Ghosts, The U.S. Version (2021-)

We took a look at the original U.K. version of Ghosts a couple of years ago, so I figured with a fourth season announced for the U.S. version, it was probably time to watch its American counterpart and see what all the fuss is about. Full disclosure, I have not always been favorable towards U.S. reboots of popular U.K. shows after being burned by the American versions of Absolutely Fabulous, Being Human, and Coupling. But in each of those cases, I had a strong attachment to the original British show which made it hard for me to approach the Americanized show as anything other than a poor quality knock-off.

In the case of Ghosts (2021-), I held off on watching the original U.K. show to allow myself to receive the American version with as few expectations or emotional attachments as possible. Either the show is good enough on its own merits, or I don’t know yet what I’m missing, but I can report that I have been enjoying the heck out of this silly little low-stakes series! So, let’s take a look at what the first season has to offer so far!

The Livings:

Samantha and Jay Arondekar are a young married couple living in a tiny little apartment in New York City when Sam learns that her great-aunt has left her the old family mansion in her will. They impulsively move to the old house where an accident almost ends Sam’s life. When she recovers, she realizes they’re not alone.

Sam sees the potential of turning the massive property into a bed and breakfast. Jay is skeptical and resistant to trading their life in NYC for a crumbling old mansion in the backwoods of New York.

The Ghosts:

Inhabiting the mansion are a collection of ghosts from across the timeline of the property. Each ghost was someone who died on the property (either before, or after the house was built in the 1800s), whose soul has been unable to move on to… whatever is beyond.

Rebecca Wisocky (right) plays Hetty Woodstone, the matriarch of Woodstone Manor and Sam’s ancestress. She’s shown here with her stunt double, Stephanie Hawk. I picked this image because it shows Hetty’s gorgeous peacock blue bustle gown in full length. Hetty is more or less the leader of the ghosts, as it’s *her* house, though she is not the first ghost to inhabit it.

Brandon Scott Jones plays Isaac Higgintoot, a Revolutionary War veteran and member of the American Continental Congress, who died of dysentery.

Danielle Pinnock plays Alberta, a jazz singer who died under “mysterious” circumstances in the 1920s. She is convinced that she was murdered and wants Sam to help solve her death. The other ghosts are skeptical of this theory.

Pete Martino is played by Richie Moriarty. Pete was killed in the early 1990s while attempting to teach his scouting troupe how to do target archery. His backstory involves a lot of processing of his relationship with his still-living wife and daughter as he died with a lot of unfinished business (despite insisting otherwise).

Trevor is played by Asher Grodman. He’s a Wall Street broker who died in the late-1990s in an apparently compromising situation, sans pants. Thus, he is doomed to wander the earth without his trousers. He also thinks he’s a lothario who constantly tries to hit on Sam, only to be continually rejected.

Sheila Carrasco plays Flower, who was mauled to death by a bear while strung out on drugs in 1969. She’s a free loving hippie and is usually the foil to Hetty’s uptight Victorian lady. As the show goes on, Flower reveals more depth than just the bubbly airhead she starts out as.

Devan Chandler Long plays Thorfinn, a Viking warrior who died while on expedition further north in Nova Scotia. After being abandoned by his men, he continued wandering south until he died at some point circa the 10th century CE on what would become the Woodstone property by being struck by lightning. Thor’s costume is the weakest of all the ghost characters, being very much a reference to the show *Vikings* and not so much a reflection of anything a historical 10th c. Norseman would have worn in reality. But whatever, he’s cute and he shares a name with my sweetie.

Román Zaragoza plays Sasappis, a Lenape ghost who died in the 1500s, making him the second oldest of all the ghosts in the house after Thorfinn (whom he considers his best friend, despite Thorfinn not always understanding how friendship works). He’s far more savvy than most of the other ghosts, having an apparent understanding of modern humans the others lack.

The Cholera Ghosts haunt the creepy basement and only occasionally venture up to the main floors to interact with the livings and the other ghosts. Their official spokesperson is Creepy Dirk (front left), and they all apparently died in the 1930s when the property housed a cholera hospital. They are exceptionally good at helping to fix the constantly malfunctioning gas boiler.

Are you watching Ghosts (2021-)? Tell us about it in the comments!

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3 thoughts on “Ghosts, The U.S. Version (2021-)”

Grace says:

October 29, 2024 at 10:10 am

Yes!!! I love this show so much AND I love Ghosts UK; they’re very different vibes in a lot of ways which helps a lot I think, as well as the showrunners making some different choices regarding the state of the house and the characterization of the husband (Jay in the US, Mike in the UK.) I don’t think I’ve ever loved an American remake of a British show, though I’ve liked a few, but this one is SO charming that I actually might like it more than its UK counterpart??? A wild sentence, likely never to be repeated.

But: I HAVE been wondering about the costumes because some of them are excellent! And others are…””Viking””

1. ED says:
  
  October 31, 2024 at 4:55 am
  
  I’m not going to lie, my theory is that Thorfinn was a deeply, deeply weird dude even in life and dressed accordingly (If nothing else it would be amusing to see him swagger around in his own ‘Viking’ style whilst every other Northman we see is wearing actual Norse costume.
  
ED says:

October 31, 2024 at 4:53 am

Ask me to pick between GHOSTS (UK) and GHOSTS (US) only at your peril – I love them both and refuse to be parted from either of them.