OVERVIEW

"The Others" is described as "a new NBC series which imagines a ‘support group’ of ordinary folks with paranormal powers." Creators of this show are John Brancato and Michael Ferris, who came out of Harvard University and worked at the Harvard Lampoon. Other screenplays by this duo are "The Game" (with Michael Douglas and Sean Penn), "The Net" (a techno-thriller with Sandra Bullock), and basic ideas for Roger Corman’s movie, "The Unborn" (a woman is inseminated with a mutated sperm).

Movies and television programs leaning to the supernatural or preternatural have been popular since the late 1980s. We’ve gotten used to ghosts and angels in popular media. There seems to be a popular longing for news from beyond or contact with the transcendent. The "X Files" have been extremely popular for many years. This series (closer to the "X Files" though avoiding the "psychic detective" genre) goes beyond playful contact with ghosts or encouragement from angels; its seems closer to the horror genre. The creators of this series say they were "mandated to write a scary show…with no parameters."

The premier show viewed on NBC on Saturday night, February 5^th. The series stars Julianne Nicholson, Gabriel Macht and Melissa Crider. Nicholson’s character encounters the ghost of a young woman who had died in her dorm room and discovers powers to see beyond death. Viewers get the sense that she would go mad or do herself in were it not for the support of an understanding professor and a support group—an unusual circle of friends also in touch with the other side. It will be interesting to see how long this series will continue.

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION AND DISCUSSION

1. Why was the supernatural absent from television and movies for so long? Why do you think movies about the afterlife, ghosts and angels have become so popular? Does this have anything to do with postmodernism?
2. Have you seen this series? How do you like it, or why would you avoid it?
3. At what age would you allow children to watch shows like this? How would you talk about shows like this with your own young children or with teenagers?

IMPLICATIONS

• The popularity of the "X Files" has proven youthful interest in the preternatural, science fiction, horror, and even darkness. In a different way—and perhaps leaning a bit more toward the occult—this series is hoping to cash in on this same interests.
• It will be important to determine where this series is headed, what belief system it embraces, and what power it holds over young people—and especially those vulnerable to morbid themes.

Dean Borgman cCYS