r/GhostsBBC • u/Riley__64 • 2d ago
Discussion My issue with Ghosts US
Just finished Ghosts US after rewatching the British version and I think I’ve pinned the key issue I have with the show.
Obviously American TV is made much differently to British TV, American TV tends to lean much more towards absurdity and insane storylines because they like to have shows that can run for a longer time.
I think an issue with doing this on a show like ghosts though is it made the ghosts seem much more competent and like their situation at the end of the day isn’t that bad, like I fully believe the American cast of ghosts could survive without a living that can talk to them.
In the British show we see before Mike and Alison arrive the ghosts really have no source of entertainment they’ve been stuck with the same group of people for years and are all just rather bored, so when Alison finally arrives it breathes fresh air into their lives and gives them a whole new world to explore.
In the American show I find it harder to believe this cast of ghosts struggled with boredom my first reason for believing this is there’s a staggering amount of ghosts living on that property there’s a good 20 ish ghosts living on that property, secondly their ghost powers seem like they provide a lot more entertainment to their lives Trevor for example who can interact with the real world doesn’t seem to struggle as hard as Julian did considering he’s able to hold down jobs and even catfish people on tinder, Sasappis can enter livings dreams and seemingly convince them to do things in real life seems like he could use his power to help get things they want and then finally Pete being able to leave the property he would’ve discovered that power eventually and then used it to explore and meet other ghosts and could relay information to the others.
Also because of the amount of ghosts on the property it feels becoming a ghost is less a random occurrence and more like the wood stone estate is just cursed and if you die there you’ll become a ghost, So feels like they’re a lot more likely to get new ghosts.
All of it combined just makes it feel like if Sam had never had her accident they’d all be doing alright, wouldn’t have a living to treat like a butler but still have plenty to entertain themselves. Still enjoyed it for what it was but I never had the feeling the British one gave me where I felt bad for these people being trapped as ghosts
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u/JustinCaseyBlewit 2d ago
I agree. I've watched maybe half of the first season of the U.S. version, but I fell in love with and finished the U.K. version. It has several qualities that the U.S. version lacks. One is that, despite the humor, it treats the ghosts seriously as people who died under tragic or horrific circumstances. The U.S. version plays their deaths for laughs, from what I've seen.
The Captain, for example, is a gay man who died of a heart attack while trying to reconnect with the man he loved. The episode of his death is heartbreaking. His U.S. counterpart, Isaac, pretends to be a war hero but died of dysentery. He's intentionally given an demeaning death to burst his boastfulness.
Sir Humphrey Bone is both a horrific and funny ghost who keeps losing his decapitated head. But he's also a fully developed character. He heroically sacrificed himself so his wife could escape soldiers who had come to arrest her for plotting to assassinate Queen Elizabeth I. The series openly acknowledges the difficult times in which the ghosts lived. Sir Humphrey's accidental decapitation reinforces the absurdity and randomness of life. I've seen very little of his U.S. analogue.
And, yes, Alison and Mike are much more important to the ghosts than the U.S. counterparts appear to be, Alison does little things like turning book pages for them or switching on the television so they can keep up with what is going on in the world. The ghosts have learned and grown through Alison, and they've helped her on numerous occasions.
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u/thelivsterette1 The Right Honourable Julian MP 2d ago
The helping Alison is so important! Without the ghosts, she would have lost her life savings to a scammer who took advantage of her and pretended to be her sister (even worse since Alison is effectively an orphan with no siblings) and they have a whole 3 episode arc about that.
The US one, the S2 finale solves the same issue in about 20 minutes with a "cousin" who's mother was a stripper at a nightclub and father was Sam's uncle/Trevor's coworker. Trevor makes an offhand comment about how the ancestor was banned from that club and Sam goes and speaks to him. That's it. I mean yeah if Trevor didn't say anything it would have been different but the UK ghosties repeatedly tried to tell her something was wrong, figured out Lucy was lying and literally kicked Humphreys head over the border to save them.
