ATX Television Festival: Adam Scott And Craig Robinson’s GHOSTED Is Nerd Buddy Cop Heaven
Ghosted kicked off the first screening of ATX Television Festival Season 6, and the audience flipped over Fox's new throwback horror-sci-fi-buddy comedy starring Craig Robinson and Adam Scott. We watched the pilot and then enjoyed a fun Q&A with Robinson, Scott and Ghosted creator Tom Gormican (That Awkward Moment). Ghosted's multihyphenate approach to genre works in its favor, with great films like 48 Hours, Beverly Hills Cop, Midnight Run and Ghostbusters all name-checked as influences.
And, of course, there's a hefty dose of The X-Files, another Fox property that finds its way into this conspiracy-laden universe. Scott plays Max Allison, a multiverse theorist and author who's lost everything after what he believes was the abduction of his wife by aliens. See, they had a fight, she packed a bag, then disappeared. While most people would consider this a pretty typical Dear John exit, Max knows something extraterrestrial is to blame, and the rest of the world thinks he's nuts for it. Now he works at a bookstore scaring customers with his bizarre speculations.
Robinson's Leroy Wright, a former LAPD officer booted from the force for mysterious (to us, at first) reasons and now working as a security guard in "this disgusting mall," as he puts it. The two men are nabbed by a shadowy organization - The Bureau Underground - that investigates all things supernatural. Bureau Underground agent Kurt Checker (Linc Hand) has gone missing, and he's left instructions for the Bureau to find Max and Leroy, the only two men who can find him.
The pilot's a little heavy on exposition and plot twists, but it's a half hour show with a big world to explain. And all of the techno-babble and exegesis are broken up with a lot of really, really great jokes. Robinson and Scott have a great contradictory chemistry, and their Mulder/Scully thing is pretty fun to see from these two particular actors. Wright's got some beef after the death of a partner, so he's reluctant to let Max in, but it's clear that these two are going to make a great duo with a little time.
The vibe is very much '80s action sci-fi, a charming, hilarious throwback to all of the films mentioned above with some The Hidden and They Live thrown in for good measure. In spite of all of the references, Ghosted feels fresh, because we've never seen those stories told in a half-hour format, starring two of our best-loved sitcom actors. It makes for a very pleasant surprise.
Ghosted is a blast, and I think you guys will dig it. It arrives on Fox October 1. In the meantime, here's a trailer to tide you over:
