The overwhelming success of The X-Files in the early 90s made TV producers pay attention to the science fiction genre as a profitable business. One of the most striking sci-fi products was Psi Factor: a Chronicle of the Paranormal.
The series was released as part of the television syndication in 1997 and immediately won prime-time entertainment channels. To avoid direct comparisons with X-Files, the Canadian company Atlantis Films decided to release the series in the format of a television show, "based on real events." In the first season, each series consisted of separate plots, interconnected by comments of the “host”, the role of which was played by the famous Dan Aykroyd.
On the brink of science
The main bait for the audience was the pseudoscience of the series. All stories were presented from the point of view of modern science, and with a great deal of reliability. If paranormal phenomena could be explained, it was necessarily voiced by Aykroyd.
To give plots even more credibility, each episode reported that they were all based on documents from the mysterious OSIR agency, the existence of which could not be proved to fans of conspiracy theories.
The meetings of experts, the interview of witnesses, the involvement of experts - all this was “for real”, and the audience really liked this game.
Unfortunately, subsequent seasons lost this zest, and the Psi factor began to look more like its main competitor, differing from it in an abundance of special effects, which gave a feeling of cheapness and unnaturalness.
In just four years, 88 episodes of the PSI Factor went on the air, after which the television show fell victim to low ratings.
The acting team involved in the series mainly consisted of Canadian actors. Some of them became full-fledged big movie stars - Colin Fox, Barclay Hope, Peter McNeill, Matt Frewer.
