by Alice-Ginevra Micheli, Contributing Writer
Another year, another American TV series based on a beloved British one of the same name, same concept, and same quality?
Well that’s the question isn’t it. The bar The Office set is widely known. If the U.S. tries to adapt anything from the U.K., audiences will often end up with a much lesser quality copy — something that most would hope never had existed. With quite a few never even moving beyond the Pilot stage (The I.T Crowd, Skins,and The Inbetweeners to name a few), I’m sure that the announcement and release of Ghosts was probably met with skeptical air.
However, I’m happy to say that CBS’ new series is a lighthearted, quality comedy that manages to engage, delight, and thoroughly entertain viewers within its first 14 episodes.
Following married couple Rose McIver’s Sam (better known for her leading role in iZombie), and Utkarsh Ambudkar’s Jay (better known for his work on the standup stage), we watch as they inherit a dream house. The only problem is… it’s falling apart and haunted by the ghosts of residents past.
Under this premise, we witness what ends up being a core cast of 10 as they get up to shenanigan after comedic situation after witty encounter. Amongst our ghosts, we have ‘80s Scout Master Pete (Richie Moriarty), ‘20s jazz singer, Alberta (Danielle Pinnock), and 18th century Hamilton-hating Revolutionary Captain Isaac (Brandon Scott Jones). There’s also a Viking, a Native American, a hippie, a robber baroness, and a stockbroker; so as you can imagine, there are a lot of stories and personalities going around, and it would be really easy for this to delve into something bloated and overwhelming. But instead, this charming comedy manages to warm the audience to many of its time-stuck characters in a way that is realistic, but also relatable enough to legitimately want to remember each one of them.
Before I continue, I do have to say that I never watched the original series; but then again, I never watched the original The Office either, and I still managed to enjoy its U.S. counterpart a great deal. That is certainly the case here as well. Honestly, in this day and age it’s nice to just be able to watch something that is a bit silly, yet also full of heart.
A lot of the humor comes from the out-of-time naiveté of the ghosts themselves, which is done in a charming manner. That’s the same with our two humans Jay and Sam, who are a young yuppie couple with big dreams and small bank accounts, and now also some ghosts to tend to.
The only thing left to say is that there isn’t really very much left to say. There’s nothing wrong with this pilot season for certain, but there’s also nothing that would take it into the upper echelons of comedy greats either. Whenever a new episode arrived, I wasn’t not rushing to watch it so that I could find out what happened next. However, I was also always looking forward to seeing what shenanigans these lovable oafs get themselves into each time around.
This is very much easy viewing, but as I mentioned before, it legitimately has heart. The characters aren’t one-dimensional, there is depth portrayed, and there are relationships that develop with each episode that passes. Really, there’s the possibility for it to reach those heights of must-see TV if they manage to find that special something that they seem to be missing right now.
So, this is definitely one of the shorter articles I’ve written, but this is all that you really need to know before you dive in. Are you looking for something fun, silly, and simple that can bring you back some faith in humanity, even if only the smallest spark? Then I recommend you check this one out — it won’t blow your socks off, but it’ll certainly make them feel cozier.
Grade: B
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