S06.E02: Psychics

[Athena]

Quote

Other segments: William Happer, 2018 North Carolina’s 9th congressional district election fraud allegations
Guests: Rachel Dratch

 

[Lantern7]

Quick heads-up if you're looking at this during commercials at the Oscars: tonight's episode is slated to run from 11:18-11:50 p.m. Apparently, the True Detective finale runs past sixty minutes. Why HBO is running it against the Oscars is beyond me.

[Annber03]

And this episode is a perfect reminder of why the only time I ever bother to watch daytime talk shows is if an actor or musician I like is a guest. Every time I see a clip or commercial for Doctor Oz I just keep thinking about all the times he was mocked on "The Soup". 

(I also can't see a fortune cookie without thinking of the old Rocko's Modern Life episode where Filburt kept getting cookies that said, "Bad luck and extreme misfortune will haunt your pathetic soul for all eternity." :p). 

Seriously, though, another reason to add to the list that proves why these people are clearly full of shit: let's say I legitimately had the power to speak with the dead. I don't know about anybody else, but I definitely do not think that's something I'd be making public, let alone try to capitalize on. For one thing, I wouldn't want all these people coming to me to try and see if I can contact their loved ones, because that would be too overwhelming and cause too much potential stress for all involved. 

For another, and perhaps most importantly...that'd be a really, really weird, scary, intense power to have.  Despite all the interest in mediums and whatnot, I honestly don't think a person who actually had that kind of power for real would be so easily accepted by the public. I think there'd be a lot of people who'd be very wary of them, and think they're part of some horrible evil occult stuff, or whatever. 

And yes, bullcrap to that "the dead don't share names" nonsense in regards to murder victims. How convenient. I am very much all for exposing these frauds the way some of those shows have. 

As for that North Carolina race, I'm all for a recount of that simply because, seriously, can we please be about done already with these anti-gay elected officials? Good lord. Honestly, though, it's beyond shameful that we've got so much of this sketchy election crap going on in this country. 

[Robert Lynch]

Unfortunately, my mother watches those medium shows and everything I see in those shows I just roll my eyes. Ever since John Edwards and Cleo came aboard in the early 2000s, I learn not to trust any psychic. I think the future I make is what I do and nothing else.

That clip with the Hollywood Medium is so ridiculous. I always tell mom that he looks up inside information based on a certain person and it is an act. However, she falls for that and tries to get me tickets to see that Caputo lady, but I refuse to go. I don’t think it is right at all. Unfortunately, people fall for that and it is prevalent still. Especially someone as vulnerable as my mom.

Edited February 25, 2019 by Robert Lynch

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I'm with John Oliver. If there is an afterlife and if I am murdered and if a psychic makes contact with my spirit, I'm pretty sure that the first, last, and only thing I would be trying to get across is the name of whoever killed me!

If you want to check out tonight's website::

https://www.mediumimpressive.com/

[bilgistic]

I live in Charlotte, NC. There was a hilarious picture (below; it was on the front page of the Charlotte Observer) and video taken during the trial that I wish John had shown. Mark Harris was holding back Baptist preacher crocodile tears when his son was testifying against him. Harris is a disgusting, bigoted piece of garbage.

Edited February 25, 2019 by bilgistic

[Lantern7]

I’m debating to myself whether to show John’s topic to my mother. I don’t think she goes “all in” on psychics, but she does watch Long Island Medium. It might make up for me not forcing her to watch the episode of South Park where John Edwards was raked over the coals. The title: “The Biggest Douche In The Universe.” It did hit a lot of points John was talking about.

The bit where the “psychic” got exposed at a diner? WOW. Someone at that TV station probably got hosed by a predatory psychic, because that was an epic takedown.

Edited February 26, 2019 by Lantern7

[ahisma]

8 hours ago, Annber03 said:

As for that North Carolina race, I'm all for a recount of that simply because, seriously, can we please be about done already with these anti-gay elected officials?

Even better, they're going to hold a new election and that bigoted piece of garbage isn't sure he's going to run, now that everyone knows what a cheating sack of s*** he is. (They can't do a recount because the operative he hired perverted the absentee ballot process so that the ballots collected aren't accurate.)

I was a little bemused that with everything going on, psychics was the topic of the week. But I didn’t realize how prevalent they are with their own shows and tv guest spots. Ugh. 

[ganesh]

10 hours ago, Robert Lynch said:

I think the future I make is what I do and nothing else.

You and Sarah Connor!

