【1997 Archives】

I was taking an extended drive a few weeks ago997 Archives listening to Dax Shepard interview Rob Lowe on his podcast, when a detail came up that almost made me swerve off the road: There's a Rob Lowe reality series about ghost hunting.

The Lowe Filessends Rob and his two adult sons, Matthew and John Owen, off on an extended road trip in a supremely beefed up Ford Raptor pickup truck. For nine episodes they visit supernatural locales all around the country and react to the things they discover (or don't discover).

That's it. That's the show. It's delightful. I'm gonna let Lowe himself introduce the concept of the series, via the monologue that plays over each episode's intro:

Since I was a little boy I've loved spooky legends and scary mysteries. And when I had boys of my own, we bonded over those campfire stories and debated whether Bigfoot was real, or if ghosts really existed. And we swore that one day we would find out those answers together. [dramatic pause] That day has come.

Cue Blue Oyster Cult!

To be fair, The Lowe Filesisn't justabout ghost-hunting. It's more a potpourri of supernatural investigations. The Lowes visit abandoned spaces that are presumed to be haunted, but they also spend time on Bigfoot, alien abductions, UFOs, and even stuff like the psychology of fear. If you're looking for depth, this show ain't it. But at least there's variety.

What makes it work, obviously, is Lowe's magnetic presence alongside what often feels like the grudging (yet secretly excited) assistance of Matthew and John Owen. The two boys, both in their 20s when The Lowe Filesaired on A&E in 2017, didn't follow the same professional path as their dad, and it shows.

Neither of them ever comes across as truly comfortable on camera or cool with this wholesome yet hare-brained scenario. Whenever Papa Lowe's celebrity catches up with their journey, as it does in the very first episode, Matthew and John Owen lovingly snark from the sidelines, looking mildly uncomfortable.

It's a schtick that appears to be intentional, and honestly, it's to the show's benefit. The younger Lowes clearly struggle with the attention to some extent, and instead of trying to hide that, The Lowe Filesleans in. A dynamic that could easily have ended up feeling forced and manufactured is actually charming in the execution.

The show isn't without its bumps, though. The occasional appearance of Lowe's friend, Jon Rasmussen, aka Shaman Jon, often verges into questionable territory. These are also the times when the show directly addresses Native American history and myth, and it's not handled as gracefully as it could be.

While I can't deny the entertainment value of seeing a shirtless, face-painted Lowe smack a hand drum as he dances in front of a fire, the context makes it a less-than-great look. Then there's the talk they have in the first episode about hilltops and burial grounds, with Rasmussen suggesting, without evidence, that an ostensibly haunted boys reformatory located on top of a hill is "most likely" a Native American burial ground.

It's not only wrong to leap to such an assumption; it also helps to perpetuate a racist myth about Native Americans. But Rasmussen's presence during the season is fairly limited, and so too are his hack-y New Age antics. It's an unfortunate blemish on an otherwise enjoyable reality TV ride.

That's The Lowe Filesfor you. I can understand why it only went for one season – the nine episodes we do have feel a little stretched, to the point that the season's final entry is more of a "what we learned" look back. But it's also a genuine and weirdly heartfelt good time, a fact that Lowe hammered on at length when he chatted with Shepard.

That's what piqued my interest to begin with. "Ghost hunting with Rob Lowe" is an admittedly appealing pitch to my Parks and Recreation-loving self, but hearing him talk about the experience on Shepard's podcast with a mixture of enthusiasm and wistfulness was the real selling point. This was a personally impactful experience for Lowe. As silly as the premise is, that simple truth shines through in every episode.

The Lowe Files is available to stream on Sling and Amazon Prime.

UPDATE: May 29, 2020, 9:17 a.m. EDT An earlier version of this story featured the headline 'We're all tired. So why not watch Rob Lowe and his adult sons chase ghosts?' The story and headline both were written and scheduled to publish prior to what's unfolded in Minneapolis this week. After receiving feedback from readers, we decided to change the headline in order to avoid any suggestion that a silly reality show might be a balm to the systemic racism in the United States. As it was originally conceived, that headline was meant to be a darkly glib comment on the ongoing pandemic, nothing more.