• by Adam Buckman , Featured Columnist, July 11, 2018

Some people like to converse with their taxi or ride-share drivers and some people do not.

I belong firmly in the latter category, preferring to absentmindedly stare out the window rather than exchange small talk about the weather, traffic, politics, or most of all, dead people with the man or woman behind the wheel.

In this new reality series (if you believe in the “reality” of communicating with the dead) premiering on Lifetime Wednesday night, your ride-share driver is a self-proclaimed medium who almost immediately launches into a discussion about your dead relatives as soon as you are seated and buckled up.

“There is a dead person sitting next to you,” the medium, Thomas John, casually announces to one passenger in the premiere episode of the show, which is titled “Seatbelt Psychic” (as opposed to “Airbag Psychic,” “Cupholder Psychic” or any number of other titles they might have chosen).

What's really amazing is that this passenger, who just learned he is sharing the back seat with a departed spirit, does not leap out of the car at the next stoplight.

Instead, he goes along for the ride, while the medium/driver describes the passenger's grandfather, even guessing his name (Curtis) and his nickname (Pops). At the conclusion of this experience, the passenger, formerly a self-avowed skeptic, declares he now believes in mediums.

The converting of skeptics to believers is a common result on TV's psychic shows, among which the best-known is TLC's “Long Island Medium,” aka Theresa Caputo.

Like the medium in “Seatbelt Psychic,” the Long Island medium cannot control her almost constant contact with dead people. So wherever she goes, she does on-the-spot “readings” for people she encounters in delis and supermarkets.

These people are usually stunned, but on the show, they are always grateful to Theresa for bringing them messages from their dead relatives now residing in the great beyond.

One wonders how many of these encounters end before they even get started because most deli cashiers and customers don't appreciate Theresa the busybody suddenly announcing that she brings glad tidings from their dead mothers, fathers, children or grandparents.

The same might be said of the hapless passengers in Thomas John's car. It is reasonable to assume that many of them want no part of this driver's nutty conversation. These scenes most likely don't make the cut.

And by the way, John doesn't just talk to dead people. He also communicates with dead pets. He informs one female passenger that he is in contact with her deceased canine, and, the medium reports, the dog is doing just fine in doggy heaven. Tears ensue.

What more can one say about a ride-share driver who suddenly informs you he is communicating with your dead uncle? How about: Let me out of here!

“Seatbelt Psychic” premieres Wednesday (June 11) at 10 p.m. Eastern on Lifetime.