5 hours ago, Lantern7 said:

It might make up for me not forcing her to watch the episode of South Park where John Edwards was raked over the coals. The title: “The Biggest Douche In The Universe.” It did hit a lot of points John was talking about.

That was a killer episode. I was surprised that Edwards is still around conning people. Penn and Teller also do a great bit in their Vegas show on cold reading people in the audience and run through the whole con. 

I also was surprised at the choice of topic. I wanted to see more takedowns!

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I would watch an entire episode of takedowns. I also loved the one where the psychic said the little girl was dead and the reporter said she was the girl in the photo. 

Edited February 25, 2019 by ElectricBoogaloo

[meowmommy]

While it's appalling that so many average citizens believe in psychics (4 in 10!  WTF!), it's more appalling that supposedly educated and sophisticated people like Meredith Vieira and Matt Lauer are taken in.  And as if there weren't enough reasons to spit on Dr. Oz's medical license.

21 minutes ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

I also loved the one where the psychic said the little girl was dead and the reporter said she was the girl in the photo. 

Same here.  For every Long Island Medium show produced on trash cable, there needs to be an Amazing Randi spinoff to debunk it.

[ganesh]

As soon as the guy talked about fishing, I figured that was something that could be searched quickly.

[TVbitch]

Some of friends even believe in this shit. It's painful to have to act interested, cuz you can't really call them idiots ...until you get home. 

[attica]

I also love the universal response "they knew things they couldn't possibly have known!" Um, sweetie, they were watching your face as your expressions and head nods told them all the things they said back at you!

[Robert Lynch]

2 hours ago, TVbitch said:

Some of friends even believe in this shit. It's painful to have to act interested, cuz you can't really call them idiots ...until you get home. 

That’s the huge problem there. It’s hard to disconnect from reality when they give you a storyline. In this case, Hollywood Medium being clueless due to his youthful age as to who he meets up with.

[izabella]

I was deeply disappointed John didn't have a clip of Allison DuBois, from the infamous "Dinner from Hell" at Camille Grammer's house on Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.

[BuyMoreAndSave]

Disappointed that they didn't work this clip into the "takedowns" section:

[Iguana]

Hello, John. I’m feeling an aura around you and am getting a picture of something that begins with a B... brilliant? ...baffling? ....bucks? ...No it’s coming clearly now...broadcasters!

That was a brilliant takedown of those bullshit fakes. They brazenly  prey on vulnerable people’s grief, sorrow and fear for the bucks. It’s baffling and sad how so many believers in this bullshit there are and how the various broadcasts promote it.  And I still feel another B  there somewhere... what is it... BULLSHIT!!!!!

edited to add:  and just as I post this, the ad that shows up is for a free angel reading from a psychic. Those algorithms may be the ones with the mind reading powers. Scary. 

Edited February 26, 2019 by Iguana
Coincidence or not?

[Epeolatrix]

I am reminded of the British performer Derren Brown and the séance episode he performed on Channel 4. He just used regular magician tricks and yet the students attending the séance freaked out. He also did one on professional psychics in the Messiah episode, if you're interested.

[meowmommy]

There's a fascinating NY Times article today on psychics, and how some people have made it their mission to take them down.  Apparently one tool in the 'hot read' toolbox is reviewing people's Facebook pages for information, so the debunkers have taken to creating fake FB pages for the psychics to stumble over.

I hope John does some follow-up, especially when the psychics are exposed as the conniving fraudsters they are.

[Lois Sandborne]

I'm always so intrigued by what they choose to focus on week to week. Why psychics all of a sudden? Because those charlatans are somehow pulling in 2 billion bucks a year, that's why.

I enjoyed the discussion, especially at a time when everyone is so highly attuned to truth vs. fiction.  I've been passively aware of there always being celebrity psychics and psychic celebrities hanging around, but just like you @meowmommy, that 4 of 10 statistic blew my mind.  And all these different shows, and conventions, and John Edward playing pull an Irish name out of a hat.  I had no idea all of this was going on. 

I remember when I was a kid and Dionne Warwick was a constant punchline for her psychic friends. And then she was suceeded by Miss Cleo who my sister and I used to clown all the time.  Looking back I'm kinda galled by how much money they were undoubtedly raking in.

And I was also reminded of a great Designing Women plot with Julia trying to get Charlene to stop seeing her psychic Tova from Biloxi, lol; Julia went through the whole spiel of a cold read: "You have children ... no you want children very, very much," etc. If I recall correctly it ended with some pap about Charlene wanting to believe, and Julia left her alone.  But clearly it isn't as cut and dried as all that when these people are causing real harm just to make some coins. Sylvia Browne or whoever it was should've been charged herself for going on TV and telling that woman her kidnapped child was dead, while the child's in captivity watching the show all the while.

