"Ghosts" Scares Up Laughs, Ratings and Raves on CBS

Within a few weeks of premiering Ghosts ranking as the season39s mostwatched new comedy was renewed for a full season It began receiving critical acclaim over the summer months before it premieredAn unlikely gaggle of ghosts traversing centuries and cultures populate the house at the heart of this sitcom Admittedly the premise sounds creaky A young couple struggling a bit in Brooklyn where Samantha Rose McIver pictured at top right is a journalist and Jay Utkarsh Ambudkar top left a chef go see the 1800sera country house she inherited They intend to sell but instead settle in spending the sort of money few have when they take on an old houseShe can see and hear the ghosts and Jay cannot This is established in the pilot after Samantha takes a tumble down the stairs bashing her brain in the process and wakes up seeing the deceased everywhereAs last week39s episode revealed the ghosts collectively a bossy bunch despise Halloween quotAll Hallows Eve belittles us and mocks our very existencequot Isaac Brandon Scott Jones a colonial era soldier complained After all they are ghosts every day amp8230 and some have been for centuriesIsaac who cannot wrap his mind around Hamilton having such a resurgence in popularity and hints at gay longings is a fully realized character So is Hettie the imperious woman who built the house and whom Rebecca Wisocky brings to life as someone whose outlook is tighter than her corsetThat39s part of the appeal of the show which is adapted from the popular British version The characters all have amp8211 or rather had full lives It39s their deaths that have them gathered in this upstate house the show39s focal pointquotThe location of the show is in the Hudson Valley of New Yorkquot executive producer Joe Wiseman said at a Television Critics Association press conference in response to a MediaVillage question quotAnd the pilot was shot in Los Angeles It was shot at a house at USC But then when we went to series it was decided to shoot in Montreal which works out because actually we39re not that far from the Hudson Valley And they painstakingly recreated this house on the stage I39ve been on some amazing sets but you walk into that stage and it39s just incredible the detail that they39ve recreated and brought to itquotWe liked Upstate New Yorkquot he continued quotIt seemed to be sort of rich in American history We wanted a Viking character and so we did some research Vikings were in Canada There is evidence and actually journals that we found of them describing coming down the coast They would go inland and explore As soon as we figured that out we39re like amp8216OK we might as well set it here That seems like a fun character to have running aroundquotWiseman was referring to Devan Chandler Long39s character a pillaging Viking named Thorfinn He was front and center in an episode in which a Viking funeral did not go quite as planned And in Thursday39s episode Thorfinn and Sasappis a Native American played by Romamp225n Zaragoza get hooked binge watching a dopey dating reality show It39s then meets now and it is done wellAlso in Thursday39s Nov 4 episode Pete Richie Moriarty the perpetual boy scout has his moment He really is an overgrown scout Ghosts is careful to not call him a Boy Scout who embodied the good and bad of that Felled by an arrow through the neck while teaching archery Pete is so guileless it can be grating in an adult But this is a man who proudly wears knee socks and shorts and possesses the innocence of a child in a 195039s sitcomFor show consistently delivering jokes Thursday39s episode has a tearjerking ending but we39re not spoiling it hereAs these disparate characters from history come together they form a family albeit one that could be a stranger mix than most quotIt39s a really sweet premise and it39s a really fun dysfunctional family showquot Ambudkar told MediaVillage quotIt was an opportunity to play a character that was grounded and loving and supportive and wellrounded The British version of the show is so funny and witty I39m having a really good time Hopefully it is something people can watch as a familyquotThere are not that many things on TV now that you can watch with mom dad and grandma and grandpa and maybe 810yearolds and it moves at a fast pacequot Ambudkar continued quotIt has a little bit of pathos some darkness and dry humor It39s a really nice departure from what a lot of people expect from CBS which has developed a really nice rep from threecamera sitcomsquotGhosts airs Thursdays at 9 pm ET on CBS and streams live and on demand on ParamountClick the social buttons to share this content with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

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"Ghosts" Scares Up Laughs, Ratings and Raves on CBS

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Jacqueline Cutler

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"Ghosts" Scares Up Laughs, Ratings and Raves on CBS

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