PILOT REVIEW: Ghosted

GHOSTED

Starring: Craig Robinson, Adam Scott, Ally Walker, Adeel Akhtar, Amber Stevens West

Created by Tom Gormican
Written by Tom Gormican & Kevin Etten, Directed by Jonathan Krisel

THE PREMISE
Ghosted is a comedic spoof of paranormal shows, most obviously The X-Files. A "true believer" in the paranormal, Max Jennifer (Adam Scott), is kidnapped along with a skeptical former LAPD cop, Leroy Wright, to help solve paranormal mysteries for a secret organization called The Bureau Underground, led by Captain Ava Lafrey (Ally Walker). Rounding out the main cast is Barry Shaw (Adeel Akhtar), a scientist at the bureau, and Annie Carver (Amber Stevens West), a tech specialist.


THE REVIEW
Despite not liking the trailer, I was hopeful about this show going in because I like Adam Scott and Craig Robinson and they seem like a strong odd couple pairing. I still think this show could get there but it certainly did not get there in the pilot, which was honestly somewhat of a mess. I thought the initial setup with Scott in the bookstore and Robinson in the mall worked and their first interaction in the van showed the potential chemistry between the two leads, but it was downhill from there. The rest of the episode had a too silly story with a lot of running and screaming and cheesy sci-fi stuff.

Scott and Robinson are a decent pair but I also felt like as the episode went on, they seemed more aware of how funny they thought they were acting as "opposites." I read an interview with the two of them in Entertainment Weekly that I thought was a little bit annoying and I hate to say that I felt like I saw that in the pilot too. On paper, this seems like a great pairing when you think about the type of actors they are from past triumphs like The Office (Robinson) and Parks and Recreation (Scott). But it just didn't gel as much as I thought it would. Maybe it will. After all, sitcoms almost always take a little bit to get settled and maybe Scott and Robinson were just trying too hard in the pilot.

I am not an X-Files watcher but I do think that show is ripe for parody. I think this is a clever idea and could be a very funny series. It had a lot of exposition to get through in the pilot and maybe that's what led to an underwhelming story of the week. I'll be curious to see if Scott and Robinson can settle into their roles and if this show can transition from a goofy spoof to a smarter satire, assuming that's what they want it to be, which I think they do.

WILL I WATCH IT AGAIN?
Yes. I will probably give this a couple episodes to see if it can get its footing.