It was quite the year for freshmen network comedies in that two – Abbott Elementary and Ghosts – managed to get Millennials to do something we haven’t done regularly in years: Watch network TV. Okay, if you’re like me, you’ve watched the first seasons of these two excellent shows (bonus points if you started Abbott Elementary after checking out my piece on it for this column, naming it one of the best shows you aren’t watching earlier this year) – likely on Hulu (where the ABC’s hit Abbott Elementary lives after it airs live on network) or Paramount+ (where Ghosts lives after it airs on CBS). But if you haven’t seen Ghosts yet, let me tell you a bit about the best show you aren’t watching.
Adapted from a British series of the same name, Ghosts follows married couple Samantha and Jay (Rose McIver and Utkarsh Ambudkar, doing great work) who leave their cramped New York City life and move out to an old country house Sam inherits from her late aunt. The pair don’t realize that the home is also home to a host of ghosts – something they only figure out when an accident causes Sam to die (briefly) leading to her being able to see and communicate with the ghosts. That’s when the fun and hijinks begin. And what fun and what hijinks there are.
There are eight central ghosts (ranging from a Viking who died on an initial trip to America to a Wall Street Bro who died in 2000), and we learn a bit more about their lives and deaths as the season unfolds, as each ghost gets at least one spotlight episode focused on their character. And, as one might expect from the show’s title, it’s the ghosts that make the series into a cannot miss gem. Each has a very distinct point of view, some ridiculous backstory to go with it, and, underneath some gruff outsides (some gruffer than others – looking at you Hetty and Thorfinn), each ghost has a pretty wonderful heart. Which is the best part of the series – there’s a genuine kindness and love among the characters. Sure, they might fight like siblings, they might not understand some of the modern conveniences, and they might be continually annoyed that a jerk like Alexander Hamilton got a musical about him (that would be Captain Isaac Higgintoot, a Revolutionary War soldier who died of dysentery and is played with joyful aplomb by Brandon Scott Jones), but as the season unfurls it becomes clear that they are a family – and Sam and Jay are merely their newest (alive) members.
There’s plenty of edgy comedy out there (and I know I love me a good biting satire), but Ghosts joins the ranks of Ted Lasso and Abbott Elementary as a sitcom that bases its comedy on being fun, funny, and caring and not on how sick of a burn one can get in. I’ve heard a number of folks lamenting the lack of family comedies that are also good – and Ghosts certainly ticks those boxes. It’s laugh out loud funny, smart, and has a genial sensibility that makes it hard not to have a happy smile on your face by the close of the episode. It’s also been renewed for a second season (a no-brainer, as it was the highest rated sitcom on CBS with the now coveted Millennial age group), so you don’t have to worry about getting hooked only to find out there aren’t any more episodes to watch. I dare you to give it a watch – I suspect you, like me, will find yourself completely hooked in no time.
The first season of Ghosts is streaming on Paramount+ and a second season will premiere this fall on CBS with day-later streams on Paramount+.
Wish version of the original.