Review by C.J. Bunce
Who would have thought a supernatural comedy remake of a British TV series would remain a success on Prime Time television in the U.S. for four seasons? Sixty-four episodes of Ghosts and there are no signs of stopping genre actor Rose McIver and TV’s best acting ensemble. The best escape every week for millions is the rapid-fire dialogue and outlandish trials and tribulations of a couple who own a bed and breakfast inhabited by ghosts who have occupied the estate for the past thousand-plus years. Pulling from the framework of the British show, Ghosts has quite simply re-drawn the American sitcom.
If you’re not caught up on the series, here’s what you need to know: For fans of Resident Alien, the show smacks of the exact same tone and humor, the latest in the trope mastered by The Munsters and The Addams Family. It’s Beetlejuice, The Sixth Sense, and Tru Calling meets The Money Pit with a splash of Clue, with not a speck of heavy drama (or frights) but heaps of fun and pop culture references (if you pay attention you’ll find more than one iZombie reference) stuffed into each half-hour episode.
In the first season viewers met McIver’s urban yuppie Samantha, who inherited an incredibly furnished, off-the-beaten path mansion from a long-lost aunt, and eagerly persuaded husband Jay (Utkarsh Ambudkar, Pitch Perfect, The Muppets, Free Guy) to leave the big city and turn the mansion into a B&B. On her first visit to the mansion Samantha tripped on a recently jostled vase, fell down a stairwell, and was technically dead for three minutes before going into an induced coma, to be revived two weeks later. Jay decided to accede to her wishes and both move into and refurb the mansion, only for Samantha to realize she sees dead people. The dead people are the ghosts of eight people who died at the house or nearby, and instead of moving on their souls are trapped there forever in limbo. The number of ghosts has increased over four seasons.
The main ghosts are an Edwardian former owner of the mansion (Rebecca Wisocky), a modern(ish) scoutmaster (Richie Moriarty), a wolf of Wall Street who died with his pants down (Asher Grodman), a flamboyant contemporary of Alexander Hamilton (Brandon Scott Jones), a Native American (Román Zaragoza), a hippie (Sheila Carrasco), a gangster-era singer (Danielle Pinnock), and a Viking (Devan Long, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Doom Patrol).
The worldbuilding is exceptional and astonishingly quick for a half-hour format show. This season saw the ghosts do what makes the show work best: interact. With eight ghosts and two owners, the writers room has limitless possibilities for storytelling. High points of this season incloude the return of Puritan ghost Patience, Jay’s sister Bela (Punam Patel) adds to the fun knowing about the existence of the ghosts, teen ghost Stephanie (Odessa A-zion) makes a return to find her prom date married her best friend, Pete’s ability to exist outside the estate results in a new girlfriend (who has her own secrets)–leading Sass and Pete to grow closer, Flower misinterprets a prophecy from her former cult leader, and the writers unveil good Christmas and St. Patrick’s Day episodes. And what a season cliffhanger!
But the two best episodes of the season couldn’t be more different. The most fun is found when the writers focus on Sasappis, a character frequently sidelined in the story plots. A multi-century gag line of Sasappis being a virgin gets addressed with the introduction of the best new character since the series began: Taylor Ortega as Joan, one of the first woman screenwriters in Hollywood, she also is a roamer like Pete, who can come and go as she pleases. Ortega is the first actor since the original eight to fully inhabit the character in a way that will make you hope she stays on for good.
The other top episode of the year focuses on “T-Money” Trevor, as he gets to see again the man he lent his pants to before he died, now older. Every character on the show has grown over the four seasons of the series, but seeing 1980s throwback Trevor come to terms with his short life and his life choices is one of those things that makes this show unique. The emotional pinnacle of the season arrives when Trevor sees that his friend raised his unknown biological daughter.
We’ve rated it the top comedy for years for good reason. Fans will appreciate the series has been renewed through 2027, to include two more seasons. Don’t wait. Catch the first four seasons of Ghosts now on Paramount+. Expect it back next year in its usual spot Thursday nights at 7:30 p.m. Central on CBS.
