Quick TV viewing recommendation for tonight: “Penn & Teller’s [Baloney]” is taking on the subject of ghosts and ghost-hunters. (10:00pm ET on Showtime).

The name of the show isn’t really “baloney,” of course. The real word is a certain earthy 2-syllable expression for all things deemed mendacious and ridiculous. I’m not usually shy about using it, but I’m feeling refined right now and so I thought I would go with that. But it’s a good word in context, and the subject matter might just make it the nearly-perfect context. The amount of serious attention given to ghosts is one of my pet peeves of this silly modern age and one that featured in one of my early blog entries (all the way back in Ought-Four, it were.)

For those who have never seen it before, the point of the show (if it’s not obvious from the title and the reputations of Mssrs. P & T) is to blow the lid off something totally stupid and get people to look like idiots for believing in it. As you’d imagine, it’s a pretty mixed bag. P&T are basic die-hard Libertarian types, and sooner or later, they will fasten on a subject that you don’t regard as [baloney] at all and give it exactly the same treatment, as they did in a show on circumcision that will be re-run at 10:30pm. Those shows just point out the problem with this oh-so-hip, oh-so-nasty premise — one man’s baloney isn’t necessarily everyone’s. But oh well. I’m looking forward to them having it out with ghost-hunters. This is some malarkey that’s gone just about far enough.