Merged The One - Australian TV

Two threads on this subject merged. The posts are ordered chronologically, so they may be a bit mixed up. Sorry for any confusion.
Replying to this modbox in thread will be off topic  Posted By: Cuddles
 
We are trying to find a torrent. My VCR did not work so I don't have the show.
 
Why is that nobody ever says to these pyschics,
"ok, you can see the future and dead people etc and you knew well in advance that you were coming on this show".
"can you please sit over there and write down all of the answers to the questions we are going to ask you"?
"here is a map, can you mark the grave of the missing person"?

When you get the stupified look from the contestant, just ask,

"surely you know exactly what we are going to ask"?
"I mean, you are psychic, aren't you"?

:nope: :nope:
 
Once again, it comes down to exactly what they claim to be able to do. As Randi says, you can't get a piano player to demonstrate their musical ability by asking them to play a violin.
 
PBTree said:
Why is that nobody ever says to these pyschics,
"ok, you can see the future and dead people etc and you knew well in advance that you were coming on this show".
"can you please sit over there and write down all of the answers to the questions we are going to ask you"?
Click to expand...

Well, they did ask them to predict who would be the three finalists...
 
arthwollipot said:
Once again, it comes down to exactly what they claim to be able to do. As Randi says, you can't get a piano player to demonstrate their musical ability by asking them to play a violin.
Click to expand...



Maybe not but I bet most piano players could hum the tune based upon the violin's sheet music.

You could also get around that by requesting these people explain what they can do before they attend and then tell them there will be a set of questions waiting for them on the show. So bring along their answers.
 
I'll apologise for labelling Mr. Saunders a tool; I'm sure he's not, but with the way Channel 7 edited it there was certainly the impression that little strings were making him nod at everything that was being said.

I'm easily agitated and every now and then delude myself into believing, 'this time it will be different'.
 
PBTree said:
Maybe not but I bet most piano players could hum the tune based upon the violin's sheet music.

You could also get around that by requesting these people explain what they can do before they attend and then tell them there will be a set of questions waiting for them on the show. So bring along their answers.
Click to expand...
Yes, this is the normal process for the MDC. Get the claimant to state exactly what it is that they can do, and what conditions would constitute a success.

hughie522 said:
I'll apologise for labelling Mr. Saunders a tool; I'm sure he's not, but with the way Channel 7 edited it there was certainly the impression that little strings were making him nod at everything that was being said.

I'm easily agitated and every now and then delude myself into believing, 'this time it will be different'.
Click to expand...
Actually, I read your statement not as saying that Richard was a tool, but as saying that Richard was a "tool of the programme" - ie. a piece of equipment that they use for a specific purpose.
 
hughie522 said:
I'll apologise for labelling Mr. Saunders a tool; I'm sure he's not, but with the way Channel 7 edited it there was certainly the impression that little strings were making him nod at everything that was being said.

I'm easily agitated and every now and then delude myself into believing, 'this time it will be different'.
Click to expand...

That's OK. I note that many skeptics are speaking up online about the show. Look, this show won't change much, I just hope it brings more attention to Australian Skeptics. In fact I have media interviews lined up so I will be putting my case.

Remember to keep score on each show and thank you for all your support.
 
Richard said:
That's OK. I note that many skeptics are speaking up online about the show. Look, this show won't change much, I just hope it brings more attention to Australian Skeptics. In fact I have media interviews lined up so I will be putting my case.

Remember to keep score on each show and thank you for all your support.
Click to expand...

As far as I know you are unique for fame as a skeptic without being famous first in another area. I know you perform magic and write but unlike Randi or Hitchens you became a well known skeptic first.

Kudos for your unique career in skepticism! You know you have my non-monetary support from the other side of the world. i'd say a prayer for you but we know that would be a waste of time ;)
 
I've posted a few articles on my opinion of the show's premise and promotion and a review of episode one on my blog.

Direct links to articles:

THE ONE: The search for Australia's most gullible audience
The One: Episode one
The One: Episode one, take two!
A prediction

My call for predictions on the olympians in the upcoming show:
What can we know?

Apparently I either can't post pics or this forum doesn't accept them so my "cartoon" here:
The One: A bit of fun

For those who can't be bothered reading all that, I'll summarise by stating that all promotional material for the show is absolutely closed-minded. There is barely a suggestion that skepticism will even be tolerated in regards to what will be televised. We are told the contests ARE psychics. We are told one judge IS psychic and we are advised to suspend disbelief but, as someone noted above, no one's told to suspend their belief.

Whilst Richard's skepticism was challenged by Daddo, with questions about his willingness to believe and what it would take for him to do so, I don't recall his "psychic" counterpart being asked what it would take for her to abandon her delusions.

Conclusion from episode 1: Credulous whitewash. When Richard says he was alone, he isn't exaggerating. The contestants are against him. The other judge is against him. The host finds him amusing. The ad department can't stand him. The editor apparently despises him. A large part of the viewing audience presumably think he's an idiot. And the spirits have even started screwing up his video equipment!

"Alone" is probably an understatement.

Richard: Unless I misunderstood, you said you've taped the final show. How can this be if the final decision is to be made by public voting? Were only genuine psychics allowed to vote since no one else is in a position to judge the remaining shows. If so, the phones must have been running cold.

On a side note: Is anyone here from Aussie Bad Psychics? If so, can I ask why is there no review of this show on the site? All we're given is some cut and paste promotional material which is anything but skeptical. Not even a one-line dismissal of this nonsense. Is the site all but dead?

I've seen the detailed and humorous reviews at PodBlack's blog and a bit at FlopEaredMule but are there any other Aussie blogs covering this stupidity?

Stacey Demarco is certainly making the most of the very positive exposure, using it to promote her services on her blog.
 
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Thanks for the torrent Richard, but unfortunately there aren't any seeders. If anyone already has this, can you please hop back onto the torrent, and seed. If you download, please leave your torrent open for a few days for others to download. Thanks !!
 
I have the torrent sitting there available for seeding (has been for days) but it isn't. Ugh. I'll try to sort it this afternoon. I'd hate to have to mess with all that port forwarding business again as the last time I did that I nuked my net connection entirely. Other torrents are seeding though, perhaps its something to do with it being a private tracker.

If anyone has knowledge of using Transmission with a Mac and wants to give advice, PM me for the greater skeptical good. :)
 
Thanks nettiemoore. I've taken another look and started with another bittorrent client. It seems I was getting an error "Cheating are we?" when using bitcomet, but I'm downloading now I'm using bittornado from 1 seed at 7kbps... Must be a discerning tracker which doesn't like bitcomet.
Cheers!
 
Richard, in case you're still reading this, I was wondering... did you have anything to do with designing the testing procedures?

The reason I ask is that it's very easy to do this wrong. I don't believe most of the population has any idea of how hard it is to design proper testing procedures, and I wouldn't expect the Channel 7 guys to know how to do it either.

For example, do the camera crews know where the thing being looked for is? (they probably do after the first person finds it...) How isolated are the contestants from each other and from the production team before and after the tests? And so on and on...

I couldn't help but noticing that the one person who went straight for the boy was the last one to be tested (assuming they're showing the tests in the order they are recorded).
 
I watched this program with my husband and I don't know if he was just winding me up but he kept saying things like "That's amazing that they found the kid in all that bush, do you know how hard it is to find someone lost in the bush?" Ignoring the fact that a lot of the 'psychics' first bolted off in the wrong direction.
I like to think he's not a complete idiot but.....
 
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