IR TV Review: GHOSTS - EPISODE 1 (“Pilot”) [CBS]
The aspect of hybrid shows that both straddle genre and comedy are tricky on network television, not because of standards but because of tone, budgets and approach. "Ghosts" in its pilot suffers from this to a point but many shows simply have become an interesting exercise (see "Brain Dead"). The overall reasoning here is though in order to balance certain said genre underpinnings there needs to be a visual style to accompany it. "Ghosts" at least in the pilot does not overwhelming provide this though this can sometimes change when picked up to series as far as differing production approaches with a regular series order. The conceit of the show is that many different dead people from many different time periods have found themselves relegated to this one house in the Hudson Valley. Their differing causes of death do have varying approaches to humor but the "why" of why they are there is very vague. Even the people in the basement were a good bit but there needs to be reference (which for us was provided by the TCA Panel).
Rose McIver, who is no stranger to genre with "iZombie" works well here bt she has to be the catalyst as a girl who inherits her great aunt's house (where said ghosts reside). Seeking to escape the city with her husband Jay (Utkarsh Ambudkar), the pilot set up shows what can come from the comedy. The ghosts themselves become an interesting frat of sorts which becomes story time in an odd way though in fact some of the best bits of the show. The best of the ghosts is Dean Long as Thorfinn, a would-be Viking who sees modern things differently with a touch of heart and dumbness. From there the aspect of Richie Moriarty who plays Pete gives the needed slapstick. He looks like a boy scout master who got shot through the neck with an arrow. The character just has an optimism yet with a pissed off demeanor because of "a life cut short" thing going on. Brandon Scott Jones plays Isaac whose whole element of dying of dysentery and how it affects how he can haunt in the afterlife is just flat out funny (though that might get old quick). The rest of the ghosts are like this too but the question is how it avoids being a one trick pony. This will come down to the writing which is effective in the first episode but that is because it is new. The trick is to see how it will be maintained since this is more an insular world instead of world building. C+
By Tim Wassberg
