TV Review - Ghosted (2017)

This is a parody of The X-Files. The problem is that The X-Files was already too good at parodying itself. Even the most recent season of The X-Files back in the winter of 2016, there was a hilarious episode written by Darin Morgan, which isn't the best comedy the 90's sci-fi drama ever did, but it's still funnier than this series created by Tom Gormican (That Awkward Moment) and Kevin Etten (Desperate Housewives and Workaholics). The tactics between the two are different. When The X-Files did comedy, it created funny situations and had its two main characters earnestly enter them. When this show does comedy, it doesn't create funny situations. It mimics sci-fi situations and simply has its main characters comment ironically, basically doing the shtick that the two actors normally do.

Adam Scott plays Max Jennifer, a former professor at MIT who studied astrophysics and got his degree from Stanford. However, he was shunned due to his theories about alien abduction and whatnot. He now works at a bookstore. If you've seen Scott in shows like Parks and Recreation or even movies like The Overnight, then his performance here is very similar to his shtick in that show and movie. Actually, a better and surprisingly funnier, Adam Scott performance was in the Emmy-winning Big Little Lies.

Craig Robinson plays Leroy Wright, a former detective with the LAPD who specialized in missing person cases. He's surrogate father to a friend's teenage son and now works as a mall cop. If you've seen Robinson in The Office or anything, his performance is the exact some shtick in all he does.

Scott and Robinson are both funny and as not to criticize their shticks. It simply gets tired after a while. Max is a nerdy, socially awkward guy. Leroy is a tough, no-nonsense, cynical guy. The two are forced to work together, despite not really getting along and that's the constant joke, but it's not enough. The situations need to be clever, or just as clever as the show it mocks. This one isn't as clever, at least not in its first, two episodes.

Rated TV-PG-LV.
Running Time: 30 mins
Sundays at 8:30PM on FOX.