Mike Cox My generation grew up with television. I’ve seen a ton of TV during my life and been subjected to everything imaginable. At least I thought I had until I got hooked on “Finding Bigfoot,” a television program that is exactly what the title implies.

It might be a hokey monster search program like the current crop of such features or a spot-on parody designed by the masters of television satire back in the 80s: SCTV. John Candy, Eugene Levy, and Martin Short were masters at making the ridiculous seem really real.

The stars of “Finding Bigfoot” are straight from central casting. Matt Moneymaker is the founder of the Bigfoot Field Research Organization (BFRO), and the obvious brains of this outfit. Cliff Barackman is the loyal sidekick who has been searching for Sasquatch for 20 years. He has found footprints, tree damage, and a possible hair sample.

Ranae Holland is a research biologist who doesn’t believe in Bigfoot, although she gives some pretty puzzling scientific explanations for someone with a doubting nature. But the star of this little shindig is obviously James Fay, better known as Bobo.

Bearing a striking resemblance to Fox Sports’ Tony Siragusa, Bobo serves as the everyman of the program, keeping it real among these pointy-headed scientists, while providing comic relief to preserve a not too serious vibe. Bobo’s other purpose is to offer a point of reference to eye witness re-creations.

Night vision cameras are a large part of the budget. At least one scene each week involves members of the team in the deep, dark woods looking at deer and raccoons through green light and eerie background.

Each team member sports a shoulder mounted night vision camera pointed toward his head. The effect is creepy and unnecessary. With all the scary and unknown critters moving around in the wild, what benefit is gained by seeing the features and expressions of these people walking through the woods and conversing on cell phones?

Every program begins with the BFRO team traveling to a squatchy location, (the guys use squatchy a lot) to investigate the latest sightings. A town meeting is organized early on with first person accounts of locals describing a Bigfoot encounter, complete with simulated video for dramatization.

The team investigates the most probable, sharing nuggets of squatch knowledge like: “Squatches are known to travel the Appalachian Trail,” and “deer provide Squatches’ primary food source.” Two of the guys even emit a Sasquatch call to attract the creatures. Pretty good for something not actually proven to exist.

Employing night vision cameras, directional microphones, mechanical deer, even live baboons, our valiant scientists check under every hypothetical rock for real evidence. Using their vast array of accrued knowledge and shaky logic, Matt, Cliff, Ranae, and Bobo determine that each personal encounter was a real sighting and film at 11 is forthcoming.

Sadly, each show closes with no Sasquatch sightings no matter how much they call to them or walk through squatchy places. The last scene usually involves Ranae arguing with the other three about whether the accumulated week’s evidence was real and helpful.

You can almost picture John Candy and Martin Short giggling in the background.