Visiting the Balkans I was fascinated by this phenomenon on TV — televised spiritual mediums or fortune-tellers. One of the better-known platforms is EZO.TV in Croatia, which runs live “advisory / divination” shows. (hr.ezo.tv) Viewers can call in to ask tarot, numerology, astrology, or “fortune telling” questions. This guy is an especially strange example. Seemed like mostly frumpy older women doing this job, a few more dynamic hosts with real schtick, and then super over-the-top fellas like King Tut here.
The calls are premium-rate lines — and the service claims that “these are for entertainment only; not professional advice.” But someone is taking these folks seriously enough to pay for 24/7 TV coverage on multiple cable channels.
It all seems like a much sillier version of American televangelism. I reckon that traditional belief systems, uncertainty about the future, or socioeconomic stress make audiences more receptive. These practices tap into personal anxieties or hopes. Maybe there’s some placebo effect.
Looking into this a little I was interested to learn that the performances are likely not fully spontaneous. There may be prepared prompts (e.g. “Who has the number 4 in their birth year?”) or “test puzzles” (e.g. find a number on your banknote) to force people to engage or stay longer. (Some online commentary suggests this kind of mechanic.) (Reddit)
Another show is Zlatna Zora (“Golden Dawn”), a local nightly show on multiple local TV stations (zlatnazora.hr). It lists tarot, numerology, and “other esoteric arts” as the core of its content. Viewers pick an advisor from the screen and jots down that advisor’s code number to call in. They handle love, money, family, career questions but explicitly avoid giving medical or health diagnoses, which is regulated. There is also Astro24h, which runs a live nightly TV show for tarot / astrology sessions.
These shows effectively monetize mysticism via phone-ins. They tap into a spiritual-interest market combined with late-night TV, when viewers are more likely to call. They occupy a kind of liminal media space at the intersection of entertainment, pseudo-therapeutics, and spiritual aspiration. Coming from the US the closest thing I could remember was Robert Tilton’s phone-in donation lines from the 90s.
If you ignore the exploitation and grift, though, it’s interesting and occasionally very funny. King Tut could be a Dan Aykroyd character.
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