The Ghost and Molly McGee
The Ghost and Molly McGee is an American animated supernatural musical buddy comedy television series created by Bill Motz and Bob Roth that aired on Disney Channel from October 1, 2021, to January 13, 2024. The series features the voices of Ashly Burch, Dana Snyder, Jordan Klepper, Sumalee Montano, Michaela Dietz, and Lara Jill Miller.
A sneak peek of the show's theme song was first shown on May 1, 2021, during the network's "Halfway to Halloween" event. On August 31, 2021, more than a month before it premiered, the series was renewed for a second and final season, which premiered on April 1, 2023.
Synopsis
In the Human Realm, 13-year-old Irish-Thai American optimist Molly McGee arrives in her new hometown of Brighton, only to discover that her new house is already occupied by a grumpy ghost named Scratch, who curses Molly in an attempt to scare her away, but this backfires, forever binding him to her. While initially antagonistic toward her, Scratch slowly opens up to Molly, and their friendship strengthens while going on wacky adventures and misadventures together and helping each other through the good and bad in their lives.In the second and final season, Scratch becomes the new Chairman of the Ghost Council, and a ghost-hunting family called the Chens moves in across from the McGees, who plan to keep the existence of ghosts a secret from the Chens while trying to maintain their friendship.
Characters
McGee family
- Molly McGee is an optimistic 13-year-old Irish-Thai American girl who lives to make the world a better place, describing it as "enhappifying". Her father, Pete, is a city planner, forcing her family to move a lot throughout the course of her lifetime, until they finally decided to settle down in their "forever home" in Brighton, where she meets Scratch. She later makes a human friend at school named Libby, who eventually learns about Scratch's existence in the episode "Scratch the Surface". She also has a crush on Ollie, a neighboring boy around her age, who reciprocates her feelings, and is in a family of ghost hunters. She eventually helps him learn to trust ghosts in the episode "Frightmares on Main Street". In the Season 1 finale, "Molly vs. the Ghost World", Molly discovers how to separate her spirit from her body as a wraith. In that form, she is able to bring joy to anything she touches in the Ghost World. In the episode "Home is Where the Haunt Is", the curse tying her and Scratch together is broken, but the two still stay good friends. In "A Period Piece", it is revealed that Molly wears mascara as makeup appears to be ruined when she started crying and makes her confession.
- Pete McGee is Molly and Darryl's Irish father, and Sharon's husband. He is an urban planner and former ice skater. Pete married Sharon with an unofficial wedding. He tends to act dimwitted at times but means well.
- Sharon McGee is Molly and Darryl's Thai mother and Pete's wife. She married Pete with an unofficial wedding. Sharon originally had a tense relationship with her mother, Grandma Nin, but they began to get along, starting in the episode "The Best of Nin-tensions". Her income comes from doing gigs from an app named Gig-Pig. She dreams of becoming an artist.
- Grandma Nin Suksai is Molly and Darryl's maternal grandmother, Sharon's mother and Pete's mother-in-law.
- Darryl McGee is Molly's mischievous younger brother. Darryl has a pet tarantula named Heidi Hairylegs and claims to get hook ups, calling himself "a man with many connections". After his sister, he is the second character seen to become a wraith, as shown in the episode "Double, Double, Darryl & Trouble".
Stein-Torres family
- Libby Stein-Torres is Molly's best human friend. Libby is of Jewish and Argentine descent and has a love for turtles. She suffers from frequent slapstick comedy, as she is shown to be rather unlucky. Libby hides her head in her turtleneck collar when she is shy. She knows about historical people, as they are people that died a long time ago. Libby was unaware of Scratch's presence until the episode "Scratch the Surface", when she learned about his existence. Later on, she became friends with him after they worked together to save Molly when she got trapped in a compost machine.
- Leah 'Stein-Torres' is Libby's mother, with whom she has a close bond. She is the "#1 fan" of her own daughter. Ms. Stein-Torres owns a bookstore called Book Marks the Spot.
Davenport family
- Andrea Davenport is Molly's rival turned self-proclaimed BFF. She is very sensitive about how her first name is pronounced and she is the most popular girl at school. Despite her success, she seems unhappy at times, desperately craving the attention of her busy parents. As the series progresses, Andrea is shown to be more caring of other people, such as "Home is Where the Haunt is", when she started a fund to save the McGees' house, considering Molly as her BFF, as well as "Davenport's on Demand", when she shut down her app after learning that it was threatening other businesses; and "Davenport's in Demise", when she learned that her online personality should be her true personality and that she should take a break from social media.
- Maxwell Davenport is the owner of a local department store and Andrea's conceited and self-entitled father who is obsessed with social media.
- Dorothea Davenport is Maxwell's wife and Andrea's mother.