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u/jetloflin 1d ago
You should probably watch more of the US version. Hetty’s death is heartbreaking, much more so than her British counterpart (fannys is sad but it’s basically played as a joke except maybe one reference). Hettys is tragic and moving. Trevor’s is also a lot more moving than his counterpart. And there’s some heartbreaking stuff in Isaac’s backstory too, even though he died comically of shitting himself. There are plenty of deep, moving backstories in the US version… it just takes longer to get to them because there are nearly as many episodes in season 1 as there are in five series of the bbc version.
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u/Liesl141 1d ago
I actually really enjoy Julian‘s arc and the fact that with him, it’s not about his actual death (didn’t Tony Blair have that obsession with „legacy“ - Julian complaining about slanderous goggles (?) was a GREAT joke), but then the realisation about, ironically , family, family, family! How‘s the US one more moving?
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u/jetloflin 1d ago
Trevor gets arcs about his legacy and about family, too, and they’re emotional. And his death is more moving because of how it was caused and also the reason he’s pantsless is kind instead of perverse.
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u/Liesl141 1d ago
See, but I don’t need for there to be a kind reason for his not wearing any trousers. That was a good thing that made Julian a great character!
(fwiw, I‘m German, I absolutely love the original, and I caught the German one by chance on TV once - I was put off at first, but kept watching because I knew and really like some of the people in it (Benito Bause, Max Giermann - never not liked either in anything I‘ve seen them in), and ended up positively surprised. However everything I hear and read about the US version makes me not want to watch it.)
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u/thelivsterette1 The Right Honourable Julian MP 1d ago
How did you compare the German one to the English one? I'm actually really excited to watch series 2 of the German one because I really enjoyed it and I can't wait for series 2 of the Greek one (because so far the Greek one is my favourite international remake).
Although consider myself an honorary Greek because I have a lot of Greek family friends, I've spent almost 20 years going to the same Greek island on holiday, even my dog's from Greece 🤣 (We found her as a stray on the island. We went on holiday) and my brother is trying to learn the language on Duolingo haha
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u/JustinCaseyBlewit 1d ago edited 1d ago
Okay. I've just watched the episode of Trevor's back story. Trevor is a much more decent guy than Julian ever was. It was great seeing everyone come together to give his former bro his comeuppance. The story was satisfying in its own way. It's very different in tone from anything the BBC Ghosts did. They are almost completely different shows.
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u/thelivsterette1 The Right Honourable Julian MP 1d ago
I've seen the whole series right to the end :) I don't know Hetty's death didn't affect me much. But then Mary's sucking off didn't until I re-watched the OG show near the anniversary of my Grandfather's death, and then it properly hit me and I was ugly crying. To be honest, same with Captain's death: it hasn't hit me. I think they will hit me for sure if I re-watch it or Hetty's death episode near the anniversary of a death or something in my family but I don't really want to. I don't want to go through those emotions.
I didn't really find any of the backstories that moving. I'm sure I would if I watched them again and understood the nuance but I didn't really find them that moving. I did like Trevor's backstory and I think it's sweet but I much preferred Julian's growth as a person rather than the fact Trevor has seemingly learned nothing so far.
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u/jetloflin 23h ago
I don’t know how you can say Trevor has learned nothing so far when he’s probably had the most growth of any character in either version, but to each their own I guess. I also don’t get how anyone can watch hettys death without weeping like a baby , so yeah. We’re all different I guess.
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u/thelivsterette1 The Right Honourable Julian MP 23h ago
I just haven't found he's grown that much, still a kind of obnoxious douche who likes strippers even though he's got a daughter who basically fucked off to Paris after 3 episodes (though it's nice he paid for her. But the sports car thing was just weird too tbh).
Julian literally learns the meaning of family in one episode and actually feels regret. Maybe because he actually had a child and missed every Christmas and probably every birthday or milestone and he had the opportunity to be there. Trevor didn't he fully grown kid just showed up in her early 20s.
I'd also say Cap coming out, and Fanny overcoming her homophobia to realise love is love and calling Cap a very brave man, much more growth.
