Syndicated psychic TV-channels the dead

HOLLYWOOD — A memorable episode of "The X-Files" featured a serial killer who preyed on psychics and fortune tellers. "You really should have seen this coming," he says, almost apologetically, as he descends on one of his victims.

Psychics and spiritual mediums are big business these days, as the proliferation of late-night TV gurus such as Kenny Kingston and Miss Cleo demonstrates. Combine that with the box-office success of "The Sixth Sense," and all of a sudden seeing dead people seems to be about fun and profit.

Enter John Edward, whose Sci Fi Channel series, "Crossing Over With John Edward," will begin running on 180 local TV stations blanketing 98 percent of the United States beginning Monday (10 a.m. and 10:30 a.m., KSTW).

To Steve Rosenberg, president of distribution for Studios USA, which sold the show to TV stations, whether Edward is the real deal, the genuine article, is less significant than the fact that the show is different — an "antidote," as he puts it, to the sameness in the syndication market.

"It isn't another court show," Rosenberg noted, alluding to the glut of robed "Judge Judy" wannabes.

"What makes John work is the fact that, on an emotional level, (the show) connects in a visceral way. Whether you believe it or not, it's just great, emotional television."

Clearly, plenty of people do believe, and they flock to the tapings and fill Edward's audience.

The notion of an afterlife — and better yet, being able to hear from lost loved ones — is so enticing, so reassuring, they eagerly help the 31-year-old Edward, a onetime dance instructor from Long Island, waltz through their family histories.

Of course, just how much help Edward gets in doing his TV two-step has been the subject of some debate.

The show is edited, although the host and producers maintain that is done strictly in the interest of time, not to improve Edward's "hit" ratio as he peppers audience members with questions about someone who has "passed" and is frequently met with a shrug or blank stare.

The producers were especially irked by a Time magazine article published in March, written by Leon Jaroff, which they said was riddled with inaccuracies and biased because Jaroff belongs to a skeptics organization. Among other things, they staunchly deny the story's assertion that the production staff gleans information from the audience and conveys it to Edward or that the editing manipulates what has transpired in any way.

Jaroff, for his part, acknowledged his skepticism but also noted that he tends to vote for a certain political party and is still able to write honestly about politics. Having spent time in the past debunking psychics such as Uri Geller, he understands the powerful attraction such individuals hold.

"There is a great desire on a part of the population to believe in this stuff," Jaroff said. "The people who go to his shows all want to reach (dead relatives) ... They're so anxious to do this, they just sort of lend themselves to his chicanery."

Given the hunger for answers and meaning — and the ubiquitous nature of those late-night psychics and tarot-card readers — one suspects that "Crossing Over" just might work from a ratings standpoint. Television stations certainly thought so, snapping up the series so ravenously that other program distributors started faxing around copies of the Time article in an effort to slow down the train.

Those same rival companies, of course, will be the first to offer clones of "Crossing Over" if the program becomes a hit, which raises an interesting question: Just as "Judge Judy" gave rise to a tide of courtroom shenanigans, could Edward spawn a sea of TV key-benders, clairvoyants and intermediaries between here and the "other side"?