Ghosts
- Scratch is a grumpy ghost who accidentally cursed himself to be alongside Molly for all eternity. He isn't seen by any humans except the McGee family, Libby, Ollie, June, Ruben, and Esther. His job was to scare people as assigned by the Ghost Council, but he liked spending his time being with Molly instead. Scratch glows a fluorescent cyan while visible but is able to render himself invisible at will. He can shift his appearance at will, as well as distort his surroundings, typically to scare humans. He also has the ability to teleport between the Human Realm and the Ghost Realm at will. In "Out of House and Home/Home is Where the Haunt Is", after the McGees are forced to leave the house, he and Molly are no longer cursed to stay together, but Scratch still stays with the McGees after they move back in. In Season 2, Scratch is named the new Chairman of the Ghost World due to Molly's actions in the Season 1 finale. He also has a ghost friend named Geoff, who annoys him at first, but Scratch eventually learns to like him. In the series finale, "The End", Scratch is revealed to actually be the wraith of a human named Todd Mortenson, and in the end, decides to return to his human life and travel the world, and reunites with his first friend, Adia Williams.
- The Ghost Council: The Ghost Realm's council who make sure ghosts in their homeworlds cause misery.
- * The Chairman is the main antagonist of the series who is a ghostly chairman, taking inspiration from the Grim Reaper. He feeds on misery, and expects other ghosts to spread it for him. He was destroyed alongside the Flow of Failed Phantoms by Molly's joy during the Season one finale.
- * The Barrister Ghosts are major characters of the series who are in charge of making sure ghosts in the world maintain their jobs of causing misery in their cities. They did not introduce themselves by name prior to Season 2, before which Scratch was unaware they had names at all.
- ** Lucretia is a purple ghost who is one of the council's members.
- ** Sir Alister is a green ghost who is one of the council's members. In life, he yearned to play the lute professionally, which his father disapproved of.
- ** Grimbella is a grey-ish lavender ghost and one of the council's members, who speaks with a British accent.
- ** Bartholomew is a grumpy blue ghost and one of the council's members.
- Geoff is a goofy cyan ghost who is Scratch's best ghost friend. His running gag is him spelling his name. He has been in a long-term relationship with Jeff for 100 years.
- Ghost Bouncer is the bouncer of the Haughty Hunts Club, a club that let ghosts in, if they're official members.
- Abraham Lincoln is the 16th U.S. president, nicknamed "Honest Abe".
- Ezekiel "Tug" Tugbottom is Sally's troublemaking younger brother, who took credit for her accomplishments until Molly, Libby and Scratch exposed the truth.
- Sally Tugbottom is Brighton's founder and Ezekiel's older sister. Sally has a pet bear.
- Franklin Roosevelt is the 32nd U.S. president and Theodore Roosevelt's fifth cousin.
- Julius Caesar is the Roman general and statesman.
- Cleopatra is the Egyptian queen of the Ptolemaic Kingdom.
- Jinx is the secondary antagonist of the series. She is a purple ghost who is a joy hunter sent by the Ghost Council to eliminate Molly. In Season 2, she continues to antagonize Scratch after the Chairman's demise, and in "Jinx vs. the Human World", she steals the Chairman's robe in order to take over herself. After trying to also conquer Brighton, she is defeated and sucked into the Chens' ghost canister.
- Jeff is Geoff's "Afterlife Partner". He is known to be highly protective of Geoff, and threatens those who would harm him whether physically or emotionally.
- Sobgoblins are species of ghosts that feed on misery and sadness. They are destroyed in "Jinx vs. The Human World", when Molly feeds them too much joy, which causes them to explode.
Chen family
The Chen family are a Chinese-American family of ghost hunters introduced in Season 2.- Oliver "Ollie" Chen is Molly's boyfriend and the older brother of June. Ollie is the research specialist of their ghost hunting. He is also a vegetarian. He found out about Scratch's existence in "I Wanna Dance with Some-Ollie", and befriended him after realizing that not all ghosts are bad in "Frightmares on Main Street".
- Juniper "June" Chen is Ollie's younger sister and an inventor. She is autistic, as is her voice actress, and has a habit of brutal honesty. She is the technology specialist of her family and uses her many inventions to aid in their ghost-hunting. "Frightmares on Main Street" hints that she may have caught on to Ollie's secret friendship with Scratch, and the power Scratch may possess. She eventually found out about Scratch's existence in "Welcome to NecroComic-Con" and has developed a more positive view of ghosts since then.
- Esther Chen is Ollie and June's mother. Esther is in charge of the video and graphics with their ghost hunting.
- Ruben Chen is Ollie and June's father. Ruben is the lead investigator of their ghost hunting, having taken up the profession after an encounter with Geoff in his childhood.
Other Brighton citizens
Source:- Sheela is Molly's geeky friend.
- Kat is Molly's sweet pink-haired friend.
- Miss Lightfoot is Molly's constantly nervous teacher.
- Mrs. Roop is a teacher at Brighton Middle School. She has a wife, Pam, mentioned in "No Good Deed".
