Supernatural Trailer – Win or Lose

The Vampire Diaries Trailer – Squeamish

Post from: SF Universe

Air Date: November 19 on The CW

SAM AND DEAN FACE OFF AGAINST LUCIFER

Sam (Jared Padalecki), Dean (Jensen Ackles) and Castiel (Misha Collins) track down the Colt and head off to find Lucifer (guest star Mark Pelligreno) to send him back to Hell.  It’s a hunters’ reunion when the crew joins forces with Bobby (Jim Beaver), Ellen (guest star Samantha Ferris) and Jo (guest star Alona Tal) for what could be their last night on Earth.  Phil Sgriccia directed the episode written by Ben Edlund (#510).

“Abandon All Hope” – Samantha Ferris as Ellen, Jensen Ackles as Dean, Jared Padalecki as Sam, Alona Tal as Jo Beth in SUPERNATURAL on The CW. Photo: David Gray/The CW ©2009 The CW Network, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Post from: SF Universe

Air Date: November 19 at 8:00 on The CW

STEFAN AND DAMON HAVE SOME NEW COMPETITION

After reading the journal left by one of the Gilbert ancestors, Jeremy (Steven R. McQueen) is inspired to return to his hobby of sketching fantasy creatures, a talent he had abandoned when his parents died. Much to the surprise of their friends, Matt (Zach Roerig) and Caroline (Candice Accola) continue to hang out together. When Sheriff Forbes (guest star Marguerite MacIntyre) tells Damon (Ian Somerhalder) there has been another attack, he offers to track down the killer and learns a startling piece of information about the town’s founding families. Alaric (guest star Matt Davis) steps in to help during an awkward scene with Jeremy, Tyler (Michael Trevino) and Mayor Lockwood (guest star Rob Pralgo). Stefan (Paul Wesley) and Elena (Nina Dobrev) come to a new understanding, but everything changes when Elena accidentally makes a devastating discovery. Sara Canning and Katerina Graham also star. J. Miller Tobin directed the episode written by Kevin Williamson & Julie Plec & Barbie Kligman (#109).
Photo: Quantrell Colbert/The CW ©2009 The CW Network, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Post from: SF Universe

(Sound is a little fuzzy — sorry.)

Post from: SF Universe

“Pensacola Lighthouse” – Pensacola, Florida

Head down south with the Ghost Hunters crew as they investigate the spooky Pensacola Lighthouse. Tales of a ghost-like woman lurking the halls have been passed down from generation to generation.

Brace yourself as TAPS searches for clues to explain creepy transparent figures, invisible fingers tapping guests on the head and light switches turning off and on by themselves. Tune in as the team reveals some of their most startling on-camera evidence yet!

**The photo is from an upcoming episode. Can you name the famous writer that may be haunting the house behind them?

Pictured: (l-r) Jason Hawes, Grant Wilson — Syfy Photo: Cheryl Senter

GHOST HUNTERS ACADEMY:

“The Honeymoon’s Over”

This week on Ghost Hunters Academy, Steve and Tango take the investigators-in-training down to North Carolina and put their skills to the test at the U.S.S. Carolina.

Their job will be to collect concrete evidence that will back up the chilling claims of doors slamming, people talking, and pots and pans banging when there’s no one else in the room. They’ll learn how to use more ghost hunting technology. But will their egos get in the way as they try to maneuver through the haunted ship maze?

Tune in to see if one of the students ends up walking the plank and kissing their dreams of becoming a Ghost Hunter goodbye.

Post from: SF Universe

But before they go, here’s a quick look at where I stand with the current crop of futuristic, non-realistic, ghostly, ghastly, makes-you-wonder, shows on TV.

V: The Series

We’re only a few episodes in but I’m into V for the long haul (which means waiting until Spring of 2010 for the second half of the season.) I’m enjoying the pace of the reveals, I like the characters a lot and I see Visitors everywhere I look. I think this show is so fitting for the climate we live in today, even more so than when the original was made. The idea of sleeper agents among us, living next door, ready to turn on us at any moment. No one is safe and I really feel that from Elizabeth Mitchell’s character. I’m also very intrigued by the idea of a priest as one of the story’s main heroes. Religion keeps cropping up in all of my favorite shows and that, I believe, is also a sign of the times. (ABC/JEFF PETRY) JOEL GRETSCH, ELIZABETH MITCHELL)

V gets an A

The Vampire Diaries

Damon Salvatore is the coolest, hottest villain on TV right now. His patented mixture of snark and smarm keeps me coming back week after week. It’s kind of like a modern, teen version of Dark Shadows, with Elena as Victoria Winters. I’m glad that Elena learned the truth this early in the run. She’s a bright girl and to drag it out any further would have been unbelievable. Now, how they’re going to keep a vampire story going in one town for a whole season without it getting ridiculous — that’s the big question.

