Fox’s new comedy show Ghosted began airing on Oct. 1, starring Adam Scott (Parks and Rec) and Craig Robinson (The Office). The show is very much in the same vein as Ghostbusters — only this time, the comedy is dialed up to an 11.
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Ghosted begins with a man, whom we later learn to be Agent Mike/Kurt Checker (Linc Hand), running from mysterious, supernatural threat. What exactly that threat is we’re still not entirely sure of yet, but the scene ends with him recording a video saying that Detective Leroy Wright (Robinson) and Doctor Max Jennifer (Scott) are the only ones who can help.
Cut to a bookstore, and we’re introduced to Max Jennifer, a man who believes his wife was abducted by aliens rather than admitting the fact that she left him. Most people think he’s crazy, and he doesn’t exactly look like he’s in any state to be handling any high end government conspiracies.
Leroy Wright doesn’t look all that much better off either. He’s a security guard down at the local mall, where his biggest threats are stopping homeless people from urinating in the public fountain. He does, however, seem to have a good connection with a young boy, one whose father Leroy use to work with on the LAPD.
That's when the two of them are knocked unconscious and kidnapped. They wake up together in the back of a van, and waste no time before exchanging charming jokes and witty dialogue back and forth.
Again they’re knocked out, and again they wake up in a room they don’t recognize — only this time they regain consciousness to a young lady, Annie (Amber Stevens West), taking measurements for “body armor.”
That’s when Captain Lafrey (Ally Walker) enters, and they finally start getting some answers. They’ve been brought to the bureau underground — a secret government agency created under the Truman administration to protect the country from paranormal or extraterrestrial forces. And Lafrey has an offer for Leroy and Max — if they find out what happened to Checker, she’ll get Leroy re-instated back with the LAPD (he was a missing persons detective) and get Max his job back at Stanford (he was fired for his crazy beliefs about aliens).
They reluctantly accept. After being introduced to another scientist Barry Shaw (Adeel Akhtar), and dabbling in a whole bunch of science jargon babble, they head out to solve the case — and, like in every detective show ever, they’re only given 48 hours.
After following some clues they find in Checker’s old storage space, they learn Checker was working undercover at a nuclear power plant they now have to infiltrate. This leads to the duo’s first time working as an improv team — as they hilariously disguise themselves as repair men who have come to fix the fax machine.
After passing security, they start poking around in the back. That’s when we get our first glimpse of the green-eyed demon guy who tells them “You’re not suppose to be here!” They’re chased out of the building and head back to base to recoup and recover.
But their mission isn’t over yet. Another clue of Checker’s whereabouts leads them to an abandoned building downtown. Right as their about to enter the building together, Leroy seemingly inexplicably hand-cuffs Max to the steering wheel of the car and enters by himself. We later learn this is because Leroy lost his last partner in the LAPD (and this is seemingly why he quit) when his partner followed him into a crime scene and was killed.
After Leroy leaves, Max has problems of his own as a weird energy source magically lifts the car he’s trapped in a great distance in the air. After it returns to ground, Max finds a way to escape and goes to warn Leroy of what just happened.
The two argue and make-up, and then go on to complete the mission. That’s when they find Checker laying on a creepy looking doctor’s chair, with the green-eyed demon guy walking around him maliciously.
And...that’s when the green-eyed demon guy promptly removes his head and sets it down on the table. Normal, right? Leroy and Max freak out, but know they need to save Checker — so they come up with a plan. Max is going to grab the head and run, while Leroy runs in there to get Checker.
Maybe a good plan in theory, but the instant that Max grabs hold of the head it starts screaming and the now headless green-eyed demon man starts chasing them. They’re eventually chased to the roof, which is where they see an alien spaceship suck up Checker and the spirit of the green-eyed demon man, before promptly disappearing. The green-eyed demon man, no longer possessed, remembers nothing of what happened.
Leroy and Max report back to the bureau with plenty of questions — none of which Lafrey has answers for. However, they both decide that they want to continue working with the bureau rather that go back to their jobs. “Welcome to the bureau underground,” Lafrey tells them as they excitedly greeted by their new co-workers.
And of course, the episode can’t end without a stinger. Max sees a bunch of television screens which Barry tells him is a group of people they’ve been monitoring — people who claim to have alien abduction stories. Upon a closer look, one of those people appears to be Max's missing wife. Turns out he maybe wasn’t so crazy after all.
Roll credits. While Ghosted moves at a mile-per-second pace story-wise, the chemistry between Robinson and Scott is on point and enough to make us want to continue watching. It feels similar to Fox’s other well-known comedy Brooklyn Nine-Nine.
Twitter seemed to enjoy the pilot episode, with Robinson and Scott posting about their love for the show as well:
The Ghosted Twitter page is also apparently giving away free ID badges to people who tweet #BureauUnderground, an offer we're excited to follow up on:
What did you guys think of the pilot to Ghosted? Are you going to keep watching the show? What do you hope for in the rest of the season? Let us know in the comments below.