Prague - In spite of having rather decent ratings, a show named Detektor, broadcasted by Czech Television (ČT), was taken off the air two months after its introduction.
Has the station decided to do this due to scientists' protests? The author of the show, the esoteric Petr Vachler, who is also an vegetarian and the head of the Czech Film and Television Academy, speaks about a new dark age.
Exaggeration, irony, or actually serious?
"The show has been suspended because it does not fit into our new scheme," informed the ČT's spokesman Ladislav Štícha. "In addition, majority of its viewers have not been able to fully understand what the creators' intention was. Is it an exaggeration, an irony, or a serious discussion?" said Štícha.
Detektor was being protested against by scientists from Sysifos club. Seeing the program as a bunch of nonsense, they asked it to be suspended. "Czech Television has to obey the law on the Czech Television - and it is our opinion that it has been violated because the information the program has been providing is false or even nonexistent," said astrophysicist Jiří Grygar.
According to Grygar, the program is a mere waste of time and money. "Let it be broadcasted by a commercial TV station, if they are interested. At first, I thought it was an attempt to parody Cimrman," said Grygar, referring to a fictional Czech genius, inventor and national hero Jára Cimrman, created by Jiří Šebánek and Zdeněk Svěrák in the 1960's and popular to this day.
Scientific inquisition
Detektor has been broadcasted since January, and Vachler has signed a contract for 20 episodes. Czech Television has withdrawn from the contract allegedly due to "serious program-related issues".
Vachler said that ČT was satisfied with his program because it was watched roughly by half a million viewers. Evening news on Prima TV has a similar number of viewers.
"However, there has been a systematic inquisition campaign by the Academy of Sciences and Sisyfos club led by Jiří Grygar who sees scientific theories as absolute and finite," explained Vachler.
And he doesn't rule out the option Grygar has suggested to him. "If Nova or Prima reacts, I won't hesitate to present heretic, conspirationist and esoteric views of our fossilized reality somewhere else."
According to the Academy of Science's Council for popularization of science, he would be unsuccessful with his show even on commercial networks. "It is startling that a public service television broadcast false and misleading program that has no parallel even on commercial channels," wrote the council in its open-letter.
They see Detektor as negating a method of critical thinking, presenting to viewers nonsensical statements of some esotericists or psychotronics and misrepresenting scientific experts. The head of the Academy of Science Václav Pačes has sent a letter to the director of the Czech Television Jiří Janeček.
Czech TV still interested
So far, Vachler is waiting. He still views ČT as a solid partner, in spite of his belief that we are living in a dark age of television.
He also thinks his program maybe turned into movie material. "Maybe, it could be made into afeature documentary, maybe with actors. I am regenerating and recovering from a slight frustration, but I am still optimistic," assured Vachler.
Czech Television said that it is still interested in a program of this type. "Reactions of the viewers show that these are topics that public television lacks. We are now discussing whether to have Detektor in some other form or to create a whole new program," said the ČT's spokesman.
Pačes informed that the Academy of Science is ready to offer the station their experts for consultations. "Czech Television can use expert information to decide whether to end Detektor or modify it."
