New Skunk Ape TV Show
Posted by: Loren Coleman on May 21st, 2012
David Shealy’s new show has been given a greenlight for a handful of episodes on Travel Channel, a division of Discovery. The focus will be about Shealy’s search for the Skunk Ape in the Everglades of Florida. If the pilot gets good initial ratings, half a dozen episodes will be scheduled to screen.
The success of Matt Moneymaker and his BFRO crew’s reality series on Animal Planet has the Travel Channel hoping it can hit paydirt with a “finding Skunk Ape”-style program that will be funnier than Finding Bigfoot. Reportedly, Shealy’s series will air next fall.
Cryptozoologists and Bigfoot researchers are concerned about a trend they see developing in which the field is being played, more and more, just for laughs. Of course, the producers of such Bigfoot and Skunk Ape shows may be laughing all the way to the bank, but in their programs’ wake, the serious sides of cryptozoology and hominology may suffer.
David Shealy in a recent photograph, on location, at his tourist attraction in the Everglades.
About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct).
Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015.
Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.
It’s hard to say really what’s the truth with David Shealy. I’ve met him and he seems the genuine article and has a great enthusiasm for the Skunk Ape (and a good man too) but sometimes it seems off, that is, he’s the only one talking or getting pictures. I believe and want to believe and look forward to the show but at this point, I’m pretty tired of Finding Bigfoot and probably will not tune in again. David, good luck and I hope you can make us all believers!
Ulysses, is it possible that the reason Mr. Shealy has more pictures and talks more, is because he puts more effort into his looking? I have not met the gentleman, but usually the more you put into something, the more you get out of it. I am also NOT SAYING that other people don’t put out a HUGE effort, but sometimes you get lucky too… On the subject of the shows in general, yeah they are looking for that lowest common denominator, and poking fun is usually the way to find it.
Krs9864, well, one of the reasons – allegedly – that David Shealy reportedly gets so much in the way of footage is, according to his own admissions, because his brother Jack is in the costume. Look on the internet, for example, at places like here.
Sigh. These shows are going to laugh us right out of any possible science field and place us firmly in Urban Legend/Reality TV realm. It’s like using Jersey Shore as the be all and end all of life in New Jersey.
I have to admit this is really annoying to me on a personal level as I KNOW they can do better. Not all Reality TV has to be idiotic. Look at River Monsters, Deadliest Catch and Swamp People. I know they are all ‘tweaked’ for ratings but either some tweak a lot less or else they are just much, much better at it. I get that reality shows are cheap to make and that translates into bigger profits but where do you draw the line between calling something reality and it actually being real? For my money Ax Men and Swamp People walk a good line of entertainment while still getting the ‘flavor’ of the topic across. Ax Men has that Cajun/Crocodile Dundee wannabe to entertain the ‘ha, look at that dufus’ crowd and Swamp People have the Geist Brothers (RIP Mitchell) for cheap laughs while the rest of the subjects do seem to be pretty good at getting the lifestyle across even if highly edited.
Something like that might work for a crypto show. Have more than one ‘team’ of researchers either going after the same or different cryptids and let the audience chose their favs. Let the audience see that some use hard science, some use instincts and some just shouldn’t be out there at all. At least it would be a more realistic view of cryptozoology and might actually give people something to think about.
The hat bothers me. From a strictly serious scientific perspective. Sorry.
(Man, at least get a Filson, and drop the hatband decor.)
But seriously, folks.
(Wait…is that a Filson in the second shot? hmmmm…..)
As long as two things happen, shows like this will drive the mainstream away, which is bad:
1. Playing any aspect of it for laughs;
2. Not addressing the evidence, and following it up the way scientists would do it.
That sounds like a good idea. 🙂
Thanks Loren ! That’s quite an article and yes , I’ve heard it too. Again , I like the guy and like what he’s doing and hope things really pan out for him. I salute those who spend endless hours out in the wild for a small glimpse ( Most especlally you Mr. Coleman) of the unknown.