A&E Approves Paranormal Police Series

A&E will go on ghost patrol in the Windy City and environs, as it has greenlit the new original real-life series, Paranormal Cops.

The series, which follows a team of Chicago-area police officers who also work as paranormal investigators, is slated to premiere later in 2009, according the network.

Paranormal Cops is the second series for A&E that focuses on hunting ghosts, following the network’s ParanormalState. That series, in which a renowned group comprised of Penn State University College Students look to tap ghostly spirits in an effort to solve a variety of cases, averaged 1.4 million total viewers during its 2008 sophomore run. The third season of the reality series will debut Jan. 19 at 10 p.m.

Paranormal Cops” is the perfect marriage of A&E’s successful crime and justice genre with our blossoming paranormal programming that documents real-life accounts of bona fide paranormal investigators,” said Robert Sharenow, A&E senior vice president, nonfiction and alternative programming, in a statement.

R. Thomas Umstead

R. Thomas Umstead serves as senior content producer, programming for Multichannel News, Broadcasting + Cable and Next TV. During his more than 30-year career as a print and online journalist, Umstead has written articles on a variety of subjects ranging from TV technology, marketing and sports production to content distribution and development. He has provided expert commentary on television issues and trends for such TV, print, radio and streaming outlets as Fox News, CNBC, the Today show, USA Today, The New York Times and National Public Radio. Umstead has also filmed, produced and edited more than 100 original video interviews, profiles and news reports featuring key cable television executives as well as entertainers and celebrity personalities.