CBS boss says Ghosts -- the No. 1 new comedy of the TV season -- is "not that different from Cheers"

The Wall Street Journal

“It’s not that different from Cheers, if Norm and Cliff had been sitting at the bar for 200 years,” says CBS Entertainment president Kelly Kahl. One of the reasons why Ghosts has massive viewership is that it "combined time-tested comedy tools with more novel moves," explains the Wall Street Journal's John Jurgensen, adding: "Most sitcoms focus on four or five core characters. Ghosts is a circus by comparison, with 10 main characters including the living couple at the center of it all, Samantha (Rose McIver) and Jay (Utkarsh Ambudkar). The challenge for producers: divvying up jokes and screen time among the ensemble in 21-minute episodes. The upside: an exponential number of story lines and character combinations for writers to explore." Even Ambudkar is surprised by Ghost's success. “Look, dude, if you told me a show on CBS was good and fresh and original, I would be dubious. OK, cool, maybe for your grandma,” he says. “And yet in a world of streaming and bingeing, we’ve become a family destination on Thursday nights.”