Ghosts to pay homage to Rose McIver's Christmas past

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https://variety.com/2022/tv/news/gho...bs-1235357985/

Fans who love Rose McIver in holiday programming (see “The Christmas Prince” and its sequels) as much as they love her in “Ghosts” are in for a Yuletide treat. This season, the CBS comedy will include a special double holiday episode, Variety has exclusively learned. The back-to-back episodes will air Thursday, Dec. 15.

Per the official description, “When Jay’s sister Bela (Punam Patel) returns to Woodstone Mansion for a holiday visit and brings along a platonic male friend, Samantha, inspired by the holiday rom-coms she adores, makes it her mission to spark a holiday romance between them. Meanwhile, the ghosts have conjured up a very different holiday plan — also involving Bela.”

“Ghosts” co-showrunners and executive producers Joe Port and Joe Wiseman told Variety that they were excited to lean into the holidays with their hit show.

“We thought it would be fun to have our holiday episode be our version of one of those Hallmark Christmas movies, because Sam is very into Christmas and rom-coms, and it’s also a fun nod to Rose McIver’s real life history with those sorts of films, having starred in the ‘Christmas Prince’ trilogy,” Port said. “But because this is ‘Ghosts,’ it has a very ‘Ghosts’ twist to it, which turns the holiday into something very far from the wholesome family affair Sam envisioned. The double episode has tons of heart and gets to a very sweet place in the end, but takes a very weird and ‘Ghosts’-y path to get there.”

Wiseman added that while doing a Halloween episode is great (and on point for a show about “Ghosts”), they viewed their chance to spend a full hour on the winter holidays as “a writer’s version of a Christmas miracle.”

“We packed the episodes with lots of holiday fun and, in true ‘Ghosts’ fashion, a few twists: there will be visiting family, caroling, mistletoe, and a ghost will try to go where no ghost has gone before. It should come as no surprise that Woodstone is full of Christmas spirit,” he said.

“At the heart of it, ‘Ghosts’ embodies a loving extended family with quirks and eccentricities who viewers have overwhelmingly connected with,” said Amy Reisenbach, executive vice president of current programs at CBS. “We felt with the holidays being all about family, what better way to eventize the series than with an hour Christmas-themed episode. Because our ghosts, although they may be dead, love Christmas (except, it turns out, the Viking who’s actually a bit of a grinch). Unsurprisingly, executive producers Joe Wiseman and Joe Port and their writers came up with a terrific story to showcase the talents of the amazing cast and to maybe make the Viking’s heart grow three sizes.”

Season 2 of “Ghosts” premieres Thursday, Sept. 29 at 8:30 p.m. ET on CBS.