New York Post - USA (2020-10-25)

New York Post, Sunday, October 25, 2020

nypost.com

Sunday Break

THE HOLzER FILES

October 29th, 11 p.m.

Travel Channel

G

HOSTS are Alexandra Hol-

zer’s family business.

That’s because the reality

show star is the daughter of

Hans Holzer, who’s often referred to

“America’s first ghost hunter.” He

even inspired Dan Aykroyd for the

1984 hit “Ghostbusters.”

Hans, who did the bulk of his

work in the 1960s and ‘70s, has been

deceased since 2009 but wrote over

120 books on the supernatural and

was involved in investigating fa-

mous cases such as The Amityville

Horror. His daughter Alexandra

continues the legacy on Travel

Channel’s “The Holzer Files.”

Season 2, premiering Oct. 29 at 11

p.m., follows Holzer and her para-

normal team as they revisit her fa-

ther’s famous cases. New York na-

tive Holzer, 49, talked to The Post

about what it was like growing up as

the daughter of a famous ghost

hunter, “The Holzer Files,” and

more.

What’s it been like for you to

revisit your father’s work for

the show?

It forced me to get to know Dad

more intimately and see how he

was working. I grew up in the envi-

ronment of a healthy diet of the su-

pernatural. So that [aspect] was

nothing new for me, but to actually

go through all of his archives and

start digging through the letters and

handwritten notes and photography

and audio recordings...it’s been a

long time, he’s been gone eleven

years. It was very emotional to hear

his voice.

Growing up, were you aware

that your father’s line of work

was unusual?

Oy vey, when I was in grade

school, it was in the ‘70s and we al-

ways gave presents to the teachers.

And my mom said, “Let’s wrap up

some of your father’s books.” So

[the teacher] sits there and opens

the presents, and he gets to mine

and I start scooting back my chair as

if I want to become indivisible. Be-

cause nobody at that time thought

that [the supernatural] was cool,

and I wasn’t very popular to begin

with. The teacher opens up books

with “ghosts” and “witches” in the

title, and everyone started to look at

me. I was like, “I am so dead, I am

not coming back to school tomor-

row!”

My friend’s fathers went to work

with suits and ties and briefcases.

My father’s quasi-briefcase was

filled with equipment and ghost

photography.

You initially did not pursue the

family business. What made

you change?

It was because [ghost hunting]

was constantly in my face. My

mother went to FIT, so when I got a

bit older, I said, “I’ll go down that

route,” because I felt embarrassed.

So I kind of did go away from the

family business, and I went to FIT

for advertising design and graphics.

Then, in my late 20s, I had [a super-

natural experience] with my late

aunt. That really opened up the con-

versation with my father, and that’s

how I accepted my role in the fam-

ily business. It’s evolved.

Are there any of your dad’s

cases that you most enjoyed

revisiting on the show?

Merchant House, because as a

New Yorker, it’s there. These are

amazing cases because they’re so

layered in history of different time-

lines and people who have died and

how they died. Merchant House is a

beautiful curated mansion and mu-

seum. And that’s my stomping

ground. As a native New Yorker

who has also created her family

here like my parents before me, I’m

proud to continue the work.

— Lauren Sarner

TVA 8 ThingS To wATch ThiS week

“Holzer

Files” host

Shane Pittman

(left) Cindy Kaza,

and Dave

Schrader

2

THE UNDOING

Sunday, 9 p.m., HBO

This six-part series stars Nicole

Kidman (right) and Hugh Grant as

Grace and Jonathan Fraser, whose

lives are upended overnight after a

violent death — and a chain of terrible

revelations that follow in its wake. Co-starring Do-

nald Sutherland and Edgar Ramirez.

7

THIS IS US

Tuesday, 9 p.m.,

NBC

Kate (Chrissy

Metz), Randall

(Sterling K.

Brown, left)

and Kevin

(Justin

Hartley)

celebrate

their 40th

birthday in the

two-hour season

premiere.

4

SUPERSTORE

Thursday, 8 p.m.,

NBC

Star America Ferrera

(near left) bids farewell

in the Season 6 opener,

which finds the Cloud 9

team dealing with cor-

onavirus chaos and Jo-

nah (Ben Feldman, far

left) contemplating a

move to California.

3

FOREVER

CHRISTMAS

Sunday, 8 p.m., Life-

time

A workaholic reality

TV producer (Chelsea

Hobbs) falls in love with

the subject of her new

show (Christopher Rus-

sell), a guy who cele-

brates Christmas every

day of the year.

6

TEMPLE

Monday on

Spectrum

Premiere. A highly re-

spected surgeon (Mark

Strong) runs an ille-

gal medical clinic in

a labyrinth of aban-

doned service tun-

nels to treat crimi-

nals and other des-

perate patients while

seeking a cure for his

terminally ill wife, Beth

(Catherine McCormack).

5

BLACK-ISH

Wednesday, 9:30 p.m., ABC

Dre (Anthony Anderson) underestimates how

hard of an adjustment operating during a pandemic

will be for the Johnsons, while Junior attempts to

bring his girlfriend closer to the family.

8

THE MANDALORIAN

Friday on Disney+

The Mandalorian (Pedro

Pascal, right) and the

Child continue their

journey, facing ene-

mies and allies as

they make their

way through a

dangerous

galaxy in the

tumultuous era

after the coll-

apse of the

Galactic Empire.

GhostLy LeGacy

Famous ghost hunter’s daughter

on her unusual family trade