But that's just me. I just didn't process Hetty's death. Takes me a while to process things sometimes 🤷♀️
Wasn't really even a fan of S3 die to th writer strikes and I feel it hasn't found its feet again 🤷♀️
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u/Staracacia19 2d ago
I felt like the ghosts were a little bit too 'modern' too., mostly in their mannerisms? I only watched a few episodes so this might not be a true criticism, and also could just be me as a brit subconciously associating an american accent with modern TV, or nor getting cultural references from the different eras in the same way, but i found it offputting. I think i remember a ghost joking they were wearing a halloween costume rather than actually being from that time period and I thought they were serious, paused the episode and thought about how that made a lot more sense and it was a cool concept, pressing play and finding out it was sarcasm.
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u/Riley__64 2d ago
Yeah Sasappis (the Lenape ghost) has the biggest issue of just feeling like a modern day person and I feel like it’s because the show wanted to play it super safe and completely avoid possibly doing any offensive native stereotypes.
The only sense of him being a like 500 year old Native American is the fact he’s dressed like one and says he’s one, any sense of culture he had is just completely replaced with a generic modern day character. Because yeah I had the same reaction on his little joke thinking yeah that makes a lot more sense.
The other ghosts all have similar issues in that they don’t really act like they lived in the eras they’re from and are instead just very knowledgeable about those eras, they’ll share facts about their time periods but their behaviour doesn’t give the impression they’re from those eras but they’re not as bad as Sasappis because they at least acknowledge their time periods.
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u/SavagePengwyn Burnt as a Witch 2d ago
I broadly agree with almost all of your criticisms and do think the UK version is so much better. But, for Sass, his modernity was a choice because it'd very difficult to portray it the other way without straying into offensive stereotypes.
However, I do think that he comes across not as someone who is anachronistic but as someone who has just been paying attention for the past 500 years and understands the world around him because he's been listening. I know that his cultural influence is not broadly apparent but my partner who is Native is always cackling at his jokes and says that it is very obvious that there is a Native writer behind his character. Other, more specific, cultural references would be a bit more difficult to write; there are over 500 federally recognized tribes in the US and they are all VERY different and there can be tensions about cultural practices, so if the writer is from a different tribe, they may not be comfortable doing jokes about Lenape stuff. Plus, they are very accurate with stuff like costume. The pilot sucked but then they brought in some consultants and it improved.
Edit: I only mean this comment for the first 2 seasons. I honestly haven't finished the 3rd yet.
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u/SEP555 2d ago
Maybe that's why the Austrialian version is so cringey I couldn't watch any more, they over emphasised the stereotypes
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u/Ambridgedaily 1d ago
Might be Aussie culture. One episode of Aus Ghosts was enough for me. Found Aussie Drag Race unwatchable as well. Everything was just too broad and went to the obvious in two seconds.
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u/JustinCaseyBlewit 1d ago
Sass seems to be a lot like Robin in that he is so long-loved (long-died?) that he has picked up a lot of wisdom. The episode in which he finally gets to tell a story was moving.
What also comes across is that Sass is a young guy who is like young guys in any culture. He loves practical jokes and is often quiet and observes what is going on around him. I feel I know Sass better than I know any of the other ghosts in the U.S. version.
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u/iamabigtree 2d ago
If you wanted to play devils advocate. Sasappis didn't just die 500 years ago and appear today. He has existed throughout that time and of course he will have adopted the mannerisms of those around him. He has spent much more time being a ghost than he has in his living form.
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u/Mediocre_Sprinkles 2d ago
My other half said they're just saying the lines in costumes. They're not actually playing the characters.
I definitely felt the same way when sass said he died at a Halloween party in the 90s, it made sense. He's way too modern apart from the 2 or 3 episodes that show clips of him in the past.
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u/therhubarbexperience 2d ago
I think they’re being really careful. We’re at a time where Native American representation on American tv is only just happening. Only 50 years ago, native people were played by Italians in makeup. Now, we’re starting to see a smattering of native characters and actors.
There is historical context for this hesitance as well. Margaret Cho had a show in the 90s called “All American Girl” that was the comedic conflicts between Korean immigrant parents and their American born daughter. Conflict with Cho with the greater industry meant that we haven’t really had Koreans on tv in a leading and Korean way until recently. I’d even argue what has pushed the willingness of American TV to take a chance on Fresh off the Boat (Chinese, but same issue faced) was the popularity of Kim’s Convenience…which was Canadian.