The downside of this series is the teen angst portion. I can barely sit through another one of Jeremy’s pout-fests or the all-girl gossip sessions. I do like the town vampire hunting council and the fact that they’ve taken Damon under their wing. Last week’s unexpected murder of the visiting vamp was a solid stamp that this show is prepared to go for the jugular anytime they want to. (Photo: Guy D’Alema/The CW ©2009 The CW Network, LLC. All Rights Reserved.)

The Vampire Diaries gets a B

Warehouse 13

Currently on hiatus, but renewed for a second season, this series was an early favorite. Yes, I know there are plot problems and it is formulaic, but the characters make up for the flaws. Pete and Myka have that perfect relationship where they compliment each other, filling in where the other lacks. Eddie McClintock gives Pete that goofy smile and that childlike sense of wonder — he’s a character I’d love to spend the day with. . . and can we spend it in the warehouse? Like a softer version of Friday the 13: The Series which cursed objects running amuck, there’s no end to the stories that could be written. Saul Rubinek steals the show each week as Artie and paired with Allison Scagliotti’s Claudia, he’s even better.

What would I like to see in the new season? A little more danger. We got some of that near the end of last season and it helps balance out the more humorous tone of the show. I also hope they stick with objects from actual historical characters. Poe was a great one. Now let’s see H.P. Lovecraft left behind.(Photo: Syfy)

Warehouse 13 gets a B

Come back later this week as I deliver grades to Supernatural, Fringe, Stargate Universe and more.

Post from: SF Universe

You may know Mark from his recurring role as Sterling, Nate’s biggest foil on Leverage, which is already a six-degrees-of-Supernatural because of Aldis Hodge and Chris Kane. Mark also played Romo Lampkin on Battlestar Galactica and we love, love, love seeing him on TV.

Now for the bad news: this will be the last new episode of Supernatural until January 14 2010. It’s true. Got it straight from The CW and I’m not happy about it either. We usually get one or two new episodes between now and the holiday break but I guess since they premiered the show so early this year, they have no choice but to break early.

Forget the bad news for now and enjoy this clip from Supernatural: Abandon All Hope which comes to you from The CW.

Photo: Jack Rowand/The CW ©2009 The CW Network, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Post from: SF Universe

Air Date: November 12 on The CW

IT’S A SUPERNATURAL CONVENTION! — Super fan Becky (guest star Emily Perkins) uses Chuck’s (guest star Chuck Benedict) phone to trick Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles) into attending a Supernatural fan convention, complete with fans dressed up as Sam and Dean. One of the activities is a live action role playing game, but things quickly turn sour after a real ghost appears on the scene. Jim Conway directed the episode with teleplay by Eric Kripke and story by Nancy Weiner (#509).

Click here to watch a clip from tonight’s episode.

Photo: David Gray/The CW ©2009 The CW Network, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Post from: SF Universe

Air Date: November 12 at 8:00 on The CW

STEFAN LEARNS THE REASON DAMON RETURNED TO MYSTIC FALLS

Jeremy (Steven R. McQueen) gets a break from the mysterious new history teacher, Alaric Saltzman (guest star Matt Davis, “Legally Blonde”) and introduces Alaric to Jenna (Sara Canning). Bonnie (Katerina Graham) is having terrifying dreams about one of her ancestors. Despite Elena’s (Nina Dobrev) efforts to smooth things over, Bonnie and Caroline (Candice Accola) continue to argue over the medallion. When the girls hold a séance to help them decide what to do, the results are stranger than any of them expected. Matt (Zach Roerig) comes to Caroline’s aid when she needs a friend. Damon (Ian Somerhalder) finally reveals to Stefan (Paul Wesley) the stunning reason he has returned to Mystic Falls. Marcos Siega directed the episode written by Bryan M. Holdman & Brian Young (#108).

Paul Wesley as Stefan, Ian Somerhalder as Damon. Photo: Quantrell Colbert/The CW ©2009 The CW Network, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Post from: SF Universe

Are the spirits conspiring against me? Were they trying to prevent me from talking with the newest ghost hunters on the TV scene? If so, they should have broken my pencil, too because I took notes.

