What if Psychic Detectives Truly Existed?Looking at some Paranormal Police Procedural TV Series?

Wonder how it’ll have been having individuals among us with super human abilities to foretell events before they actually happen? Individuals blessed with the uncanny ability to sniff out the perpetrators of misfortunes and causes of it with ease?

Maybe 9/11 will have been thwarted or even the incident at Pearl Harbor nipped to the bud; also most of the dangerous and heinous crimes ever recorded in history will somehow be reversed for good by these powerful individuals who live amongst us to protect our interest and ultimately our lives. But then we live in a world where reality and what we can see and feel is that we can believe.

But it does not hurt I think to sometimes reason along paranormal lines, and maybe we can unknowingly solve the myriad of problems currently facing and bedeviling our world by exercising such deviant beliefs. Most times I look at some of my favorite paranormal cop procedural TV series; currently airing or cancelled and I wonder how it’ll be having these group of invincible human characters to serve as our protectors when faced with dire straits and life threatening situations.

Below is a list of such TV series, read, and comment not forgetting to add yours-

1. 1. Dead Zone: this is my all-time favorite of all paranormal Cop Procedural series; this is strangely so looking at the plot of the story which happens to be a very complex yet easy to understand Plot line. This series s all about a High school teacher Johnny Smith played by Anthony Michael Hall; who after a ghastly accident went into a coma that lasted for about six years. After waking up from this comatose situation, he discovers his psychic abilities to predict past, present and future events just from touching the person involved. He developed this ability as a result of bringing to life the dead portion of his brain- a portion known biologically to be dormant in every Human specie. This sudden preternatural acquisition of his could be attributed to the trauma he faced after the shocking accident that made him paraplegic and almost atrophied from inactivity of his entire body. You can also notice as the show progresses that this novel ability transcends just touch; he can sense things just by handling items like clothing, guns and just any stuff that connects a person to a certain event which mostly is crime. From touching these paraphernalia, he can easily deduce and infer; and 100 percent of the time he is actually right. Other characters in this wonderful series that lasted for six seasons include Sarah Anne Bracknell-Bannerman played by Nicole de Boer, Johnny’s ex-girlfriend and future wife prior to the accident. Sarah left after staying by Johnny’s side for several years hoping that he awakens from his comatose state, unfortunately she lost hope of any form of recovery looking at the sorry state and never improving condition of Johnny; she leaves John to marry Sheriff Walt Bannerman played by Chris Bruno who Sarah met at the same hospital where Johnny was admitted. Other notable characters are- Bruce Lewis (John L Adams)- Johnny’s physiotherapist, J.J Bannerman/Smith- Johnny’s biological son who Sarah conceived prior to the accident, now legally Walt’s son. With his ability, Johnny solves many crimes ranging from terrorism, kidnap and abduction cases, murder, molestation, battery and just any disturbing crime that threatens the peaceful existence of the entire community. He is helped by Sheriff Walt who at first doubts his ability which was rather personal since he considers Johnny a threat to the stability his marriage to Sarah and family, which leaves him dead worried about his son J.J and the natural connection he is developing with this stranger. Making him wonder if J.J sees Johnny as his real father. Together with Sarah, Sheriff Walt, Bruce. and other casts- Johnny plunges into the world of exploiting his super-psychic abilities to make his world a better place. Just imagine having someone of his reputation and reckoning in our midst?

