Alicat,

You can also view how the show has transformed from season 1. During Season 1 they wanted solid evidence with witnesses. This then became a baseline for not having single team member storming into areas to conduct investigations, and negated personal experiences.

Fast forward a couple of years/seasons; now you have the team leaders (Jason and Grant) going solo without cameras into so called active areas. Surprise, surprise; each of these investigations resulted in shadow figures that were only witnessed by the solo investigator without a recording device. This same behavior was the scorn of Jason and Grant, and brought their wrath down on Brian when he did it during the early seasons. I guess this behavior is permissible now as solid evidence now. I’m not sure why because scientifically it can not be proved or disproved. Then again GHI has utilized the shadow evidence as the solid basis of their investigation; perhaps GH is just capitalizing off of GHI?

Then you have the GH/TAPS team suddenly turning towards personal feelings. I don’t even know where to begin to measure this quantifiably. The thing is this behavior was frowned on and investigators trying to present it were ridiculed for doing so by Jason and Grant. Yet, now it is perfectly legitimate. Has the team gone through some training to quantify their feeling in legitimate measurements that can be correlated to some sort of data?

Viewers can even view the instruments they use to the devolution of the show. AT first they used EMF gauges that measured such energy with a number reading without human intervention to keep the monitor working. I’m not saying these meters were adequate or scientific due to their employment. I’m just saying the viewers actually got a solid baseline to go from, if they negated the wireless communication contamination that is present. The team used to brag about the numbers, now they are pleased as punch at just blinking lights. Seriously, how do you gauge these blinking lights? Does the full scale with blinking red light mean full on paranormal activity? Did the penny sticking in the instrument affect the device in anyway?  Better yet did GH/TAPS capitalize off this device? Why advertise it during the show? All of which brings questions to the evidence gathered by such devices.

TAPS standards of legitimacy have degraded throughout the seasons. What would have been dismissed as just paranormal activities, are now deemed haunted due to personal feelings and even more questionable measuring devices. Yet, they claim to be scientific. What is even more tragic,  is that people don’t possess the critical thinking skills to question them.

Danelle

Long time lurker, first time posting.  Always lots of interesting discussions going on here.  When I watched the first GH, I really didn't know much about ghost hunting investigations.  I was always interested in the paranormal, but had no knowledge of the particulars.

What really hooked me, aside from the actual paranormal aspect, was the interaction of the members of the team.  As opposed to the silly Most Haunted, the viewer got some sense of the personality of these people.  I've read lots of criticisms of Brian from the early episodes, but I think the drama and personal interactions outside the investigations served the show well.  It humanized these people.

Now there seems to be none of that.  It's premise, drive time, tour, investigate, waste time at the table reviewing, and reveal.  Every single episode.  Cast members come and go with no explanation.  The show has lost some of its' life by becoming so impersonal.

And they seem to find just about everything haunted these days.

I understand that some viewers want the show only to be about investigating.  I think, however, it was the formula of getting to know these people that helped it catch on with viewers.  I believe that anyone tuning into the show now for the first time will not be as loyal to the show as those who were there from the start.