Look, CBS Ghosts is not a badly written show, not by any stretch of the word – I would certainly not have written something so long and detailed about a bad show. But every show, even the best written ones, have blind spots, weak spots – and the hard fact is, when that show is an adaptation it is easier to see when one version slips up, especially when that flaw was not present in the original.
So what we have to ask ourselves is the main difference between the British and American versions of Ghosts?
If you put aside the natural cultural differences which are bound to arise in any cross cultural adaptation, put aside that America is a larger country, a far more multicultural country, put aside the history and everything else – the greatest difference between the BBC and CBS Ghosts, is respect.
That is, though I’m sure it’s not deliberate on behalf of the writers, CBS Ghosts has a tendency to over explain itself. Take for instance the pilots of each respective series – they both have the same plot so the differences in stiles stand out starkly. In both, the living couple move in and establish to the audience that they want to make the old house into a hotel. From there both shows must then established why this is an issue for the ghosts, after all they’re non corporal why should anything the living do affect them at all?
The British show accomplishes this, with a quick rapid fire sequences where while the Ghosts are listening to the young couple talk about their plan’s for the property, one of the livings’ hands goes through one of the ghost’s face causing them to shudder in pain. This establishes with no need of a spoken explanation why the ghosts would worry about the increase of living people within their home. Then very quickly after the living couple reveals they want to start a hotel in the house, Robin – the ancient caveman ghost – asks what a hotel is. Then a we cut to later that night with the caveman proposing that they kill them, it cuts the scene off before the audience can hear the explanation – because it’s not needed. The writers trust that you the viewer not only already know what an hotel is but can gather why ghost might not want their home to be turned into one, just from that short scene of the hand going through the face. They trust you to get it, and can therefore focus more of their energy on being funny and telling a good story.
The CBs show has a very similar set up – young living couple come in, are followed round their new house by a gaggle of ghosts and then establish that they want to make the place into a hotel – well, B &B in this version but it has the same reaction from the ghosts so it hardly makes a difference – and then the eldest of the ghosts has to have it explained to him what a hotel even is. Really the only difference here is that we don’t skip the explanation. We follow through a deeply involved filmed scenario of not only what a hotel is, but why exactly the ghosts would find it so horrifying. This not only includes the pain they feel when a living walks through them, but a lot of extra stuff, like the clutter the guests would leave and the debauchery they might get up to in the ghosts bedrooms.
And it’s odd, because the reaction of the oldest ghost – Thorfinn in this instance – is exactly the same, preposing that they kill the living, thus we can only assume that it was also the same intended joke. Instant escalation to murder. And yet without that jump cut, with skipping the explanation, because the audience has had it laid out and explained to them exactly why a hotel would bother the ghosts, the joke just isn’t as funny.
I am of course not saying that Ghosts CBs is not a funny show, that it doesn’t have many good gags, even in that first episode – but it’s interesting to note this one failed gag. Because it’s failure is a direct result of the same factor that I’ve basically been complaining about throughout this whole blog series, over explaining , handholding of the audience. Basically a lack of respect for that audience, and when taken to its logical extreme what we actually get is a lack of respect for the characters themselves.
Don’t believe me?
Well, allow me to introduce someone very special to help me show you what respect for a character really looks like.
Her name was Mary, and she was burned as a witch.
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