Brothers Barry (front) and Brad Klinge are good old Texas boys who use the “scientific method” approach to ghost hunting. They rely on “real-time” analysis, using equipment in their mobile lab to constantly monitor and evaluate data streams while they’re still on location and actively investigating a scene.

Says Brad, “Most groups don’t go over their data until days. . . sometimes months later. ‘Oh, I got an EVP but now we’re 500 miles away.’ Even if you can go back, hot spots change. You can’t recreate exactly what was happening then. So we work in real time. We have people in the Ghost Lab truck monitoring the video, audio, EMF and temperature for spikes so we can check them out right way.”

Real-time monitoring is important if you’re interested in determining the cause behind the effect. Be it a spike in the EMF readings, a drop in temperature or footsteps in the hall, having the data analyzed instantly gives the crew a chance to go back and see if they can recreate the event.

“We don’t just want to catch something, we want to know why we caught it,” says Brad. “That’s why we think of this as a “case study” not an investigation. It’s research and like any science experiment, you can’t do it once and say it’s true. You have to get the same result over and over again.”

Says brother Barry, “Our goal is not to disprove, but to prove the paranormal through science.” They do this by attempting to connect all of the corresponding data in order to get a bigger, clearer picture of what’s happening at a scene.

ALPHABET SOUP

Take the concept of EMF. Every ghost hunting reality show and even fictional shows such as Supernatural work on the premise that a spike on an EMF detector means paranormal activity (as long as the spike can’t be attributed to visible factors like power lines.) But who decided that this was the case? What does one thing have to do with the other?

“That’s a good question,” says Brad. “When we first got into this, we asked the same thing. All of our beliefs are that ghosts are natural energy and energy can’t be created or destroyed only transferred.” And that energy can be quantified and monitored with a meter.

The brothers go on to theorize that an area with a lot of electromagnetic energy from a natural source such as power lines or even camera batteries, is like a “ghost buffet.” Spirits need to energy to manifest so they are attracted to areas with high EMF readings. (I’m typing this from my notes, so if I’ve got this wrong, please do correct me.)

Next to EMF, EVP is probably the most known combination of letters in the ghost hunting vocabulary and the Klinge brothers have a doozy of an example coming up on tonight’s show.

While investigating the theater where John Wilkes Booth was supposed to have gone after assassinating Lincoln, the brothers picked up an EVP that left them literally dancing in the streets.

Says Brad, “We caught a voice saying, ‘yes, I’m John Wilkes Booth.’ What are the odds of getting something like that?”

What are the odds indeed? True to their scientific nature, the team sent the audio file to an audio forensics company with no indication of what they thought they had. The results? “Really good feedback,” says Brad but is that going to be good enough for the viewing audience?

I WANT TO BELIEVE

“You gather the evidence, then you present it to the public and say it’s for real,” says Barry. “People are going to doubt you but there’s nothing you can do about that. In the end, you only have your integrity.” And integrity is something that’s not taken lightly in the Lone Star state where the boys were raised.

If, as a viewer, you’re hoping for something a little more visceral, how about flying silverware? That’s what they say we’ll see next week when they visit the most haunted place in Texas

“It’s in Waxahachie, Texas near Dallas,” says Barry. “A café called the Catfish Plantation. We were there having a meeting and the silverware kept dancing on the table. You’ll see. It’s next week’s episode and it’s the most haunted place we’ve ever seen.”

Wrapping up the call, Barry and Brad Klinge spoke of the insane competition between ghost hunting groups and not just the ones vying for TV ratings. They say they’d rather work together so that their combined research can advance the study of the paranormal.

Says Barry, “To quote a phrase, we’re all in this together and if we can help bring ghost hunting into the mainstream than that’s good news for all of us.”

But I still have to ask the question: why another ghost hunting show?

The brothers’ answer? “Because they’re popular.”

You can’t get anymore honest than that.

So that’s it, SFUniverse readers. I know some of you had some passionate things to say about this latest foray into the world of TV ghost hunting but after talking with Klinge brothers, I’m ready to change my mind. The Ghost Lab series and the promo photos offered by the network make the brothers look like brutish biker dudes. But on the phone I found them both to be well-spoken, intelligent, and friendly people and never once did I feel like I was being given a song and dance. They seem to be genuinely interested in scientifically proving the existence of ghosts. And who knows, if they really did catch footage of flying silverware, then I’ll move them up to the top of my list of best ghost hunting shows on TV.

Ghost Lab airs Tuesdays at 10:00 on Discovery Channel.

Photographer: Jean-Marc Giboux
Credit: Discovery Channel

Post from: SF Universe