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"Inexplicable, But True!"

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Desdemone:
Clinical death, an alien corpse discovered near Chelyabinsk and a lake-dwelling monster in the Tver region are some of the paranormal phenomena that the new television show "Inexplicable, But True!" ("Neobyasnimo, no fakt!") promises to investigate. The show's creators are betting that the Russian audience's readiness to believe in psychic powers and UFOs will guarantee good ratings. They are also confident that their down-to-earth approach -- making arguments based on facts, eyewitness testimony and photographic and video evidence -- will enable them to shrug off criticism from skeptics and potentially hostile organizations like the Russian Orthodox Church.

The host of "Inexplicable," which premieres Thursday on TNT, will be Sergei Druzhko, an actor and singer with a personal interest in inexplicable phenomena. In the premiere, Druzhko plans to share his own near-death experience. After a skiing accident near Mount Elbrus, he survived for several hours buried in a snowy ravine, according to an interview included with a TNT press release announcing the show's premiere. Druzhko credits supernatural forces with keeping him alive until he was found by rescue workers. The host's dual status as investigator and participant makes him something like the fictional FBI Agent Fox Mulder on "The X-Files," whose work studying the paranormal ran parallel to his own probes into his sister's abduction by aliens.

 
The host's personal involvement is just one way in which the show's creators are attempting to humanize unearthly subject matter. TNT spokesperson Viktoria Dzhigkayeva said that, unlike its American analogues such as "Unsolved Mysteries," "Inexplicable" will emphasize the human stories surrounding paranormal events. "We're going to show how people cope with paranormal encounters, how their lives change, how the people around them change," Dzhigkaeva said on Monday. Science and evidence are crucial to the show, she added, but attention to how extraordinary events have changed ordinary lives will distinguish "Inexplicable" from other programs in the genre and make it more appealing to a Russian audience.

Such an approach fits in with other programming on TNT, a channel that features an abundance of reality shows. In fact, "Inexplicable" will take its time slot from just such a reality-based show. "Forbidden Zone" (Zapretnaya Zona) is billed as a "televised private detective agency." Viewers are invited to write in about problems like missing relatives or hacked computers, and the show -- which is licensed to do private detective work -- investigates the cases and airs its findings.

Of course, for many viewers, the mysteries addressed by "Inexplicable" may stretch the imagination further than the lipstick-on-his-collar stories of "Forbidden Zone." But this is unlikely to hurt the show's popularity, said Irina Petrovskaya, a television critic for Izvestia. "People in Russia tend to think that what they see on TV is true," Petrovskaya said on Tuesday. "It's a habit from Soviet times."

As an extreme example of trusting television, she alluded to faith healer Allan Chumak, who was watched by millions of Soviet citizens during perestroika. His fans held jars of water next to their televisions whenever Chumak appeared on screen, believing that his spells imbued their water with magical powers, and drank it to cure disease.

In recent years, however, self-proclaimed psychics like Chumak have become less mainstream. But Petrovskaya noted that Russians can still believe in seemingly opposed traditions, such as Orthodox Christianity and UFOs. "It's something left over from paganism," she said, adding that fortune telling and other quasi-occult practices have been incorporated into Russian Orthodox traditions.

For its part, TNT is determined to address paranormal events more soberly than shows like Chumak's, saying that their rigorous approach will make "Inexplicable" impervious to criticism from skeptics and clergymen. "We show only real facts," Dzhigkaeva said. "It's silly to say something doesn't exist when it does."

"Inexplicable, But True!" (Neobyasnimo, no fakt!) premieres Thursday on TNT at 6 p.m.

sybon?:
i dun beleive it

maggot man:
Believe,my little friend. Believe...

Sonnilion:
whats this suppose to be about....

lovenrock243:
i beilive in alien  i will bet you all in 2010 they will come down and be friendly!! and show us how o make flotation devises ,

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