psychic, why didn't she know that people would hate her show and think she's just straight up full of B.S.?

07-Jul 11:18AM
The only "ability" any of these psychics have is a keen enough sense of observation to get people to believe broad generalites about themselves.

You will notice most of these frauds are like politicians or used car salesman. They are super friendly and, with hopes, they will get you talking…..the rest is easy.

Soon the mark is dragging out his wallet.