Dead Famous

Perky girl next door Gail Porter struggles to carry this show on her wee shoulders. Together with the least convincing medium I've ever seen (including Uri Gellar!) she investigates paranormal activity relating to dead celebrities.

Even Gail can't fully go along with the medium because he's so ridiculous. "Stop being weird" she says to him during one investigation and not without good reason. Everywhere he goes he wanders around like a tourist before screwing his face up and wobbling his mouth and making horse noises in a weird way. Then he has a revelation that is to say the least bleeding obvious or falls into a trance where he froths at the mouth and snarls out messages. If Gail should dare to ask him any details he turns incredibly defensive and pissy about the whole thing which is funny, though you can't help but feel a bit sorry for her stuck with that pantomime act.

The best moments are when he is allegedly deep in communication with spirits and there's an unexplained noise, he squeals and panics and any pretence that he's got any spooky powers vanishes. Funny stuff. I cheered every time it cut his lame possessions short.

It's still kind of interesting if you want a short history of famous Hollywood people who have crashed and burned in various was. There's Gail too, who could present a documentary on how doorknobs are made and would probably make it seem fairly interesting. I like ghost shows but I don't think there's really much material to work with, I've never heard any really good celebrity ghost stories beyond the ones spun by people hoping to play up the connection between their business or home and a celebrity.

It's not great but it's still worth a watch, if only to chuckle at that medium who makes Derek Acorah look convincing. They do visit some interesting places and some of the stars might be of interest to you as well.

The reason this show works so well is that unlike certain other ghost hunting shows it is not full of believers. There are only 2 presenters, Chris Fleming and Gail Porter. Chris is the 'sensitive' with the gift of being able to communicate with, feel and 'see' the dead. He has been developing his talent since he was a young boy and is definitely one of the best I have seen. Gail Porter on the other hand is a skeptic and needs a bit on convincing. Together they travel America looking for the spirits of the 'Dead Famous'. They are both rational and don't freak out at the slightest little noise which is where I think a lot of paranormal shows are going wrong at the moment. They are willing to admit when they don't find anything and this makes the show refreshing and unfake! An excellent show.

Gayle's attitude of skeptic is valid. Chris abilities as sensitive are valid. She says she doesn't believe but in every investigation she cannot be left alone anywhere. She gets angry if he doesn't run to her every scream. Also, he allows her to remain a skeptic. She gets aggressive with Chris on the supernatural possibilities that are presented to her. At times, she discredits his abilities. Even though she has been touched on many occasions and runs out of any dark room.

I wanted to like this show, and the hosts are a likable pair, but the show is the same show over and over. Never any real proof of a haunting anywhere they go. Just some photo's of orbs (most paranormal researchers don't consider orbs paranormal) and Chris contorting and making weird noises, sorry Chris but I can do the same thing if I wanted to. Also the choice of locations leave a lot to be desired. If you want to catch a ghost's spirit you should go to actual places they lived, not a restaurant they went to at some point in their lives....

I like Gail Porter, she is cute and perky, even after losing her hair I think she is awesome, but they show just doesn't deliver the goods. However, it can be entertaining as long as you know you aren't going to see a haunting.

In some of the posts, I see people saying that "They don't freak out at the slightest sounds." We must be watching different shows. One of the biggest problems that I see in this show is Gail "The skeptic" hears a slight creek in the place they're investigating, she screams, and runs. Even leaves the shoot to go back to her motel on occasion. If she's a "skeptic" would she run? Or investigate the noise and explain it as non-paranormal. This is where the show doesn't work. Gail Porter is not a skeptic. I like her, she seems very cool. She's a great narrator, but she's far from a skeptic. It's true, Chris's ego does show itself often. Even Jim Morrison recognized it in the episode where they were searching for him. (That was a hilarious moment) I like the show okay, if there's nothing else on. But it would be better if they had three people on the show. Chris the sensitive, A skeptic, and Gail the frightened little narrator.