John Edward McGee, Jr. (born October 19, 1969) is an American television personality, and psychic medium. He is best known for his TV shows Crossing Over with John Edward and John Edward Cross Country, both of which are premised on Edward communicating with the spirits of the audience members' deceased relatives.

Born in Glen Cove, New York, Edward says he was convinced at a young age that he could become a psychic. After writing his first book on the subject in 1998, Edward became a well-known and controversial figure in the United States through his shows broadcast on SCI FI Channel beginning in July 2000 and We TV since May 2006.

Biography

The only son of an Irish-American policeman and an Italian-American working mother, Edward was raised Roman Catholic. Although Edward later stopped practicing that faith, he has said he never stopped feeling connected to God and is still closely connected to his Catholic roots. Edward once said, "This is something that is driven by a belief in God. It's the energy from that force that I think allows us to create this energy."

According to Edward, when he was 15 and "a huge doubter" (in psychic abilities), he was "read" by a New Jersey woman who convinced him that he could become a medium.

"She told me things that there is no way she could have known. And the first part of the reading was that this was the path that I was supposed to be on and that I was supposed to be a teacher and help people and — I thought she was nuts." Speaking of the same encounter in a 2002 interview, Edward said, "She told me I would one day become internationally known for my psychic abilities through lectures, books, radio and TV. I thought she was full of it until she started to tell me things no one in my life knew about... The details were unbelievable."

Later, Edward worked as a phlebotomist while pursuing a degree in health care administration at Long Island University. He met his wife, Sandra Coelho, when he was a student in a dance studio, and he became a ballroom dancing instructor before entering his current field of work. He and his wife had their first child, Justin Michael, on September 25, 2002, and their second child, Olivia Gabriella, on January 25, 2007.

Television shows

Edward published his first book, One Last Time, in 1998. His related appearance on Larry King Live later in the year prompted enough phone calls to overload the show's switchboard. The next year, Edward had a show of his own.

Crossing Over with John Edward

From 1999 to 2004, Edward was the producer and host of the show Crossing Over with John Edward, which has been syndicated and was broadcast on SCI FI Channel in the United States and on LIVINGtv in the UK. In Crossing Over, Edward gives readings to audience members.

Show format

Readings in Crossing Over involve Edward questioning audience members with what is presented as information being communicated by their deceased friends and relatives. Edward says he receives images and clues from "the other side" which the audience must assist him in interpreting. Aside from questionnaires filled out prior to taping, the audience is not supposed to supply Edward with any prior information about themselves, their family or whom they are trying to connect with "on the other side". Audience members respond to Edward's statements and questions, adding any details they feel are appropriate. The show often employs a split screen, the view of a reading without sound on one half of the screen while on the other half the subjects of the reading are shown in a later interview as they discuss their experiences. A voiceover by Edward is also implemented at times, sharing further insights and inspirational messages.

In other instances, Edward conducted private sessions away from the studio audience. The subjects of these segments later talked in greater detail about the situation that led to their reading with Edward and the effect the reading had on their lives. Periodically, segments revisit people who have previously appeared on the show.

John Edward Cross Country

Edward's current show, John Edward Cross Country, has been broadcast on We TV, since March 2006. In this forum, the audience is not supposed to supply Edward with any prior information about themselves, their family or whom they are trying to connect with "on the other side." According to Edward, he simply "lets his guides draw him to the people that spirits are trying to connect with, and the audience should only validate the information he gives them". In each episode, after a reading Edward is filmed visiting the person or people whose reading was televised, along with their families, to see how the experience had changed their lives.

During the first season of Cross Country, Edward traveled across the US, giving readings to large audiences in public venues. In subsequent seasons, the show has been broadcast from a set similar to that used for Crossing Over.