I wish there were a way to regulate BS like this, but I guess there's some merit in at least spreading the doubt, letting some of the air out of the $2 billion balloon.  So I say show this episode to all y'all's mothers, and whoever else believes in the Long Island Medium.  The more people who see that supposedly dead child show up in the Denny's parking lot (what, she couldn't feel his "energy" from the booth right behind her?), the better.

[Conotocarious]

It’s not as easy as showing them psychic takedowns. My mom would just say that it obviously wasn’t a “real” psychic but that they do exist somewhere out there.

My sister saw a psychic after her daughter died suddenly and unexpectedly. It was such a shocking tragedy. If seeing the psychic made her feel better, my friends told me I shouldn’t say anything. But some of the things the psychic told her pissed me off.

Edited February 28, 2019 by Conotocarious

[cardigirl]

I have a friend who watched the episode and said he was only referring to a certain type of psychic. So she totally agreed with everything he said about the people he showed on the show, but she still believes there are people who are able to communicate with spirits. 

[biakbiak]

I had a friend who put himself through college working on both a phone sex line and a psychic hotline (he played a female for both) and he said he felt much more sleazy/dirtier doing the psychic hotline but that it paid better because it was a lot easier to keep people on the line longer.

[lucindabelle]

I loved this episode. Hilarious.

that said I went to a press conference with a famous medium who talks to the dead. She gave mini readings to all the journalists there. She gave me my paternal grandmothers name- straight out, no “begins with an s” or “sounds like.” And it wasn’t “to the room”- she went person by person around the table . She said someone named Mimi wants to talk to me.

i can’t eemember why orbwhat this person wanted to say. 

came home asked my mom and turns out I had a great aunt mamie I never knew.

i think most people call psychics (not mediums) to find out “what is he thinking? Is he cheating? Does he love me?”

that could be preying in people too but in a very different way. 

Edited March 2, 2019 by lucindabelle

[peeayebee]

I love whenever Rachel Dratch appears on the show. 

[lookeyloo]

On 2/27/2019 at 7:39 PM, Conotocarious said:

It’s not as easy as showing them psychic takedowns. My mom would just say that it obviously wasn’t a “real” psychic but that they do exist somewhere out there.

My sister saw a psychic after her daughter died suddenly and unexpectedly. It was such a shocking tragedy. If seeing the psychic made her feel better, my friends told me I shouldn’t say anything. But some of the things the psychic told her pissed me off.

You know, most of these people are not real, and maybe none of them are real.  After my brother killed himself, someone told me about someone who did this sort of thing, but, thought of it as a gift, didn't advertise, didn't charge, and was a nurse.  Maybe that gave him some skill at cold readings. He didn't know me and the person who told me about him didn't know him, just of him.  I went there by myself and told him I wanted to see if anyone was there for me.  I have lots of deceased relatives.  He said "your brother".  He proceeded to talk for a period of time, me not responding (unless I was giving off clues, could be) and there were things he couldn't have known.  When I got home, Mr. lookeyloo, who is a complete skeptic, was surprised by how much the fellow got right, especially about the personality of my brother.  And Mr. lookeyloo said to me "if it comforts you I'm all for it".  I just saw that fellow once.  It did comfort me.

[bilgistic]

I believe in psychics (intuitives/sensitives/empaths/whatever) because I'm "a little bit psychic", as I call it, but it's pretty useless. Among other things, I have things happen like I'll have an obscure song in my head for days and then hear it on TV. It's like I have an antenna that picks up a really insignificant signal. Supposedly, one can develop and hone one's "gift", but I'm already mentally troubled enough (mental illness and sensory issues) without picking up on *more* atmospheric energy.

A "gifted" person is also never "supposed" to use one's "gift" for personal gain, and making millions from TV shows and personal appearances is serious personal gain. I think a select few of these folks have *some* natural ability, but they have bastardized and exploited it, and just plain lied about so much else. It's sad and shameful.

[Lois Sandborne]

I think this is the crux of the problem, and a part of why you couldn't dream of trying to regulate this in a real way. The few people who aren't exploiting or manipulating anyone, or aren't even charging anyone and seem to be only in it for the altruism would be caught up in the net with all the snake oil peddlers. Even then, people are still technically free to seek out and pay for what they want, and on the other hand, to sell what people want.  Some people even equate their psychics to spiritual advisors, and then you enter the murky world of the 1st Amendment, and wondering whether it's possible to charge Creflo Dollar for shilling $20 vials of personally blessed holy water ... .  But I digress.

