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The government spent $1,000,000 studying romance novels. There is nothing that the federal government is not interested in and will not spend money on.

I recant any pro sentiment I may have written about Russell Acord. Maybe because I just found about the fakery I'm paying more attention. I had been scrolling too fast through my feeds. He seems kinda smug and standoffish about addressing the criticisms. Maybe he is trying to take the high road on social media and ignore how people perceive his role on the show. Anyone who was caught like that should just avoid further embarrassment and confess. Also odd that he now goes by "Sage" Acord.

The poster above said that for a 100,000 views he might get $2000 if people let the ads run all the way through. Most people won't, so let's just say $500 a video? He's releasing what, a video a day? Let's just say 4 a week. So, maybe $2,000 a week? For 15 or 20 minutes of painfully reading aloud some emails, saying the words 'honest' and 'hardworking' repeatedly, and spewing insults? Not a bad day's work. It's surprising how much support he has received. Pretty much every wannabe Bigfoot celebrity is out for his blood, however their videos are getting a couple of hundred views if that. Isdahl and Paulides are getting in the hundreds of thousands of views on each video. And they are releasing a ton of videos. I think it just goes to show how elitist and unlikeable most of the public figures in the Bigfoot community really are. It appears that an extremely large number of people who are interested in this field have just been waiting for someone to come along and let these pseudo-celebrities have it with both barrels, regardless of the message.

As far as people like you or I are concerned, small groups self producing honest and authentic content will always be superior to mass market crypto-tainment. Unfortunately, there are not enough of us who are actually more concerned with the truth behind the phenomenon as opposed to the casual enthusiast. Those are the people who buy the merchandise and are numerous enough to support network shows. I think that TV production companies are concerned with the community when it impacts their profitability. Regardless of their personal feelings on the subject, when they are working they are there to make a profit for their employer. Otherwise there will be no employer and no show. The Expedition Bigfoot show seemed (to me at least) like it wanted to become the more serious/less catchphrasey successor to Finding Bigfoot. They wanted to capture a lot of FB's audience. It seemed at the beginning that they had that audience, but lost it when information about where they were filming began to come out. A quick glance at their fan page on FB shows that audience turned on them. If they want to make a show that lasts several seasons and sells that cat food for their advertiser, they will need to not alienate those viewers. The lack of transparency angered much of their audience. Maybe it angered enough that the company would address it going forward. Maybe not.

Some of them maybe, but not all of them by a long shot. The last couple that my fiancee has dealt with were very into the subject. They might not be out making plaster casts every weekend, but they were interested in the subject and overall thought that it was cool. The younger people involved in the production companies seemed more intrigued with cryptozoology than the older folks, who seem like they would equally be excited about making a home renovation show as a show about looking for Bigfoot. Others may have had a different experience, but that is what we have seen so far. Let's be honest here, most of the people who want to be in the limelight as far as this subject goes would be considered a bit strange if not outright cringy by most people. This field attracts some oddballs no matter how you look at it. Like one of the production guys told my S.O., the trick is finding the right type of weird. This isn't a dig on oddballs. I am going to lug 40 some odd pounds of gear out into the woods this weekend looking for... something. That's weird, I know. Normal is boring and overrated.

Anything on TV is going to be crypto-tainment first, informative second. Producers and advertisers don't look at a project and consider it a success if a handful of die-hard Bigfoot enthusiasts learned something new. They consider it a success if hundreds of thousands or even millions of people who have a passing interest in the subject tuned in and then maybe bought the cat food advertised. Look at it like this...a lot of people who are heavily into this subject were first introduced to it by shows like In Search Of or later MonsterQuest. There are more paranormal and Bigfoot themed shows hitting the channels all of the time. The next couple of generations of researchers, investigators, and sympathetic scientists are hopefully seeing this and having the little seed planted that will one day grow into a passion for the subject. I know that shows like FB may sometimes do more harm than good, causing a flood of people howling and bashing sticks against trees to flood the woods. You need to have a flair for the dramatic to get people to tune in, otherwise there will never be any produced video content on Bigfoot outside of homemade YouTube videos. Yes, it's a digital generation. That's why it's important for media on the subject of Bigfoot to adapt in order to survive. Kids and even adults don't go to libraries. They are online or watching TV. It's fair that when new content is released that those who are extremely knowledgeable about the subject will critique and dissect it. That will happen to any work focused on a particular genre. Some will be better than others. I think that something like Expedition Bigfoot brings more to the table than a show like Mountain Monsters. I think that the producers/network (who are ultimately in charge of the entire thing) didn't expect the Bigfoot world to so quickly and thoroughly examine the show and figure out where they were. Hopefully, they learn going forward that this community is pretty freaking obsessive and try to be a little more forthright in future projects.

Here are some interesting things from my hike....no virus out there:) A Leopard Moth caterpillar An old Schlitz can Deer Kill Ribbon Snake Old hairyman Shack