What Cryptozoology Television Shows Do You Watch?
Posted by: Craig Woolheater on April 21st, 2014
Cryptomundian Joxman2k asked the following in a comment on this post: Mountain Monsters: Yahoo of Nicholas County.
I felt it would be a good question to pose to all Cryptomundians:
I think this is as good a post as any to ask a question. What crypto shows do you/have you watched?
I find Mountain Monsters very entertaining. I also I liked Destination Truth, and Monster Quest.
I’ve seen Finding Bigfoot, In Search of, Haunted Highway, and a few others that I can remember the names of.
I like some paranormal shows like Ghost Hunters and their spin-offs. I can’t stand Paranormal State or some other shows that just completely go for the scare factor.
So what do you guys like? I’m looking for more shows to watch.
Co-founder of Cryptomundo in 2005.
I have appeared in or contributed to the following TV programs, documentaries and films:
OLN's Mysterious Encounters: "Caddo Critter", Southern Fried Bigfoot, Travel Channel's Weird Travels: "Bigfoot", History Channel's MonsterQuest: "Swamp Stalker", The Wild Man of the Navidad, Destination America's Monsters and Mysteries in America: Texas Terror - Lake Worth Monster, Animal Planet's Finding Bigfoot: Return to Boggy Creek and Beast of the Bayou.
I haven’t seen anything worth watching since In Search Of.
All of them. The good and the bad.
@ Poeticsof Bigfoot, lol. That was a memorable show. I haven’t seen it with the cynical eyes of an adult, so I don’t know how much my childhood wonder has framed my regard for it. Perhaps 9 year old me would be absolutely thrilled with all the silliness we have now.
I like Destination Truth. They took this arm chair explorer to many exotic places, framed it with charming narration and travelogue footage, and managed to keep the silliness to the lowest allowable level.
I also liked the one Mountain Monsters episode I watched. They reminded me of the farmers I grew up with in rural Pennsylvania. A culture that is now extinct there, paved over with Walmart parking lots and housing tracts.
All of these shows need to be put into perspective, they are not looking for monsters that might be real, they are looking to keep alive a child’s willing suspension of disbelief for just a little while longer. They will never catch Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny, but the child in all of us is willing to join the search, albeit the older we get the shorter we can join the hunt before needing a rest.
Cheers.
same here with all of them…some are more accurate than others, but when the other viewing options are either 2000’s cartoons, sports, bad movies or soap operas you’d watch just about anything really
finding Bigfoot mostly…. though its just as cheesy as the rest.
Monsters and Mysteries in America and Monsterquest re-runs.
I watch all the shows that have genuinely uncovered something previously unknown or not recognised by the scientific community. So that would be …
As many as I can.
All of them, but Destination Truth is my favorite.
Easy question. None of them. I hardly watch TV at all, as of the past three years or so.
I’m watching the NHL Playoffs. HEY, it’s the PLAYOFFS, and every game is about three times as intense as during the regular season, when I most have it on while I’m online!
@poetics & Mr Rocket: I greatly appreciate your intelligence and wit; i do so enjoy your postings! If you can find them, get the full run of Aurther C. Clarkes Mysterious World and Sightings. Both shows devoted full episodes to cryptids, with ACCMW’s segment on lake monsters and bigfoot/yeti particularly fascinating. The segment on Ogopogo was very enjoyable; as were the shows on sea monsters, giant snakes, and the king cheetah. Sightings also had memorable episodes showcasing the lost world of viet nam/laos, nessie, bigfoot, the giant sloth, and champ. Get em!
Put one on that is science and not garbage TV and I’d watch it. So far, so not good.
Wow I was surprised that my post got a post. Thanks Craig.
I agree that most, if not all, Crypto shows are garbage from a truth perspective. I do find many entertaining and I approach them as such.
Are there any replacements to Destination Truth and Monster Quest out there? I don’t watch TV anymore. I get all of my entertainment from Websites and …stuff …*cough torrents cough*, so I’m not aware of any new shows. I actually got turned onto Mountain Monsters through a post here on Cryptomundo.
I watched Finding Bigfoot’s first season and haven’t watched it since. Has it gotten any better or is it the same tripe?
I’m not really into UFO stuff, but I like general Paranormal stuff on Ghosts and the weird.
Thanks again Craig, and all who have answered so far. keep the suggestions coming please.
😛
Like most of the respondents, I watch none of them. I’ve given most of them a try, and have so far been disappointed. The shows’ attempts to be entertaining usually end up aggravating.
For those of you who like Destination Truth, Josh Gates has signed on to do a new show for the Travel Channel called “Expedition Unknown.” For now they have green-lit 6 1hr episodes. I still like re-runs of DT and Monsterquest. Finding Bigfoot was never a must see and Mountain Monsters just doesn’t seem like a serous show. I keep waiting for someone to go hillbilly hand-fishing a swamp monster.