[attica]

I used to enjoy going to Psychic Fairs, (do these even still happen? it's been decades.) which were 20-odd people renting conference space in a hotel over a day or two and charging $20 a pop for readings. There were always posted (and printed on flyers) disclaimers "For Entertainment Purposes Only!" Which I think kept them on the legal side of the law.  Of course in these set-ups, there was no chance for repeat business, so the likelihood of being bilked for thousands to 'lift curses' or whatever was minimized.

And no, nobody ever told me anything interesting that was to come true, and most of what was plausible was so because it was so vague. "A blond man will send you flowers." Um, ok! That happened! Ooh! How could she knowwwwwww!

My lasting memories of them were all the innovative Caftan deployments I saw. Which is, really, Work Wardrobe Goals.

[Sandman]

I'd like to think (at least sometimes) that some kind of sensitivity or "gift" is possible -- partly just because I think it suggests a more interesting and varied universe than pure logical positivism; but even so I think that charlatanism is a huge part of this industry. I've never actually been to a psychic fair, either; haven't heard of one, I think, since my university days (approximately back when they were beta-testing dirt). But I always wanted test the practitioners in some way. I used to carry a worry stone with me everywhere, and I would wonder idly what a self-declared psychic would make of it. (I no longer have it. Would that I could say I abandoned all my worries along with it!)

But mostly I'm here to state that "Caftan Deployments" is officially my new favourite thing.

[Sandman]

On ‎2‎/‎27‎/‎2019 at 11:43 AM, Lois Sandborne said:

Dionne Warwick was a constant punchline for her psychic friends.

Heh. I know it's not what you meant (at all!) but this kind of sounds like she had some mean friends who were using their gifts for evil.

[Hanahope]

4 hours ago, attica said:

I used to enjoy going to Psychic Fairs, (do these even still happen? it's been decades.) which were 20-odd people renting conference space in a hotel over a day or two and charging $20 a pop for readings. There were always posted (and printed on flyers) disclaimers "For Entertainment Purposes Only!" Which I think kept them on the legal side of the law.  Of course in these set-ups, there was no chance for repeat business, so the likelihood of being bilked for thousands to 'lift curses' or whatever was minimized.

And no, nobody ever told me anything interesting that was to come true, and most of what was plausible was so because it was so vague. "A blond man will send you flowers." Um, ok! That happened! Ooh! How could she knowwwwwww!

My lasting memories of them were all the innovative Caftan deployments I saw. Which is, really, Work Wardrobe Goals.

I've had the occasional "tarot card reading" at Renaissance Faires, which also, are clearly intended to be for entertainment.  I did it once in New Orleans as well (during Mardi Gras), which I also took for just some fun entertainment.  Still, I remember some of the pieces of these readings and I will say, absolutely nothing has come true (unless I eventually win the lottery or something, cuz one reading said I was going to be rich and not worry for money, and well, i'm waiting...).

[Danny Franks]

I'm not sure that devoting an episode to exploring the ways in which psychics are con artists was really worth the time and effort they put into it. Yes, it was fun to see some of them exposed, but the hot/cold read stuff is hardly surprising. Of course that's the way they operate, and I don't see how anyone could fall for that nonsense.

But some people are far more credulous than others, and if you can be surprised that the person who knew you were going to interview them has done some research on you, then you probably deserve to be conned.

The 'psychics' who pretend to be in touch with dead loved ones are... whatever. They're grifting off the gullible, and that's bad, but I don't really care that much. Those who actually exploit the current fears of people looking for missing people are the real scumbags.

The highlight of the episode, for me, was that sanctimonious, hypocritical liar, Mark Harris, saying he ignored his son telling him he was breaking the law because "he has a touch of arrogance." What a piece of shit he is, and how typical he is of the party he represents.

[bilgistic]

3 hours ago, Danny Franks said:

The highlight of the episode, for me, was that sanctimonious, hypocritical liar, Mark Harris, saying he ignored his son telling him he was breaking the law because "he has a touch of arrogance." What a piece of shit he is, and how typical he is of the party he represents.

One day this week, the front page of the paper had the story about his decision to not run again (in the new election) for the same seat. You don't say. Like, 1) why is there even a question that he would, but 2) there are people who would vote for him despite his crimes because, well, look at where we are nationally.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

On 3/6/2019 at 8:14 AM, attica said:

My lasting memories of them were all the innovative Caftan deployments I saw. Which is, really, Work Wardrobe Goals.

Ha, I feel like I should add this to the career goals section of my employee evaluation!