Grant leaves GH

After eight seasons, Grant Wilson is leaving Ghost Hunters. While many of its fans will regard this as a blow to the TV series, it’s worth remembering that before the TAPS group were TV stars, Wilson and Jason Hawes did this stuff for well over a decade, in relative anonymity, arguing over orb pictures in their kitchens and finagling time off from their Roto-Rooter day jobs. Good partnerships are hard to find and very hard to maintain, and anyone who really examines the show cannot help but regard Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson as the group’s center of gravity, with the other team members playing clearly supporting roles. To that extent, the program will definitely change in character.

But as para-investigators, things changed for the duo and their shaky little club 8 years ago when the investigators became reality TV stars. Scripts, editing, TV crews, pre-and post-production considerations (which, for our money, have largely drained this TV show out of any real sense of the reality of actually doing an investigation) turned “ghost hunting” into “ghost hunting for TV cameras”. Fame and fortune, personal appearances, investments and a massive online fanbase eventually followed. Sorry, but this changes a person, and it often changes a person’s relationship to the very discipline that bestowed all the success in the first place.

Sure, we still watch it, and yes, arguably it’s still the standard bearer,  even if it’s without without much competition these days – only Ghost Adventures, a much different animal, has remained in active production, while all the me-too programs (Paranormal Cops, Paranormal State, Ghost Lab, etc etc) have fallen off the grid and into the media ghetto of late-night reruns. (We’ll concede for all practical purposes that GHI, their spin-off show, isn’t really a competitor – SyFy never runs both shows concurrently.) For our money,  all the careful pacing, rote and usually needless scripted sections and the slavish devotion to formula have made this program a lot less interesting, alot more self-aware, and a lot less connected to the mysteries and exploratory nature of paranormal investigations. It probably has helped to keep it on the air for so long. They certainly have better and more equipment than they did eight years ago.

For what it’s worth, we’ll reprint the group’s statement on Wilson’s departure (which really doesn’t say much), and without putting words into Wilson’s mouth, we’ll speculate that what started as a hobby has become a tightly controlled job, and the guy probably just wanted to do something else. We can’t say we blame him.

Hi everyone,

We know you probably have lots of questions about Grant’s departure from Ghost Hunters, so here are some answers to what we thought you might be wondering about most.

Q:  Was Grant fired?
A:  No.

Q:  Is Grant’s departure due to illness?
A:  No.

Q:  Is Ghost Hunters being cancelled?
A:  No.

Q:  Is there a rift between Jason and Grant?  Or between Grant and another cast member?
A:  No.  This was an amicable departure from the show that was not precipitated by any interpersonal issues.

Q:  Will a new lead investigator take over for Grant?
A:  No – there are no plans to bring in a new lead, but everyone will have to stay tuned to see how the team adjusts.

Q:  What are Grant’s plans?  Will he return to plumbing?
A:  For now, Grant is looking forward to going back to school to pursue his interests in graphic design, as well as continue to actively pursue his passion for music and art.

Q:  Will Grant still remain an active member of TAPS?  Will he continue paranormal investigating?
A:   Grant will take some down time from investigating to further his education but will remain a part of TAPS, assisting Jason in other areas for now.

Q:  Will Grant still be making personal appearances?
A:  At this time he has no upcoming appearances.

Q:  What about Jason & Grant’s inn, the Spalding?
A:  Grant will continue his role as an active owner of the Spalding, along with Jason.

We’ll still watch the thing, hope the producers seize this as an opportunity to loosen the choke collar on the program’s content a little, and wish all concerned the best. Wilson can’t be too worried about burning bridges here…ghosts are, as a lot of us believe, eternal in a certain sense. If he decides to come back, they’ll still be there, even if the TV cameras aren’t.