You're My Obsession ...

I can't stop watching Most Haunted.

It's on the Travel Channel on Fridays and it's totally fascinating. Not that I have anything better to do on Friday nights, but even if I did, I'd drop it to watch this (or not, since they show it again on Sundays).

It's a British show and it features a plucky blonde presenter (Yvette), a steady and knowledgeable background-story man (Phil), and this fantastic medium named Derek. They go into haunted places and spend the night calling up ghosts. The show mainly focuses on Yvette ("Show yerself ... well ... I guess you're just a coward then. Come on ... DO something."), Phil and Derek, but the other members of the team (like the sound guy, the girl who carries the clipboard, the guy who works with the camera guy, but isn't afraid to spend the night alone in the cellar with a digital camera -- those kinds of folks) get a lot of fun screen time as well ("What's the hissing sound?" "That's me pissing my pants."). There's also a second medium named Ian, who is always getting "very emotional" when he talks to the spirits, but is apparently pretty handy when it comes to getting rid of them.

Derek also gets emotional, but it's usually just angry. I love it when he's shouting down some evil spirit -- "Oh, he's a bad one, he is. YOU! YOU JUST ... SHUT IT. He's trying to -- WE'RE NOT LISTENING. YOU'LL GET NONE OF THAT HERE." If you can catch a replay of the one where they're in "The Manor House" ... dude ... that's Derek at his best. It's even better than the House of Detention from Series 2.

At the end of each show they have the paranormal skeptic, who basically picks everything apart and blames it on natural phenomenon. "When Derek appears to be possessed by the spirit ... well, that could be caused by his feelings at the time." Which explains why he threw a lamp at Yvette? Gosh ...