Consigning Reality to Ghosts

THE ghostbusters of reality television never actually see dead people. They spend an awful lot of time talking to them, though:.

“Come on, you coward, where are you?” – “Paranormal State”

“Can you please walk towards me?” – “Ghost Hunters”

“Is there a spooky ghost here?” – “South Park”

O.K., that last one was a ringer. But as usual, “South Park,” in an October episode viciously mocking “Ghost Hunters” and the genre it helped spawn, captured the feelings of the doubters among us. (Of this doubter anyway.)