After nearly a decade of programming featuring infrared cameras, thermal images, subjective audio recordings and likely several hundred utterances of “Did you hear that?”, paranormal reality-TV shows are getting locked down by comedy.
At least that’s the goal of The P.E.T. Squad Files, the new short-format show that premiered last week on The CW’s digital programming platform, The CW Seed. Executive produced by Milo Ventimiglia (Heroes and Frank Darabont’s upcoming series Lost Angels), the show focuses on a group of ex-community college students who seek Paranormal and Extra-Terrestrial (P.E.T.) activity while also hoping to gain fame as reality-TV ghost busters.
“In the same way COPS turned into Reno 911, this is ripe for parody,” said John Dale, who both co-created and co-stars in the show with Michael Hobert.
On the mockumentary-style show, which posts new episodes on Thursdays, Dale’s Spencer Gaunt is a trust-fund kid who realizes ghosts are hot wants to use them as a way to get on TV while Hobert’s Courtney Shipp is a true believer who wants to catch credible evidence of paranormal phenomena. They're also joined by exorcist/massage therapist/reikki master/alien abductee hopeful Reverend Todd (Sam Lloyd, Scrubs), on-air "talent" Jayne Duncan (Kelly Rohrbach), sound guy Quentin "Q" Lewis (Da'Vone McDonald) and their director Derek Bawls (Derek Reckley).
Dale said the idea of the show came about when he and Hobert were watching investigative shows