We Love 'Ghosts' Christmas Episodes, but Please Don’t Fall Into This Habit

Editor's Note: The following contains spoilers for 'Ghosts' Season 4 Christmas episode.There aren't many modern sitcoms like CBS' Ghosts. Created by Joe Port and Joe Wiseman, the series follows an accidental medium helping take care of an old house (along with the many spirits that inhabit it) and has kept audiences entertained for four seasons with this ensemble's supernatural hijinks. And this isn't just due to the show's comedy; while constantly funny, it's how the series pays special attention to its own lore and develops the world around these characters that has made it such an endearing watch.

Rather than resting on the simple concepts of ghosts, the program spends each episode digging deeper into what this kind of "life" means, finding humor while still deepening and upholding the different rules it's taken time to create...well, usually. Because for the past two Christmas episodes, the series has repeated what was once its biggest surprise, undercutting the impact more each time and confusing audiences about the rules of this world. It's normal for a program to repeat some of its ideas, but when it comes to Ghosts having more than one Christmas episode about possession, it's starting to hurt the very story it's been spending years building — and is at risk of becoming boring in the process.

Possession Is Supposed To Be Special on 'Ghosts'

While every sitcom takes the time to flesh out its story, it's hard to find one that puts as much thought into its mythos as Ghosts. The series follows the optimistic Sam (Rose McIver) who, after inheriting an old mansion right before suffering a near-death experience within it, gains the ability to see the dead. The series' main cast offers hilarious dynamics while constantly introducing audiences to new aspects of their world and its rules. One of the most interesting rules has to do with possession — namely, that it is exceedingly rare​​​​​​. The first time we saw it was back in Season 1 when Hetty (Rebecca Wisocky) possessed Sam's husband, Jay (Utkarsh Ambudkar), and every undead character stressed how near-impossible it was for a ghost to commandeer a living person's body. The spirits emphasized to Sam (and the audience) how special of an occasion this was, meaning everyone was surprised when the upcoming Christmas episode saw Sam get possessed... and even more when this year's featured two!

It's a simple storytelling fact: the more often you do something, the less special it becomes for the audience. By making possessions annual occurrences, Ghosts not only compromises how enjoyable each episode is but also renders the many minutes of airtime when characters discuss how "utterly impossible possession is" completely useless. Even more, the creators are poking holes in their own story; in this setting where every ghost is yearning to inhabit an actual body once again, it makes no sense why they wouldn't try to orchestrate a possession — it's happened so many times now, so it can't be that hard to do! Above all else, the series' relapsing into this stale plotline creates boring versions of installments that are meant to be seasonal highlights of the franchise. Many viewers can't wait to see the Christmas episode, making it that much more disappointing when they're able to predict every plot hook and comedic beat because they've seen this exact type of plotline play out many times before.

'Ghosts,' Please Give Us the Gift of No More Possessions

While Ghosts has offered similar stories for all of its Christmas episodes, that doesn't mean the entire show is growing stale. In fact, quite the opposite; the series always seems able to introduce some new, logical expansion of their existing world to keep audiences enjoyably on their toes. Yet it's that persistent evolution that makes this tired storytelling so much more blatant for all to see. Any longtime viewer can recognize how repetitive these Christmas episodes are and, while still funny (yet filled with diminishing returns), will deduce how the entire episode will play out within the first few minutes. They are unfortunate cases of predictability from a show that is so successful at being unpredictable, meaning that if the series wants to maintain the intricacy that made it so great, it needs to switch it up for next Christmas.

Ghosts is available to stream on Paramount+ in the U.S.

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