The Boo Crew

This Ghosts story tells how the new CBS comedy came together brilliantly in spite of the ghastly pandemic.

- By David Hochman

They say change can be scary. A new town, an unfamiliar house, a bunch of deceased former residents who want you out of there pronto. That’s the spirit of Ghosts, a new CBS comedy—yes, comedy— about a cute young couple who inherit a rundown 300-year-old country estate (thanks, Great Aunt Sophie) along with a tight-knit group of dearly departed souls from different time periods who hilariously haunt the place.

You might think a free mansion with nine bedrooms on 10 acres in the picturesque Hudson Valley would be a welcome windfall for struggling freelance journalist Samantha (played by Rose McIver from The CW’s supernatural comedy iZombie) and her fast-talking chef husband, Jay (comedian and rapper Utkarsh Ambudkar from The Mindy Project and Pitch Perfect). And it is—for a minute. One look at her gorgeous family hand-me-down and all Sam can think is, “Dude, this could be the best bed and breakfast.” Unfortunately, it’s the property’s prior inhabitants—including a cod-obsessed Viking, a feisty Prohibition-era lounge singer, a trippy ’60s hippie, and an entitled ’80s Wall Street bro—who have reservations. The ghosts (who only Sam can see) don’t want new owners and definitely don’t want beds full of space-hogging overnighters, and so the kooky spooking begins. A lightbulb flickers mysteriously here, a vase crashes to parquet floors there—all to frighten Sam and Jay back to the big city. A spectral Yelp reviewer might sum up the guest experience in a single word: Boo!