The American remake of the British sitcom, Ghosts, premiered in Oct. 2021 and successfully jumped over many hurdles to get a quick Season 2 pick up. The critics liked it. The audience liked it and, more crucially, tuned in. Most importantly, it didn’t embarrass itself as so many other failed British-to-American remakes have before it. The question in front of it now as it settles into a second season is whether it has the ability to become the rare American remake of a British sitcom that is beloved, like The Office, or a show that is just beliked, like Dear John.
The annals of American remakes of British sitcoms are long and, in many cases, tragic. That history is littered with pilots of remade shows that were loved on both sides of the pond in their original form. There's the painful take on The IT Crowd, or the one that hurts the most, both attempts to make Red Dwarf USA happen. There are also many successful American sitcoms that people either forget or just didn’t know were based on British shows, such as All in the Family, Three's Company, The Ropers, Too Close For Comfort, and Sanford and Son. Veep would go on that list, but one would assume that people who watch Veep are already tuned into its The Thick of It origins.
In some cases, the reasons cross-pond remakes don't work is cultural. In most cases, the comedy-by-committee style of many network development folks dilute the material and strip it of the quirkiness or originality that made it a hit in the first place. Then there's the fact that many times they replace a funny, dorky-looking lead with a muscled, square-jawed American hunk. Even if that hunk is Joel McHale and has comedy chops, it's just not as funny to see a tall, fit, pretty boy play an awkward down-and-outer.
Sometimes it's just a lazy cash grab, like the American version of Coupling. The UK version of Coupling was basically a British take on Friends; so a copy of a copy, like clone number four in Multiplicity, only not funny, all cringe. When considering the successful remakes, both critically and in viewership, it is important to note that the shows that have fared the best have had direct involvement from the creators of the original, such as in the case of perennial Emmy winner Veep, or what has arguably become the most popular sitcom in America even years after it went off the air, The Office.
Ghosts had the benefit of the original creators' input at the beginning of the process and many of them retain executive producer credits on the remake. Much credit goes to writing partners Joe Port and Joe Wiseman, both with extensive television writing and producing credits. In fact, CBS reached out to them about developing the US version after acquiring the rights to a vampire rom-com they wrote an unproduced pilot for. Adding to that, Port was a history major in college, giving the show an edge in dealing with the different eras of American culture represented by the ghosts.
With only one season under its belt, it's too soon to tell if Ghosts will continue to improve and entertain, but it has a lot going for it. The characters are fun, the concept is interesting and the basic foundation of the show gives it infinite room to build stories without repeating itself or even leaving the grounds of the estate. It is no easy task ahead of them. British shows have notoriously few episodes per season, while their American counterparts tend to get an order of between 13 and 25 episodes per season. Unlike their British counterparts, American shows, at least on broadcast television, don’t have the luxury of going away for a year or two to polish scripts or storylines. It's far more of a grind in the Hollywood system. That's not to say it can't be done, as All in the Family, Sanford and Son, and of course The Office, have proven.
Ghosts has great potential and doesn’t push the envelope so far that it has to go behind a paywall; at least not for original airings, anyway. It's too soon to tell if it will emerge as a long-running and respected unicorn à la The Office, but anticipation is high, along with hopes, that this light, fun, silly and genuinely enjoyable show can stay the course.
Season 1 of Ghosts is available to stream on Paramount+. Season 2 premieres Sept. 29 on CBS.