John Edward
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- This article is about the TV psychic. For other uses, see John Edwards (disambiguation).
 John Edward |
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| Born: | October 19, 1969 Glen Cove, New York |
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| Occupation: | Psychic medium |
| Website: | John Edward's official site |
John Edward McGee Jr., (born October 19, 1969 in Glen Cove, New York), better known as John Edward, is a television personality and performer who claims that he is a psychic medium who can communicate with the dead.
Edward was the producer and host of the series Crossing Over with John Edward, which has been both syndicated and aired on the Science Fiction Channel in the United States and on LIVINGtv in the UK. John can currently be seen in the We Channel series John Edward Cross Country
The son of a policeman, Edward was raised Roman Catholic and later became non-practicing.
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[edit] Crossing Over
John appeared on the television series Crossing Over with John Edward, a show which was designed for him to communicate with the deceased relatives or friends of those in the studio audience (a "reading"). This involved his speaking with audience members, relaying information garnered from their deceased acquaintances. Audience members either confirm or deny aspects of the subject Edward is discussing. The show often employs a split screen, so that the viewer can witness John Edward continuing his reading without sound on one half of the screen, whilst on the other half the audience member being read discusses the accuracy of John Edward's claims. A voiceover was also implemented.
In other instances, Edward will have conducted a private session away from the studio audience, who will later talk in greater detail about the situation that lead to their reading with Edward, and what conclusions they have drawn from the event. Periodically, segments attempt to revisit those who have previously appeared on the show.
[edit] Controversies
[edit] Gary Schwartz's paranormal study
Author, psychologist and controversial paranormal researcher Gary Schwartz claimed Edward's abilities were genuine. Part of Schwartz's testing involved a reading of a subject Edward purportedly had not met previously. CSICOP's Ray Hyman wrote an article pointing out the flaws in Schwartz's methods.[1] Schwartz wrote a response to this critique which led Hyman to write a rebuttal.
[edit] 9/11
Shortly after the September 11, 2001 attacks, Edward began filming at least one special in which he met with some relatives of the victims, with the intention of "communicating" with those who were killed. The trade magazine Broadcasting & Cable sent a story, "'Psychic' Plans WTC Victims Show", on the daily subscription-fax sent to news media and TV-station executives on Oct. 25, 2001. Steve Rosenberg, president of domestic television for Edwards' production company, Studios USA, had tentatively scheduled the program(s) to air during the November sweeps period, but news of the taping sparked a national outcry. Both Sci Fi and the Crossing Over with John Edward production office were flooded with phone calls and e-mail, some expressing outrage at the exploitation of the national tragedy, others at what they perceived at extreme tastelessness in search of ratings. Rosenberg initially ignored the criticism, insisting the programming would go on scheduled, but within hours terminated plans.[1] [2]
[edit] Terri Schiavo
On a live March 2005 episode of the FOX News Channel morning show FOX & Friends, Edward claimed that he could read the mind of the braindead Terri Schiavo, who was hundreds of miles away from the FOX News studio in a hospice in Florida. Edward claimed that Schiavo was self-aware and could tell what was going on around her, despite her condition. Edward was criticized by Media Matters for America and Comedy Central host Jon Stewart for the incident.
[edit] Edward in the media
[edit] Daily Show
Jon Stewart of The Daily Show, on Comedy Central, called John Edward a "crazy TV psychic guy" when Edward stated his views on the Terri Schiavo case.
[edit] David Cross
In his comedy album It's Not Funny, comedian David Cross jokes: "Oh, man, so I was watching that show ... there's this guy on stage, and everybody in the audience believes he has contact with the dead and spirits talk to him? (audience respond to him, shouting back, "Crossing Over.") Crossing--? no, no, no, no, no, it was, it was church". Cross then launches an attack on George W. Bush and his Christian views, drawing a brief comparison between what he sees as the foolishness of religious belief and the foolishness of people who believe in Edward's abilities.
[edit] Family Guy
Edward was parodied in "The Cleveland-Loretta Quagmire", a 2005 episode of Family Guy, that suggested Edward is a fraud and those who accept his claims are gullible.
[edit] Penn & Teller: Bullshit!
In the first episode of this series, devoted to debunking "frauds, phonies, and mountebanks", Penn and Teller quoted South Park by referring to Edward as "the biggest douche in the universe". They described Edward and his claimed psychic abilities as part of an "art of deception", and complained that he refused to allow them to tape his seminar and accompanying psychic demonstration.
At the The Amaz!ng Meeting 3 the duo said they discussed the idea for skeptic show to ABC executives. Penn told the executives that he knew they were going to reject the idea, but that the media was part of the problem. Penn told them to think about Edward claiming to speak to relatives who lost loved ones from September 11th. Penn said they dismissed the notion that Edward would air a show on the tragedy. However, after Edward did do a show a few executives did call Penn saying they were outraged with Edward.
[edit] PvP
In a story arc beginning April 1st, 2002, Scott Kurtz's comic PvP called John Edward a fraud. [2] Due to reader response, he was inspired to devote a two-week storyline to the subject. The cast of the strip wins tickets to John's show, where Brent chases off employees of Edward trying to milk his friends for information before the show; during the show, he deliberately gives misleading responses to Edward's questions to make it seem that he is speaking to the spirit of Brent's dead teacher. Brent reveals his deception and goes to the restroom, where he hits his head and appears to have an out of body experience. While seperated from his body, he attemps to contact Edward to get help but to no avail. When he returns home, the episode where he appeared airs and he finds that his segment has been deliberately edited to hide any indication that he deceived Edward during the reading.
[edit] Royal Canadian Air Farce
On a 2002 episode of Royal Canadian Air Farce guest star Peter Keleghan portrayed Edward trying to communicate with dead loved ones of guest Elizabeth Taylor (portrayed by Luba Goy). Taylor was very uncooperative, and ended up giving John a headache, which Taylor tried to help with by giving John a massage.
[edit] South Park
A 2002 episode of the animated series South Park, entitled "The Biggest Douche in the Universe", focused partly on Edward, portraying him as a cynical and exploitative fraud who knowingly manipulates the bereaved, but at the same time gets extremely upset if anyone questions his abilities. Stan works to expose him by mastering cold reading and repeatedly argues that Edward's actions are fraudulent, and more importantly, immoral, as they deceive the bereaved and vulnerable. At the end of the episode, aliens abduct Edward and bring him to an intergalactic awards ceremony where he is honored with the Biggest Douche in the Universe Award, defeating an actual giant douche for the award. It is also important to note that South Park parodied the reasons behind Edward's deceptions. When Stan confronts Edwards in his opulent mansion Edwards runs off crying and Stan searches a bookcase finding several books on the subjects of cold reading and others entitled: "How to be a psychic!", "Cold Reading: The Trick of the Psychic!", "Make Women Believe You're Psychic! Then Have Sex With Them!" These books explain to Stan, Edward's true goals, to use cold reading to copulate with the opposite sex. Another book Stan finds entitled "How To Sixty Nine With Yourself", creating the notion that Edwards performs fellatio on himself.
[edit] Will & Grace
Edward made a cameo appearance on NBC's Will & Grace in 2004.
[edit] Footnotes
[edit] External links
- John Edward's official site
- Getting Over - A spoof of the Crossing Over show
- A Time Magazine column stating how reading techniques are used.
- Greatest Hits and Misses of John Edward
- The Many Contradictions of John Edward
- South Park TV satire.
- South Park Episode 615 - The Biggest Douche In The Universe Script
- "How come TV psychics seem so convincing?" article on The Straight Dope
- Demystifying John Edward of Crossing Over
