Psychics to try contacting Lennon in TV seance

(Original article here.)
Imagine John Lennon spinning in his grave.

The ex-Beatle, who was murdered over 25 years ago, is the latest subject of a pay-per-view seance arranged by the producers of a 2003 attempt to contact the dead Princess Diana. That show made money but was slammed by critics as hitting a new low in television tastelessness.

That's a serious achievement. If I were assigned the task of hitting a new low in TV tastelessness, I am not even sure where I'd start.

"People say this is disgusting and I accept that criticism, but we're making a serious attempt to do something that many, many millions of people around the world think is possible," said Paul Sharratt, who heads Starcast Productions, which made "The Spirit of Diana." That show drew over half a million U.S. viewers willing to pay $14.95 to watch it.

The Lennon show will air on April 24 on a pay-per-view channel and cost $9.95.

Sharratt himself is a "non-believer," and admits to not being totally convinced otherwise after psychics attempted to contact the dead princess in the 2003 program. Nevertheless, it made for some great television, he said.

I hope John shows up. I’d like to ask him how it feels to go for $5.00 less than Diana.

"I have to say that I'm a skeptic. I went into it very skeptically and I didn't come out a total believer, but it was good for a lot of people as a tribute to Diana," he said.

Sharratt said he chose Lennon because the former Beatle, like Diana, is an icon and was also a deeply spiritual person. "Lennon was very interested in the spiritual world. It's a natural follow-up to the Diana seance," he said.

Spiritual: feeling religious without actually having to commit to anything or change your lifestyle. (Paraphrased from somebody. If you know the source, let me know.)

The program will show psychics traveling to sites of significance to the former Beatle […]

[…] Sharratt said the Indian sequence will feature a spirit reader at an ashram who believes he can contact Lennon to receive musical notes and lyrics from the other side.

Any notations will be flown to Los Angeles, where a composer will arrange the notes, add vocals and backgrounds to produce a new song.

I bet if he shows up singing, it won’t be Imagine.

Imagine there's no heaven,
It's easy if you try,
No hell below us,
Above us only sky,

Cognitive dissonance, anyone?