Paranormal study

Edward's claims to supernatural powers are not supported by a scientific consensus. Gary Schwartz, a psychologist and researcher in the controversial field of parapsychology, designed and administered a series of tests for Edward and several other mediums to verify their paranormal claims and published his belief that Edward's abilities were genuine in his book The Afterlife Experiments. The study did not undergo scientific peer review, and Committee for Skeptical Inquiry's Ray Hyman, a psychologist and noted critic of parapsychology, wrote a detailed critique of Schwartz's methodology and conclusions in a 2003 issue of the Skeptical Inquirer. Schwartz responded to the critique, leading Hyman to write a rebuttal.

Criticism and controversy

Criticisms

Critics of Edward assert he performs the mentalist technique of cold reading. Choosing the first reading from a two hour tape of edited shows as a sample, magician and skeptic James Randi found that just three of twenty three statements made by Edward were confirmed as correct by the audience member being read, and the three statements that were correct were also trivial and nondescript.

A 2001 Time article suggested that Edward used hot reading on Crossing Over. In another incident, Edward was said to have used foreknowledge to hot read in an interview on the television show Dateline. James Underdown of the Skeptical Inquirer attended a Crossing Over show in November 2002 and said "there were no indications of anyone I saw collecting information... none of his readings contained the kind of specific information that would raise an eyebrow of suspicion. ... John Edward was a bad cold reader. He, too, struggled to get hits, and in one attempt shot off nearly forty guesses before finding any significant targets."

Another criticism has been that Edward's accuracy on television is inflated by the editing process. After watching the broadcast version of the show he had attended and recorded, Underdown attributed a great deal of Edward's accuracy on television to editing and wrote, "Edward's editor fine-tuned many of the dead-ends out of a reading riddled with misses." In 2002, Edward said, "People are in the studio for eight hours, and we have to edit the show for time, not content. We don't try to hide the 'misses'."

Edward has denied ever using foreknowledge, cold or hot reading.

Controversies

9/11

Shortly after the September 11, 2001 attacks, Edward began filming at least one special in which he met with some relatives of the victims, with the intention of communicating with those who were killed. According to Edward's autobiography, he did not know that the producers had chosen the victims' families to appear on the show. The trade magazine Broadcasting & Cable sent a story, "'Psychic' Plans WTC Victims Show", on the daily subscription-fax sent to news media and TV-station executives on October 25, 2001. Steve Rosenberg, president of domestic television at Studios USA, the company that distributes Edward's program, had tentatively scheduled the program(s) to be broadcast during the November ratings period, but news of the taping sparked a national outcry. Both SCI FI Channel and the Crossing Over with John Edward production office were flooded with phone calls and e-mail, some expressing outrage at the exploitation of the national tragedy, others at what they perceived as extreme tastelessness in search of ratings. Rosenberg initially ignored the criticism, insisting the programming would go on as scheduled, but within hours he terminated his plans.

Terri Schiavo

On the March 24, 2005 episode of the Fox News Channel morning show Fox & Friends, in response to a question regarding the Terri Schiavo case and whether Edward could communicate with the vegetative Schiavo, Edward said "I do believe that the soul, the consciousness, can communicate when they're in a state, whether it be a mentally incapacitated person, someone who's in a coma. It's a consciousness, and the soul has a living consciousness. So whether it's in a physical vehicle or not, there is still the ability to connect [...] But she's clear on what's going – and I can tell you that she's definitely clear on what's happening now around her." Edward was criticized for this statement because Schiavo did not have proper brain function at the time.

Appearances in the media

Edward has appeared in many television shows, including: Entertainment Tonight, Live with Regis & Kelly, The Early Show, The Crier Report, The Tony Danza Show, The View, The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch, Fox and Friends, Maury, Jimmy Kimmel Live, The Wayne Brady Show, Dateline, Oprah, ABC's 20/20), and the HBO Special, Life After Life: America Undercover. Other notable appearances and depictions include:

• South Park: Edward was declared "The Biggest Douche in the Universe" in a 2002 episode of the same name.

• Celebrity Deathmatch: Nostradamus foresees his loss to Edward and refuses to appear for the fight, so Miss Cleo takes his place and wins.

