via press release:
GHOST HUNTERS ACADEMY BECOMES SYFY’S HIGHEST RATED REALITY SERIES PREMIERE IN NEARLY TWO YEARS
Latest in Successful ‘Ghost Hunters’ Franchise Delivers More Than
Two Million Total Viewers on Wednesday, November 11, at 10PM (ET/PT)
Head-to-Head, ‘Ghost Hunters Academy’ Beats
Comedy Central’s ‘South Park’ and FX’s ‘Nip/Tuck’ in Adults 25-54
New York, NY – November 12, 2009 – Continuing the popularity of Ghost Hunters — the #1 paranormal investigative franchise on television — spin-off Ghost Hunters Academy became Syfy’s most successful reality series premiere in nearly two years during its debut Wednesday, November 11, at 10PM (ET/PT). The series delivered 2.07 million total viewers, 1.2 million Adults 18-49 and 1.3 million Adults 25-54 along with a 1.5 HH rating.
These were the highest viewership marks for a reality series premiere since the January 2008 debut of sibling Ghost Hunters International.
Head-to-head in the 10PM (ET/PT) time period, Ghost Hunters Academy trimmed FX’s Nip/Tuck in Adults 18-49 and Adults 25-54, while besting Comedy Central’s South Park in Adults 25-54.
Compared to the series premiere of Estate of Panic on the same night in 2008, Ghost Hunters Academy was up 50% in HH ratings, 52% in Adults18-49, 59% in Adults 25-54 and 58% in total viewers.
Coupled with Ghost Hunters at 9PM (ET/PT) – Ghost Hunters Academy catapulted Syfy into the #2 slot among all basic cable networks for both Adults 18-49 and Adults 25-54 during 8-11PM prime (ET/PT).
Ghost Hunters Academy features a group of aspiring ghost hunters exploring some of the most haunted locations in the country and around the world. Led by veteran ghost hunters Steve Gonsalves and Dave Tango, the students train, hands on, in the paranormal arts. The new recruits venture outside conventional classroom walls tackling new paranormal hotspots as well as favorite old haunts from Ghost Hunters including Fort Mifflin (Pennsylvania), Eastern State Penitentiary (Pennsylvania), and St. Augustine Lighthouse (Florida). By passing the course, students can graduate into investigating on Ghost Hunters or Ghost Hunters International.
Ghost Hunters, Ghost Hunters International and Ghost Hunters Academy are produced in association with Craig Piligian’s Pilgrim Films and Television (Dirty Jobs, The Ultimate Fighter, My Fair Wedding). Piligian and Thomas Thayer, along with Rob Katz and Alan David, serve as executive producers.
Syfy is a media destination for imagination-based entertainment. With year round acclaimed original series, events, blockbuster movies, classic science fiction and fantasy programming, a dynamic Web site (www.Syfy.com), and a portfolio of adjacent business (Syfy Ventures), Syfy is a passport to limitless possibilities. Originally launched in 1992 as SCI FI Channel, and currently in 95 million homes, Syfy is a network of NBC Universal, one of the world’s leading media and entertainment companies. (Syfy. Imagine greater.)
well I guess that means there are at least 2 million idiots in America, or people watching the show just to make fun of it.
Johnthemon – AWESOME idea! I’d watch the show religiously if it was given the Mystery Science Theatre 3000 treatment with live mocking!
Or there are 2 million legitimate fans of Ghost Hunters. Now if you want to see idiots, go look at all the viewers of NCIS, now those people are idiots.
Ghost Hunter Academy..
Love it.. I watch all of the Ghosthunters shows on syfy. It is nice to have regular people to learn how to do what the GhostHunters. I hope of one these days I can be in The Ghost Hunter Academy.
As a hunter or a ghost?
Tango sucks! Steve is the only one doing all the talking to the contestants. I think Tango needs to take a step down and compete with the rest of the contestants.
Steve is so mean on the show! haha its funny, Tango is a bit of a pushover though. Too bad its not taught by jay and grant.
It seems like hating on Ghost Hunters is some kind of new trend for internet trolls now? I will never understand why people can’t just ignore what’s outside of their taste. :/
Anyway…
Steve and Tango are both amazing and I love the show so far! Keep it up, guys!!!
I enjoyed the series.and these cadets will have to drop the “know it all yuppie attitude” I get the impression that thes kids look down & feel superior arrogance! They are here to learn.not to show off. Imput is important.not changing the rules to suite them.Tango &steve stress teamwork & cooperation. Get with the program kids growup! TAPs has been doing this a long time.
I like Ghost Hunters–at least some of the time. GHA however, is truly sad. I think most people watch Ghost Hunters to see the evidence and those episodes on GH when there are “personality” problems are the least interesting of all of them. So now they’ve made a entire show out of personality problems, leaving paranormal research as a secondary concern. Not interesting–not good television either. Do I care if the kid with his hat on sideways makes it to the next episode? Nope I don’t, Sorry.
Secondly, I don’t think that Tango or Steve could find their way out of a paper sack, and to see them playing the heavies (well, sort of– Tango just stands there and makes faces) is like putting Gomer in charge of the platoon.
I see that they eliminated the “psychic” from the show. What a surprise. If they are supposedly training more teams for GH why are they even entertaining the notion of psychics? Steve made all sorts of faces when the young woman who claims to be a psychic refused to participate in the backgrounding portion of the investigation, but if anyone ought to know how a psychic approaches such investigations it should be him. He didn’t. So who’s the dummy?
When I see how contrived, shallow and fake GHA is–well, in my opinion it reflects poorly on the original show. I’ll go further. If GH is supposedly so scientifically pitched, why on earth don’t they pursue that to the max? These locations should be staked out and teched out for days not hours; every room should be covered from many angles–longterm. Finally, and getting right down on it–why are plumbers and children doing this? Plumbers aren’t scientists. All they have to know is that crap flows downhill.
All I want to see is scientific proof of the paranormal–that’s it. I don’t care if Brian calls his girlfriend–and finally–I’m really tired of Jason’s unbelievably bad grammar.