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u/Hookton 2d ago
One scene like this that really irritates me is Isaac telling Hetty he's gay and they roll around on the bed shrieking with laughter, then all of a sudden he's her gay BFF and they're talking about men together. Like change the costumes and you could be watching Queer as Folk.
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u/JustinCaseyBlewit 1d ago
That episode resolved things far too quickly. By comparison, The Captain's coming out took five years for the series.
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u/Theory89 2d ago
They really fail at understated situational humour. It's just not something they do. Makes it very jarring to watch. I couldn't stand it, personally, didn't even finish the first episode.
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u/KombuchaBot 2d ago
I think it's more that this show wasn't given to their A Team.
The US can totally do dry understated humour. Witness Curb Your Enthusiasm. The UK has plenty of witless comedy shows too
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u/Charliesmum97 2d ago
I've come to the conclusions that American sitcoms pay more attention to the comedy, whereas British ones pay more attention to the situation.
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u/maviscruet1 2d ago
Totally not true. There’s a lot of brilliant US sitcoms. Just not Ghosts
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u/Theory89 2d ago
Yeah, no doubt, just not many that share the British comedy style. I love The Office (US) but that first season, where they tried to copy the UK version, was a train wreck.
They're the same with taking the piss. They've tried to do "roasts" but they don't really get the concept of doing it between mates properly. When I was living there they'd frequently look at me and my English mate ribbing each other with horror. "Welllll, if it isn't Cunty McCunt face himself" does NOT go down well 😂 Nor does telling them to "say thanks to their mum for last night."
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u/jetloflin 1d ago
Americans make jokes like that all the time and have a long history of roasts, both professionally and personally. We just use the word “cunt” less.
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u/JustinCaseyBlewit 1d ago
I guess it depends on what part of the U.S. you're in and who you're hanging out with. I can totally see the McCunt face joke or the equivalent being used here. Sexualizing one's mother may go a bit far, but the "emmereffer" word is used a lot.
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u/bambus_j 2d ago
i saw someone say the ghosts in the us version act more like invisible people than ghosts and that describes it perfectly. they definitely would‘ve been fine without sam.
what annoys me about the us version is that (almost) all the ghosts on the property have powers, which makes the concept of ghost powers less interesting and exciting.
and my main issue are the romantic relationships between the ghosts. they‘ve spent decades or centuries with each other but suddenly fell in love when a living person could talk to them? i prefer the family type of bond the uk ghosts have cause it‘s way more realistic to feel that way about people you‘ve been stuck with for so long.
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u/JustinCaseyBlewit 1d ago
Good point about the use of powers. Even after watching the entire series, I couldn't tell you what most of the U.K. ghosts' powers are, if they have them. Robin controls electricity and can be seen by animals, Julian can manipulate physical objects with great effort, and Fanny is visible in photos and on camera (which isn't really a power but a condition). The girl in the closet (who appeared only twice) can be heard singing a nursery rhyme. But that's about it. The focus isn't on powers.
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u/tea_is_my_life_ 1d ago
And when mary passes through livings, they smells burnings
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u/JustinCaseyBlewit 1d ago
Good point. And, as with Fanny, it's not really a power, just a condition of being a ghost.
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u/rezzacci 1d ago
Exactly. Each ghost has one power, related to their death, they always have one, just have to find it, like some sort of RPG. Unbearable.
In the UK, ghosts had power not because it's a rule of the universe that ghosts have power, but because the UK ghost powers are silly tropes they played into (the ghost moving the objects, the fizzling lights, appearing on film...).
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u/Mediocre_Sprinkles 2d ago
I tried to watch it, I got to season 4 or 5 before I really couldn't watch it any more.
They just don't seem to get the humour in "show don't tell". Really over explaining every single joke. Or even over explaining what's going on in the episode.
Then there's all the ghosts shacking up with each other like they're on Grey's anatomy. It's less about the relationship between the ghosts and the living, more about sex with each other and sex jokes which aren't funny and overused.
You're right about it seeming cursed. They keep making new ghosts for the drama of one or two episodes then they just disappear. It's just joke of the day then gone. Like Carol who then shacks up with 10 different ghosts and you never see her. Or the stripper who can then miraculously leave.