• David Cross: In his comedy album It's Not Funny, Cross jokes: "Oh, man, so I was watching that show ... there's this guy on stage, and everybody in the audience believes he has contact with the dead and spirits talk to him? (The audience shouts "Crossing Over".) Crossing—? no, no, no, no, no, it was, it was church."

• Family Guy: Edward was parodied in "The Cleveland-Loretta Quagmire", a 2005 episode in which a flashback shows Peter in the audience of Crossing Over.

• Penn & Teller: Bullshit!: In the first episode of the series, "Talking to the Dead", Penn & Teller call Edward and James Van Praagh "psychic scumbags", spend most of the episode discussing cold reading, and show that good editing can make a cold reader's performance more impressive. Penn describes Edward as "The biggest douche in the universe" in reference to the South Park episode.

• PvP: In a story arc beginning April 1, 2002, three members of the cast win tickets to Crossing Over. Brent thinks Edward is "a total fraud" and commands him "in the name of James Randi" to admit it.

• Royal Canadian Air Farce: In a 2002 episode, guest star Peter Keleghan portrayed Edward trying to communicate with dead loved ones of guest Elizabeth Taylor (portrayed by Luba Goy). Taylor was very uncooperative and ended up giving Edward a headache, which she then tried to ease by giving him a massage.

• Saturday Night Live: In an October 13, 2001 skit, Will Ferrell played Edward in a Crossing Over spoof and made uselessly vague statements for the entirety of the skit.

• Will & Grace: Edward made a cameo appearance in the 2004 episode "East Side Story".

• The Chaser's War on Everything: Appeared in a 2007 segment "The Fixers" which involved dressing up as the Ghostbusters and confronting Edward with a "bullshit meter".

Books

• One Last Time: A Psychic Medium Speaks to Those We Have Loved and Lost (1998) ISBN 0-425-16908-1
• What If God Were the Sun? (2000) ISBN 1-58872-003-9
• Crossing Over: The Stories Behind the Stories (2001) ISBN 1-58872-002-0
• After Life: Answers From the Other Side (2003) ISBN 1-932128-06-9
• Final Beginnings: The Tunnel (2004) ISBN 1-932128-02-6
• Practical Praying: Using the Rosary to Enhance Your Life (2005) ISBN 1-932128-12-3

Audio books

• Developing Your Own Psychic Powers
  • Tape (2000) ISBN 1-56170-762-7
  • CD (2003) ISBN 1-932128-03-4
• Understanding Your Angels and Meeting Your Guides
  • Tape (2000) ISBN 1-56170-763-5
  • CD (2003) ISBN 1-4019-0133-6
• Unleashing Your Psychic Potential
  • Tape (2000) ISBN 1-56170-764-3
  • CD (2003) ISBN 1-4019-0136-0

References

1. http://www.tvguide.com/news/John-Edward-Psyched-41139.aspx
2. John Edward Cross Country - TV.com
3. http://www.thefutoncritic.com/showatch.aspx?id=john_edward_cross_country&view=listings The Futon Critic
4. Thogmartin, Jon R., M.D. "REPORT OF AUTOPSY" for Theresa Schiavo, Case #5050439, June 13, 2005 link
5. The ABC News report is viewable here.
6. Episode is viewable here.
7. The scene is viewable here.
8. Skit transcript. The skit is viewable here.

External links

• John Edward's official site

• John Edward Tunes in to the Afterlife, an interview with Wendy Schuman

Critical articles

• Deconstructing The Dead Michael Shermer reports on Edward and an ABC-TV profile.
• "How come TV psychics seem so convincing?"
• Greatest Hits and Misses of John Edward
• How the Mass Media Package and Sell Psychic Medium John Edward
• Shooting Crap: Alleged psychic John Edward actually gambles on hope and basic laws of statistics
• Daily Variety review of "John Edward Cross Country"
• Demystifying John Edward of Crossing Over