Psi Factor Review
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Great Canadian Movie Guide

PSI FACTOR: Chronicles of the Paranormal (TV Series)
(1996-2000) (/U.S.) * 1/2

Paul Miller ("Connor Doyle") (1st)
Matt Frewer ("Matt Praeger") (2nd-)
Nancy Anne Sakovich ("Lindsay Donner")
Barclay Hope ("Peter Axon")
Colin Fox ("Dr. Anton Hendricks")
Maurice Dean Wint ("Curtis Rollins") (1st)
with Michael Moriarty ("Michael Kelly") (2nd)
Peter MacNeill ("Ray Donahue")
Joanne Vannicola (3rd-)
Lisa LaCroix ("Natasha Constantine") (1st)
Soo Garay ("Claire Davison")
Peter Blais ("Lennox Cooper")
Nigel Bennett ("Director Frank Elsinger")
others.....

"These stories are inspired by the actual case files of the Office of Scientific Investigation and Research."

Supernatural drama/suspense introduced by Dan Akyroyd, and supposedly chronicling the real-life exploits of a reclusive U.S.-based organization: The O.S.I.R. The first season generally featured two half-hour stories each episode (twice an hour-long story was done instead). Miller played the team leader, with Wint occasionally substituting. The 2nd season switched over to all hour-long stories, underplaying the pseudo-reality (dropping talking head "interviews") and going for more soap opera-y character stuff and a style less blatantly reminiscent of the Vancouver-filmed U.S. TV series "The X-Files" (dropping the black trenchcoats, the G-man style approach of these civilian investigators, and Sakovich's hair-style was no longer so reminiscent of Gillian Anderson's). Genre actor Frewer (a Canuck living in Hollywood) was brought in as the new team leader. Gone were Miller...as well as Wint and LaCroix (in the latter two cases, ever notice how often in TV series the non-white actors are among the first to be dropped?). Moriarty cropped up as enigmatic advisor from outside the organization, and Bennett played the sinister head of the O.S.I.R. Blais was a cryptozoologist, etc.

An odd series in that it was obviously fiction, but most of its advertising seemed to revolve around claiming that it was "inspired" by fact and that the O.S.I.R. was real. However, whether that was intentional, or whether it was just that the mainstream media didn't "get" the joke is hard to judge. Whatever the motive, the claim seemed to divert criticism of what was, essentially, a bad "X-Files" rip-off by passing it off as a docudrama. The implication being, if it's true, the weak plots and poor characterization could be excused. Unfortunately, it was no more plausible than it was entertaining. Even the show's pseudoscientific technobabble was frequently silly if you knew what it really meant and technical errors cropped up, like crediting an Arthur C. Clark quote to Isaac Asimov, or claiming writer H.P. Lovecraft disappeared (they were probably thinking of Ambrose Bierce).

The fact that its main advertising ploy was this dubious "reality" -- and the presence of movie star and real-life paranormal enthusiast Akyroyd (the co-creators brother) -- makes the whole thing just a little...sleazy. The 2nd season changes did little to help. Although there was now more attempt at human drama, the stories still seemed silly and poorly structured, with actors and scenes awkwardly directed. Wint (in his few appearances) and Fox generally delivered effective performances. Frewer, an actor who was extraordinarily good as crusading reporter Edison Carter in the SF series "Max Headroom", was less effective here. Interestingly, many of the cast had appeared in previous "genre" series (including Fox in the cult Canadian series, Strange Paradise). Occasionally, stories were actually set in Canada! A trade paperback book was published in 1997 by Dan Aykroyd featuring text adaptations of many of the first season stories. Created by Peter Akyroyd, Christopher Chacon and Peter Ventrella. Hour-long episodes, shown in Canada on CanWest-Global. At the writing of this, I'm not even sure if the later episodes have ever been shown in Canada, despite Global running the first few seasons continuously!