How CBS’ ‘Ghosts’ Brought Network Comedy Back From the Dead
Culturally speaking, we’re all being haunted. Things we thought were long dead are not only back, but making their presences known. Not only can we see them, but we’re also interacting with them. We even, much to our surprise, love them. It’s thrilling. It’s unexpected. It’s basically the plot of Ghosts.
The CBS comedy series, whose second season debuts on Thursday, is a driving force in what might be considered a television séance: Despite a decade-long trend that saw it maligned as antiquated, corny, and lacking in the quality and edge that series on streaming services and cable could provide, the broadcast comedy is popular again. It’s also actually good and—dare we say it—even cool.
Based on the BBC series (which you can stream on HBO Max), Ghosts centers around a married couple—Rose McIver’s Sam and Utkarsh Ambudkar's Jay—who inherit a centuries-old country house in New England. They decide to leave city living behind and turn the house into a bed and breakfast, much to the horror of the property’s current occupants: the ghosts of the people who have died there over the (many) years.