Re ‘Mountain Monsters’: From an Australian perspective, I keep expecting the rest of the cast of ‘The Dukes of Hazzard’ (original TV series) to put in appearances . . .
I watch anything and everything that comes on, but right now I’m watching season 1 and 2 of Haunted Highway. I love that show and really hope they make a season 3.
Thanks bamsbocce. I can’t wait for Expedition Unknown. It’s on my radar now.
@etheral I like Haunted Highway’s format and hope they make season 3. Jael De Pardo, one of the investigators, was also on Destination Truth and Fact or Faked: Paranormal Files, which I also liked.
In Mountain Monsters I always expect the “Researcher”, who takes notes on a pad when interviewing witnesses, to show the guy next to him the pad and ask “Does that look like a duck?” 😛 One thing I don’t get is that they always build some elaborate trap, that is usually baited, then try to corral the beast and chase it into the trap. A baited trap is meant to lure then capture an animal, not capture a fleeing animal. Always it is entertaining though.
Are there any recent one-off TV crypto-documentaries that are worth watching?
😛
None, but then again I don’t do facebook for the same reason…
My favorites have already been mentioned.
I enjoy just about all of them though. Even the truly awful ones are good for a laugh.
A tad off topic but a couple ufo shows I find entertaining are: Uncovering Aliens, and Close Encounters. Both are on the SCI channel on Tuesday evenings.
I watch them all. I liked the one with Charles Fort’s great nephew. DT, Monsters and Mysteries, Mountain Monsters, etc.. That Bigfoot Bounty and the founded footage fiction series, not so much.
We need a show that stakes out an area more than a few days.
The only crypto show worth a damn anymore is Mountain Monsters. Yes, this show is for entertainment purposes only and this group will probably never deliver any empirical evidence of the beasties that they set out to investigate, but I don’t tune into this show hoping to see the find of the century, I tune in to hear some finely spun yarns by colorful characters and to be entertained by their over-enthusiastic and usually ill-informed methodologies at tracking and trapping said critters. This ain’t science, it’s authentic Americana folklore delivered by a bunch of down home guys who clearly enjoy what they’re doing, and I look forward to taking the ride with them every week, no matter how hackneyed the proceedings become. The idiot box can keep it’s overblown self-professed knowitalls, the Mountain Monsters team is the real deal.
None. I think they are foolish and do a disservice to the Bigfoot community. But there are a few podcasts that I enjoy.
I loved destination truth and monsterquest ill still watch reruns anytime, we need those back on with sum new seasons! But im still happy as hell to be watching a new season of mountain monsters.
@slick1ru2
I’m gonna watch a couple of eps of Bigfoot Bounty. I hadn’t heard of it before. Sounds stupid but I’ll give it a view. Which found-footage fiction series are you talking about?
@Bodie50
Which Podcast do you watch? or are you talking about audio Podcasts?
Thanks for the comments everyone.
😛
@Joxman2k
These are the shows I meant.
10 Million Dollar Bigfoot Bounty
Lost Tapes
Bodie50, you say the shows are ‘foolish and do a disservice to the bigfoot community’. Who are you to decide what the bigfoot community is? Some may say that the bigfoot community are people that enjoy the myth or character called bigfoot. The ‘foolishness’ of the Patterson hoax put bigfoot on the map. The shows may not be congruent with your personal way of enjoying the make believe. You may prefer to pretend that you’re a scientist methodically collecting evidence and engaging in mature Sasquatch discussions, but the bottom line is that its all make believe. You’re just take your make believe very seriously.
Been out of touch recently…but I finally am back in…
Uh, I’ll give anything a chance and I’ve checked out probably almost every crypto show that hits the airwaves. However, just because I watch it doesn’t mean I think it’s a great show. Reality shows are meant to entertain. Period. Aside from accounts of encounters, there is usually no factual evidence presented and, lo and behold, not one show has come up with the definitive proof. Shocker. It’s all about ratings and drama.
My favorites were (I’m with you Poetics) In Search Of, and Arthur C. Clarke’s Mysterious World (you too Raider). Both of those shows at least tried to present something more straightforward, of course they were made before this “cash in” on the reality show schtick.
As for the rest, I watch for fun value, or maybe tune in to catch an occasional account that I hadn’t heard before. I tuned in to Destination Truth each week just to see if Josh would buy it on the air (sorry man, but you’re kind of obnoxious), and Mountain Monsters is just one of the best sit-coms out there.
After my initial contact with Animal Planet about a Finding Bigfoot episode, I realized that these shows have nothing to do with cryptozoology, and everything to do with ratings and money. On the surface you’d think, “yeah, but if they find bigfoot, they’ll be in the money forever,” but the reality is, the network doesn’t really give a care because they’re generating ratings (equals dollars) by not finding bigfoot each week.
Still, cryptozoology is my second favorite hobby in the whole wide world and I’ll support it, even if it means wading through a whole lot of nonsense.