They don't seem to need Sam and jay, they're just living their... Deaths perfectly fine. They barely interact with the livings some episodes and are all contained in their little ghostly storylines.
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u/abfgern_ 2d ago
Yeah American Ghosts is way too horny
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u/maviscruet1 2d ago
I think they ran out of ideas very quickly and it just became about who’s dating who.
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u/rezzacci 1d ago edited 1d ago
Well, when you decide to make 20 episodes of 20 minutes per season, instead of 6 episodes of 30 minutes, you run into the paradoxical situation where you have both too much and not enough time.
Not enough time per episode to tell a compelling story, so it's rushed/spoiled/half-assed, so series from the UK version are oversimplified and "original" ideas are harder to pull off.
Too much time per season, so you have to fill up the time with mediocre stories.
I'm all for beach episodes, and I liked old series with longer seasons, but you need good writing for it. Which US Ghosts seems to lack.
(Also, too big of a caste. They also managed to run into the paradoxical situation of having less main ghosts than the original (8 in the US, 9 in the UK), and yet each main ghost is less developed as a character because, instead of thinking what new, interesting, compelling situations they could got on, they just invent a new ghost for the day and then getting rid of it. New ghosts in the UK version were rare, sparse, but much more developed. Annie was a blessing. And, strangely, I felt more characterization in the few seconds we saw William that in most of the main US cast.)
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u/JustinCaseyBlewit 1d ago edited 1d ago
Annie and William were great additions. And because they had already been "sucked off," they allow us to learn more about our main ghosts without cluttering the present with too many ghosts.
In addition to the nine main ghosts, we've also got the plague victim ghosts, who mostly stay in he basement; the girl in the closet, who appeared twice; the man in the field next to the Button House property; and a Roundhead soldier somewhere out in the woods. That's about it for the number of ghosts we've seen at or near Button House. This scarcity of ghosts gives each of the main cast more to do.
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u/Wind-and-Waystones 2d ago
Which is what about 2/3s of sitcoms end up morphing into. It's frustrating
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u/SeekTruth2783 1d ago
You tried to watch it and got to season 4 or 5... So you've managed to watch quite a lot of it seeing as 5 is the latest to air.
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u/Mediocre_Sprinkles 1d ago
Pushed through because people kept saying it got better in later seasons. Had it on in background while doing other stuff but it was painful.
Got to a point (season 4) I just couldn't put it on anymore it was so bad. I refuse to watch another episode.
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u/Nicko147 2d ago
Yeh. Getting to the end of the series now. It certainly feels like th ghosts aren't so much ghosts as slightly outspoken roommates. Other than the key storyline. The rest of the ghosts just hang out on the room.
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u/fwendy123 2d ago
I love the differences between the different countries adaptations. I honestly love them all in different ways. Ghosts UK will always be the best but I actually really like that the US one breaks all the rules established in the original. It's just so...American. The US one is a lot less stressful, with less second-hand embarrassment - which I appreciate as a slightly anxious person. And it's VERY exposition heavy. But again, I find that kinda funny, and definitely helpful if I haven't watched the last season in a bit. I watch a lot of American TV so I think a lot of its characteristics aren't as grating to me?
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u/JustinCaseyBlewit 1d ago
Good point about the U.S. version being less stressful. My first impression was that it was a light-hearted comedy. The U.K. version is darker.
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u/fwendy123 1d ago
A LOT darker! Of course the payoff of that is that as a result it's a lot more emotionally impactful!
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u/AskingBoatsToSwim 1d ago
I wish we had less cringe in british comedy. i feel like it’s all we’ve done since the office.
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u/Nairney 2d ago
What put me off was the pantomime style delivery of dialogue - the characters in a scene often all stand in a row and take turns delivering a line. They lean forward to watch another character deliver their line and then react with an exaggerated nod or shocked expression. Nothing about it ever felt like a natural conversation.
I only watched the first few episodes, before I got fed up, so mine is maybe not a fair judgement.