- Patty is an elder resident who quickly befriends Molly.
- Mayor Brunson is Brighton's mayor.
- Principal O'Connor is Brighton Middle School's principal. Though well-meaning, his uptight nature does not endear him to the students, and he is frequently made the butt of Darryl's pranks.
- Irving the Illusionist is a street magician who gets a thrill out of bewildering any passerby who sees him with his sleight of hand which mainly involves cards, coins and confetti.
- Weird Larry is a pawn shop owner whose eccentric ways tend to freak out anybody on account that he tends to ask for help with the uncomfortable favors such as the time he needed help finding and catching his beloved runaway pet skunk Vera.
- Joanie Pataky is Brighton's news reporter.
- Bobby Daniels
- Adia Williams is Scratch's first best friend when he was alive, during a moment she moved away from Brighton. Adia appears through Scratch's memories in "A Soda to Remember" and "All in the Mind". In the series finale, she appears via a video call with Molly, and in the final moments of the series, she reunites with Scratch/Todd in his new life.
Guest stars
- Howlin' Harriet appears in "Howlin' Harriet".
- Tammy Myers appears in "The natural".
- Kenny Star appears in "Getting the Band Back Together" and "Kenny's Falling Star".
- Greta Gerwig appears in "Hooray for Mollywood!".
- Uncle Ted appears in "Mazel Tov, Libby!".
- Eva Hernandez appears in "The Turnip Twist".
- Dianne appears in "The Turnip Twist/All Systems No" and "Web of Lies/Kenny's Falling Star".
- Sonia Davis appears in "Ice Princess".
- Billy McGee appears in "Twin Trouble".
- Jilly McGee appears in "Twin Trouble".
- Totes appears in "Goat Your Own Way".
- Pango appears in "Scare Tactics".
- Reggie appears in "The Internship".
- Candace Green appears in "Out of House and Home/Home is Where the Haunt Is".
- Lord Doom appears in "A Doll to Die For/The life of the Party".
- Blair appears in "The Unhaunting of Brighton Video/100% Molly McGee".
- JR appears in "Like Father Like Libby/Dance Dad Revolution".
- Calvin Redtop appears in "Kenny's Falling Star".
- Rad Pham appears in "Let's Play Turnipball!", "The Ghost IS Molly McGee" and "Fit to Print".
- Winnie Fiama appears in "Fit to Print".
Shorts
''Chibi Tiny Tales'' (2021–23)
Shortly after the series premiere, The Ghost and Molly McGee joined the Chibi Tiny Tales series.''Broken Karaoke'' (2021–22)
Part of the Broken Karaoke series that was started by Big City Greens.''Theme Song Takeover'' (2022–23)
As part of a promotional campaign, Disney Channel began airing the Disney Theme Song Takeover wherein supporting characters from different shows performed the theme song to the series they were in.Production
The animated series was first conceived by co-creators Bill Motz and Bob Roth in 2007. The two of them had worked at Disney for years, with their first ever script being an episode of Darkwing Duck. At the time, the series was known as The Curse of Piper McGee and initially focused on the titular girl's family moving to Transylvania where she was cursed by a vampiric ghoul simply named the Count. This version of the show was initially first pitched to Nickelodeon who passed on it. After fourteen years, the duo had completed work on Lego Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures when Disney signed them an overall deal. They re-pitched the series, with the new title of The Curse of Molly McGee, where it got a positive response this time.On July 23, 2019, Disney Channel greenlit the series, which was to be produced by Disney Television Animation, and executive-produced by Motz, Roth, and Steve Loter. On September 24, 2020, Ashly Burch and Dana Snyder joined the series in its lead roles. The same day, the series was retitled The Ghost and Molly McGee.
The crew used several songs as inspiration from the series. Motz released a playlist featuring those songs throughout 2020 and part of 2021.
On January 14, 2024, one day after the final episode aired, Motz revealed that despite getting an order for ten season three scripts, Disney chose to end the show due to low ratings on Disney+. Motz and Roth were granted an additional episode to give the show a proper send-off. Sixteen days later, eighteen scripts and outlines for the cancelled season three were posted online in their entirety to the Internet Archive.
Music
The series' theme song was written by Allie Felder, Mike Kramer, Bill Motz and Bob Roth, and was performed by Ashly Burch and Dana Snyder. Songs for the series are written by Rob Cantor, with each episode featuring a musical sequence of approximately 1 minute. The show's score is done by Michael Kramer. An extended play album of some of the songs from the series was released on October 1, 2021.Release
The Ghost and Molly McGee premiered on Disney Channel on October 1, 2021. The first five episodes of the series were added to Disney+ on October 6, resulting in episodes 3 to 5 being released prior to their televised premieres.The first episode was uploaded to YouTube on October 2, 2021. The second and final season premiered on April 1, 2023, with the first five episodes of the season being released on Disney+ the following day.