Sunday, January 1, 2012

"Finding Bigfoot": Death of TV Documentary Shows?

Awhile back I wrote on the hilarity that is the documentary TV show 'Ghost Adventures'. Some of these documentary ghost-hunting shows are very interesting and have some merit...but Zak Bagans' only offer a ridiculous farce of 'scientific' studies.

Well, friends, I have found a new show that out-does the three idiots on the Travel Channel on Animal Planet called "Finding Bigfoot".

I, myself, have always been interested in Bigfoot.  I'm not saying that I think the species and/or creature necessarily exist, but rather that I hope they do. I also have always been curious in those researching sasquatches.  I think my interest has demented from watching this show, which has its second season premiering this evening at 10pm.

Matt Moneymaker, James "Bobo" Fay, Cliff Barackman and biologist Ranae Holland make up the Bigfoot Field Research Organization, and official organization dedicated to finding concrete proof of the beast.

The group conduct interviews with locals at sites where Bigfoot sighting have occurred, then head out at night to try and press their luck at catching one out and about.  They use methods such as 'Bigfoot calls and whistles', throwing rocks, as well as night-vision, laser alarm systems and helicopters to find the Mr. Big.

First of all, you've got to hear these calls.  They are the most ridiculous excuse for a legitimate animal call I've ever heard.   Like all of their other 'data' on Bigfoots, they always just write it off by saying something like  'These calls are something 'Squatches' respond to' without ever describing...how/why they know that to be true. The phrase 'I've heard they do/like that' is uttered several times an episode. I find this heard to believe. The calls they make are crazy loud, and, for a creature who seems to avoid humans at all costs, they don't seem like a noise they would make...let alone migrate toward.

Out of all of them Ranae (the only scientist of the group) is the voice of reason. She is the first to look at certain pictures and say 'I see a guy with a backpack' where as Bobo (because that name helps his credibility) almost always says 'Oh, no doubt in mind...that's a squatch."  Matt Moneymaker, the founder of the BFRO says he has spent 20 years chasing the possibly fictitious beast, and, like all of them, claim to have had some kind of encounter at one point or another (Bobo has claimed to have seen two Bigfoots, and has tattoos of their tracks to prove it).

If you watch an episode (several lead-up to the finale tonight)  you'll see why this show is good for a laugh.  I find the stories the people they interview pretty interesting, especially as they try to see if they are telling the truth...but the 'investigation' is nothing but nonsense.

If the point of the show was to increase people's belief in the existence of Bigfoots...I think they're hurting their own cause. Here's the add for tonight's premiere, gives you an idea of the calls if nothing else, and below that is the famous Patterson-Gimlin film...just for fun.





9 comments:

  1. I dont understand how people Who seem to never have been in the woods get Paid to do this. There aré way better people to search for bigfoot than people Who have spent most of there life in a class room i wou i would love to give it a shot. I cant be any worse

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  2. Guys, iv seen one episode... and i dont wish to watch anymore of it. Renae the "only scientist" didnt convince me either. I gotta say though that MonsterQuest did a much better, and more realistic job on the Sasquatch topic in many of their episodes with REAL scientists. I say if ur interetsed watch those rather than this.

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  3. The worst thing to me is that everyone on the show treats the existence of these creatures as a widely accepted fact. There are never any references to "trying to prove they exist," or anything of the sort. It's this completely fictionalized version of reality that these people live in that takes away any credibility the show might have.

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  4. Regrettably, this program is not much different than the shows about ghostbuster teams who stake out supposedly haunted houses. They NEVER find anything. Oh sure, they have a way of adding drama to it, and the gasp-inducing edit just before a commercial break only adds to the suspense. But when the commercial is over you see nothing really happened, nothing was seen, etc. It really gets old...and fast.

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  5. Pathetic show,Surely they cant get paid for this garbage. There calls are just a weird scream anybody can do, and the fat bloke always reinacts the witnesses scene and confirms it must have been a squach. haha what a joke..However it is good for a laugh and should be showing on the comedy channel not animal planet.

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  6. I agree, just plain stupid. Like previously stated, the show starts with the premise that they exist. They disregard every scientific fact that shows they cannot exist (apes don't have feet that make the kind of footprints they claim to find.. apes don't hibernate and wouldn't be able to find enough food to in the forest during winter..etc..) and state THEIR beliefs as though they are facts. "There's plenty of deer here, so they got food sources".. who ever said they eat deer.. or could even catch a deer? If they had the ability to catch and eat deer, they would be killing and eating hikers! lol

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  7. Three childly, ignorants, stupid people and one normal lady with amazing patience and the ability to be around this three idiots

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