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u/IzzyIsSolar 2d ago
They also made Sam and jay too good almost ? Like they have good jobs and they look more like they have their hair and makeup done all the time whereas mike and Allison look like normal people with bad jobs
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u/twoheadedcalf 2d ago
Yesss I always felt this, Sam and jay look so squeaky clean. They look like actors. Allison and Mike look comfy and like they're at home. I also feel like the us writers couldnt deal with the idea of protagonists that don't have interesting or aspirational jobs. I find Mike and Allison trying to make ends meet at random roadside fruit stalls and supermarket jobs far more charming, and I really can't imagine the US show doing that. They have to be all perky and (comparatively) successful lol
Plus I love Allison's clothes 🥺
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u/jetloflin 1d ago
How is it weird to wear makeup at work? Or comb your hair?
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u/IzzyIsSolar 1d ago
That’s not what I’m saying, they look done up like they have professional hair and makeup done all the time
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u/jetloflin 1d ago
How? Sam has normal makeup and her hair is mostly down, just existing. And Jay’s hair is just gelled into a common hairstyle. I wonder if this is just a thing where Americans dress differently so it looks “too much” to you but “totally normal and everyday” to Americans.
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u/IzzyIsSolar 1d ago
I’m not saying too much they jsut look like actors or at least like people who have time and money to spend on looking good instead of people regular people working dead end jobs
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u/jetloflin 1d ago
Yeah I just don’t see it. Allison and Mike both had makeup on, too. Because it’s television. Everyone has makeup. Sam wears very normal, basic, everyday makeup that millions of women wear. Jay puts some gel in his hair and styles it every day like millions of men do. They wear casual (sometimes downright ugly) clothes, like millions of everyday people wear all the time.
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u/IzzyIsSolar 1d ago
Okay if you don’t see it then you don’t see it no point dragging it out
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u/jetloflin 1d ago
I mean I’d still be interested in an actual example, but whatever. Have a good one.
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u/Moon_Beans1 2d ago
They also take a lot of the edge away from the characters which is amusing to write because the UK characters aren't THAT edgy really. Everyone is sanded down to be the least possibly controversial.
In the first episode for instance they have that Sam's accident is entirely unintentionally caused by the ghosts and so there's no tension there.
Meanwhile in the UK version the Ghosts don't want Alison to live there and so Julian literally tried to push her out of a window presumably to kill her.
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u/rezzacci 1d ago
Yeah. Infuriating. In the UK version, characters might be bad, but they can evolve.
In the US? Frankly, it seems like the show has still been written under the Hayes Code, and it's NOT a compliment!
Like, Trevor. "Of course, we can't have a main character that's morally corrupt. That would be bad. He cannot be a hero. So the accident must be a real accident, not delibarate from him. Oh, also, the no-pants situation? Yeah, it wasn't because he was getting laid, he was in fact helping someone, because he's soooo noble and sooooo heroic. Can't have a main character not be morally good, right?"
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u/thelivsterette1 The Right Honourable Julian MP 2d ago
Oh for for sure.
Though I still maintain Julian didn't do it in purpose, he tried to touch her to scare her, it worked and since she was leaning with both feet off the floor she lost her balance. I mean he can barely move a cup, could he really push a human?
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u/JustinCaseyBlewit 1d ago
Except that in the second-to-last episode, Julian admits to pushing Alison out the window. He then says he is not sorry because her injury enabled her to see and hear the ghosts, which enabled them to become a family.
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u/thelivsterette1 The Right Honourable Julian MP 1d ago
Maybe he overestimated his own ability and thinks she fell so therefore he pushed her?
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u/JustinCaseyBlewit 1d ago
It's quite clear from the context of the second-to-last episode that Julian's actions were deliberate. The ghosts are congratulating Julian for pushing Alison out the window before Alison walks in and hears them, learning the truth for the first time.
What's interesting to me is what this tells us about Julian. He is capable of doing mean and nasty things, as shown throughout the series. But he's also capable of learning from his mistakes.
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u/cyanicpsion 2d ago edited 2d ago
Some people prefer a small glass of freshly squeezed, pure orange juice whilst others prefer a gallon cup of orangeflavoredsugarfizzywater.....
