Paranormal Television

This isn't about writing, but it is about paranormal topics. Paranormal topics on TV. I am loving the fact that there are more and more programs dealing with nonordinary subjects. I think Patricia Arquette does a fine job in her role in "Medium." The show seems to be intelligent and multi-layered. I always appreciate when these subjects are covered without adding any silly religious stuff. Patricia was cool in the lead role in a low-budget movie out a few years ago, "Stigmata," which was all about silly religious stuff. Stephen King's "The Dead Zone" is usually interesting, too. Even though the main character makes me chuckle sometimes with his over-the-top, laying-on-of-hands reactions, it's still a good exploration of psychic abilities. I occasionally watch "The 4400," but have to admit that it gets a bit melodramatic and predictable for me. And, after watching countless reruns of "The X-Files," I'm choking on alien stories. Starting in September there's another "person who talks to dead people" show coming, and the previews look interesting. And, one of my favorite Celtic cuties -- Stuart Townsend -- will be in an updated version of "Night Stalker." The old version was a campy mystery, where a new paranormal weirdness was discovered each week. Stuart was in the very bad movie based loosely on two of Anne Rice's books, "Queen of the Damned," which was roundly thumped by critics and AR fans alike. Yes. It was a crappy movie. But there was something about the cute Irish Lestat (with a very bad accent), who looks adorable with his hair longer than he usually wears it. (Longer than he will wear it in "Night Stalker.") He looked pretty damn good in the also-crappy movie, "League of Extraordinary Gentlemen," where he played Dorian Gray. "Charmed," which has been running for a while, started out OK. It even had some realistic wiccan/pagan terminology/rituals, etc. But, it soon devolved into a silly forum for as much tits and ass as possible. Too bad. So, the public thirst for all things paranormal continues.