2. Tru Calling: though this TV series was cancelled prematurely after its sophomore run, I still think it is worth the mention. Now imagine this scenario: what if the dead can truly communicate with a living person? What if the dead can really tell tales? Well this is what we are in for in this particular series as we are introduced to the heroine of this drama Tru Davies played by Elizabeth Dushku- who after graduating from college had the ambition to go to medical school to train and become a qualified doctor. Tru had many issues ranging from family pressures, peer problems, career issues and more. She was supposed to start an internship in a hospital but unfortunately for our heroine, the said internship at the prestigious Hospital did not click through as she was left with the option of having the internship at a morgue of all places. This was fate in the making, as Tru while working at this particular morgue under the supervision of geeky and shy manager Davis played by Zach Galifianakis, discovers her psychic ability to communicate with the dead- quite splendid for her or should i say bizarre!. Tru had other surmountable and insurmountable problems staring at her in the face; like this cheating boyfriend/lecturer to cope with, a gambling younger brother to babysit and a dope head cum self-centered senior sister who she tries to put up with, and of course not forgetting her best friend Lindsay Walker played by Criminal mind’s finest A.J Cook- who thinks Tru is too nerdy and needs to pick up more on her social skills and tries to hook Tru up every now and then by fixing blind dates for her with incompatible male characters. Tru now equipped with the ability to communicate with the dead, decides to become some sort of medium by employing this power of hers to set things right by righting the wrongs of her victims through her rather freaky and overtly sincere investigative tactics which involves revisiting the past to find out what led to her victim's premature death. The funny thing here is that these victims who ask for Tru’s help are oblivious of their ordeal in the hands of death- remember she relives days and meets these victims few hours to their death. She finds out about these people they start calling out gently to her for help by saying these exact words- “I need you”. When this happens, Tru relives the day as she wakes up with her alarm clock sounding off so loudly. With the knowledge of what happened the previous day, she knows of all the people she’ll be meeting, their conversation, tantrums, gossips and just about anything that makes a typical day. The first experience she had was a young woman brought in dead who was mysteriously murdered. Tru being so kind and empathetic, finds herself in the mix of things and for this reason decides to investigate to what led to the victim’s death. In the course of her investigation, she encounters many upheavals like people seeing her as a freak, especially her victims who find it rather weird seeing a beautiful woman working up to them and telling them to be careful as their lives could be in danger. She goes on to tell the victim of possible signs to make them believe what she is saying. When these signs begin to show, the victim now believes Tru, then solicits for her help in thwarting the unfortunate situation. With her effort, she saves the victim, but not all the time. There was this particular case where she tried to save a firefighter who dies saving others. She really fell for this guy, because this guy was everything she hoped for in a man. But he dies in a fire, when he was brought in; he asks for Tru’s help, and the process reoccurs as she starts the day afresh. She begins investigating his death by following every possible lead that will help keep this hunk of a man alive not just for her, but the entire community who needs his firefighting dexterity to save lives. painfully he dies saving another little girl. she also experiences other situations that leave her wondering if this power was truly beneficial or just a curse on her. it is also revealed in the series that she inherited these ability from her mother who she is still investigating her death after she was murdered in cold blood as Tru watches from a hidden corner. unknown to her, her supervisor knows of her condition, though he protects Tru knowing her mother who died as a result of such abilities. Tru also confides in her Junior brother who sees this as a God sent financial opportunity to help him predict winning numbers that will aid him in his gambling adventures. With her powers she unravels many mysteries, truths and saves many lives. If there was indeed a Tru Davies amongst us, I'll have loved to see her save President Kennedy and his brother from the hands of those cold blooded murderers who disrupted a beautiful moment in America's political history, what about you?

3. The Listener: another superb drama currently in its fourth season after a successful third , second and premier runs. This drama is about a young paramedic Toby Logan played by Craig Olejnik, who discovers his ability to read minds and inner thoughts of others. He got separated from his mother (a freak herself) at an early age. Toby with his paramedic best friend Osman "Oz" Bey (Ennis Esmer) who at first is oblivious of Toby’s powers, drive around the city of Toronto in their ambulance responding to emergencies and saving lives as paramedics. At first Toby was really confused on what to do with this abilities, he wondered if it was a gift or a curse. He only realized this gift was truly remarkable after saving a woman in distress who had his son abducted by a killer cop who she witnessed killing his partner. This cop realizing the enormity of his crime, decided to silence this woman to save his career and face. Toby got involved in this case after he responded to a distress call to save a woman who had an accident, on arriving at the scene, Toby realized some anomalies. He discovered that the accident was stage managed; not only that- he also observed via his telepathic abilities that this woman was not alone. But she had a kid with her and the kid was not anywhere near the scene of the accident. He and his partner saved the woman, then wheeled her into the ambulance and rushed her quickly to the hospital where she was promptly admitted for further care. While in her hospital ward, Toby made effort to break through her silence which she resisted. He found out that this lady was actually hiding the knowledge of her son’s disappearance from the cops since she was threatened by her son’s abductor that if she attempts to reveal anything that transpired between she and this killer cop, that he would only be left with the option of killing the son. Toby tried to fight the urge of using his powers to investigate this matter, but as fated as he was he had to bring to the fore the usefulness of his psychic prowess by doing something to save the woman and her kid. In the course of Toby’s investigation, he runs into lead Detective Charlie Marks (Lisa Marcos), who suspects him at first but becomes the first person to understand Toby’s gift which she exploits in her future cases. Well Toby helps this woman in distress by revealing the crime of the cop who accidentally killed his partner- the woman and her kid was saves and the killer cop caught and sent to jail. With this success in using his abilities, Toby finally understands that his psychic strength is meant for saving those in need of his help. With this in mind, he explores the ever limitless terrain of heroism, though he had other little personal issues to deal with- an on-an-off love affair with his girlfriend Olivia Fawcett (Mylène Dinh-Robic), an E.R doctor, Not forgetting his cocky supervisor who sees Toby and his partner as incompetent yet indispensable. Toby continues using his powers through season two and three- as he becomes an official resource person to Integrated Investigative Bureau (a special unit of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police), led by Sgt. Michelle McCluskey (Lauren Lee Smith) who Toby reveals his secret to. As the season progresses, we are treated to a rich array of stories with beautiful plots and suspense filled twists. Thanks to Toby our Listener. Don’t you think the world needs the likes of Toby to go into the minds of terrorists, serial killers and even politicians?