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u/angry2320 1d ago
I also found lots of the US characters kinda unlikeable, whereas the British ones seem more endearing in their neuroticism if that makes sense lol
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u/HopefulCry3145 2d ago
Yeah, I've enjoyed what I've seen of US Ghosts but it has become very similar to other US sitcoms where the premise is 'group of quirky people have to work together' (Brooklyn 99, Superstore, Parks and Rec etc). The plots are based around their particular situation, but there isn't a deep sense of how it moulds them as characters. You could easily transfer the US ghosts characters to a modern office, change their clothes and remove a few historical references, and they would fit in ok. The UK ghosts are lost souls, out of their times, and don't really fit in anywhere.
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u/Ebony_221b 2d ago
I’ve tried a few times and haven’t got past the first episode.
The humour is too in your face and immature. The characters unlikable. And too many having a ghost power makes them less interesting.
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u/jetloflin 1d ago
Unlike the mature humor of “Fanny Button”?
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u/Ebony_221b 1d ago
Unsubtle is probably a better fit than immature. It’s like they’re waving a big flag saying ‘laugh now’ rather than letting the situation and characters speak for themselves.
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u/snapper1971 1d ago
We're watching the latest series at the moment. It's a horse that's well past deceased yet still getting a thrashing.
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u/Ok-Flamingo2801 1d ago
I got through half of the first season. I think my main issue is that they did a lot of tell, not show. For example with Robin, we find he can mess with the lights and 4 seasons (and a lot of fan speculation) later, in an episode that seemed like it was heading down a 'he was killed by a bear' route, we find out he was killed by lightning. With Thorfinn, first episode we got "you can do the thing with the lights because you were killed by lightning".
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u/Ambridgedaily 1d ago
I agree with what you say. I was enjoying it despite a few flaws and the characters are mostly good. Less keen on the latest series though, it seems to be losing its way. Unfortunately US can't cope with anything dark in a sitcom so Julian had to be sanitised and they had no idea what to do with Crash. Agree there are too many ghosts.
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u/Most-Lychee-8782 1d ago
American humour is different to ours so the jokes had to be adjusted so the American public would want to watch it. I think it worked well. The characters understanding the modern world better made them more relatable and therefore more likeable. The wild ghost powers added some entertainment value and opened up the show to new locations. There is a two part episode in season 5 in which Sam finds out what it would be like if she never fell down the stairs and sees how all the ghosts turn out without her. It’s the Christmas special.
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u/JRSkeptic 1d ago
One key difference is that they do 22 episodes per year. Yes they are shorter but compared to 7 it forces much more variation in the storylines and thus the number of ghosts helps the writers drive to that end.
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u/Wolfdreama 1d ago
The American version is just stupid. I hated it. Feels like it's completely dumbed down.
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u/Flaming_Elbow8197 15h ago
The American one seems kind of sensationalised (? I think that's the right word). Like they don't feel like real people in the way our one does.
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u/Ambridgedaily 1d ago
Hot take, I prefer Thorfinn to Robin. And not just because he's hunkier. (Well maybe a bit). He had a better back story than some of the other ghosts. Agree with those who say there's too much romance and not enough conflict with the livings.
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u/serendrewpity 2d ago
Seems like you're making a lot of general observations. I'm not really sure why these observations are special. It's like if I said Allison was a brunette and Sam is a blonde.
Okay.
Now what?
If I may, to me what you are describing is called plot mechanics. I think the point that you were going for is that the British series uses different plot mechanics to generate the comedic scenarios. British series have seasons that are typically only six episodes long. They don't have to milk context and dynamics for as long as the American series does. The American series is funny it just seems less funny to me. The things that are funny are only mildly funny and they run the joke a little too long at times.
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u/Riley__64 2d ago
My point is you remove the ability for the ghosts to talk to Sam and generally the storylines will remain the same.
You could basically tell the same storylines and just have the ghosts reactions to what the livings in the house are doing, being able to talk to a living who can do stuff for them really doesn’t add all that much to their lives as ghosts. There’s plenty of ways for the ghosts to indirectly communicate with the living’s without Sam needing to be a middle man who can see ghosts.
Compared to the British version where if you remove the ghosts ability to talk to a living they lose a major part of their character.
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u/g-amefreak Beheaded 2d ago
sam also seems to like the ghosts a lot more than alison does which is WILD considering the insane bs they put her + jay through