S04.E05: A Star Is Dead

[shapeshifter]

2 hours ago, Skooma said:

Vikings" (which were the raider element of Norse society and not an ethnic term) were not very nice people in reality.  Even the really well-made TV series "Vikings" where they are the protagonists made that clear.

I think Thor always drops a line that makes it clear that Viking culture glorified violence and cruelty. Thor seems to generally embody the concept of nurture being more key than nature, but not entirely.

Edited November 16 by shapeshifter

[Badsamaritan]

On 11/14/2024 at 11:12 PM, PaulE said:

But no Thor!  This is now the third episode in which one of the major ghosts isn't featured, isn't it?  I wonder what's up with that.  By now it almost seems deliberate yet I can't guess what they writers have in mind by doing it.

My theory is that CBS chose to back the Brinks truck up to Kathy's door to get her to star in a weekly tv series and slashed everyone else's budget to pay for it instead of giving up any exec salaries and bonuses. But I'm cynical that way. 🤷🏽‍♀️

I think smaller groups of ghosts makes sense sometimes especially as a viewer, it's easier to focus on the background character reactions in a given scene. When they're all together I miss a lot of the actors' physical reactions since I can only watch so many at a time. And they're all so good at 'acting' in the background of scenes so I really enjoy watching them. 

As someone else mentioned, it would've been cool to see a kid reacting to seeing Alberta. Mark was in the play, it would've been a perfect time to see his son again in the audience watching the performance. Missed opportunity for a small scene to have a big impact. The boy could've even waved bye to the ghosts watching in the back of the room, a nice reminder about some kids being able to see them plus a callback to Mark's son's visit to the house in S1.

I'm getting irritated by Jay's continued mistreatment at the hands of literally every soul in his home though. Please do not have the ghosts fuck around with his restaurant once it finally opens, show. For me, that would cross a line into extremely malicious behavior by the ghosts. Just, don't. 

[Lugal]

This one was fun, and we got to see how talented Rose McIver is. She has an incredible singing voice, but the scene where she taps with the plate on her head, that's skill.  Followed by Jay's "Where are all our plates?"

Pete's still smug, but after seeing him taken down a peg or two last week, he doesn't seem quite as bad.

On 11/15/2024 at 9:25 AM, iMonrey said:

And sue me, but I thought sabotaging Marissa by having Flower walk through her was a solid plan. {shrugs}

I can see why Alberta would go there, since we saw her passed over for jobs despite her talent, so I can see how she could believe in Sam but still want a hedge.  And that was probably the best plan.  But even Flower points out that telling Flower was the weak part.

On 11/15/2024 at 5:39 AM, shura said:

Yeah, I didn’t see any realization on Sass’s part that he is attracted to Jay.  I only saw the realization that he wasn’t actually dating Marissa and the disappointment at that.  This is why he immediately jumped at Pete’s offer.  (I loved how Trevor was all over it too and was trying to “put in an order” for a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader and calling Sass selfish when Sass wanted to keep Pete’s services for himself only.)

I didn't either, he was attracted to Marissa, the pretty girl who happened to show up in Jay's dreams.  If anything, it was more like he was dating Jay's imaginary friend.

Really, Sass should have had Sam comp the real Marissa a few nights at the Woodstone, so he could meet the real one.

[iMonrey]

10 minutes ago, Lugal said:

but the scene where she taps with the plate on her head, that's skill.  Followed by Jay's "Where are all our plates?"

I thought that was kind of dumb. They don't have money to throw around, why would Sam break all of their plates? She could have used books. 

Quote

Why would it have anything to do about the budget?  I believe actor contracts on TV shows are based on years (seasons).  Not the number of episodes they appear in.

Budget is the most likely reason. Salaries go up a little every year, and we're into our fourth season now and it's a fairly large cast. It's suspicious that just one of the main eight ghosts would be missing the past three episodes and it's been a different one each time. 

[shapeshifter]

1 hour ago, iMonrey said:

It's suspicious that just one of the main eight ghosts would be missing the past three episodes and it's been a different one each time. 

Haven't they always done it that way? 

[chaifan]

It would be cute if somewhere in the second half of the season, they tie into the "missing" ghosts by having them all be purposely absent because they were working on a special surprise for Sam & Jay.  I don't know what that could be, given their limitations, but they could think of something.

Or, it could be that they're all taking turns (except Issac) keeping Nigel company in the shed.  That would be an easy one.  Where's Thor?  Oh, it's his turn to keep Nigel company. 

 

 

[Annber03]

23 minutes ago, chaifan said:

It would be cute if somewhere in the second half of the season, they tie into the "missing" ghosts by having them all be purposely absent because they were working on a special surprise for Sam & Jay.  I don't know what that could be, given their limitations, but they could think of something.

Or, it could be that they're all taking turns (except Issac) keeping Nigel company in the shed.  That would be an easy one.  Where's Thor?  Oh, it's his turn to keep Nigel company.

Awwwwwww. I like these ideas :). 

[PaulE]

10 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

I think Thor always drops a line that makes it clear that Viking culture glorified violence and cruelty. Thor seems to generally embody the concept of nurture being more key than nature, but not entirely.

And he's always so gleeful when he talks about it!  Like it's just another day at the office.  That alternates with his trying to be a more modern, sensitive guy.  I think the writers created him as a stone-cold killer harboring an inner teddy bear.  To me, the absurdity of that is what makes him so funny.

Though in real life, in addition to being relatively casual about sexuality, Norsemen were generally considered to be family men in terms of looking after them, making toys for the kids and teaching them stuff, etc. Granted, if you're talking the Dark Ages the bar would be set pretty low, and I have visions of a Viking hand-crafting a knife for his little boy and then teaching him how to murder someone with it efficiently.  But when we saw that flashback of Thor leaving his wife and baby son, he did seem to have affection for them.  I imagine he must have missed them as a new ghost, especially knowing he'd never see his son grow up.  And he couldn't even murder another Dane as compensation.

[Annber03]

7 minutes ago, PaulE said:

And he's always so gleeful when he talks about it!  Like it's just another day at the office.  That alternates with his trying to be a more modern, sensitive guy.  I think the writers created him as a stone-cold killer harboring an inner teddy bear.  To me, the absurdity of that is what makes him so funny.

It also ties well into how all the characters are on this show - they all have this public persona that's very different from how they actually are, both with each other and in general. 

(I also wonder sometimes if some of Thor's violent stories are made up or exaggerated just to intentionaly scare the others and help keep his "big tough intimidating guy" persona :p. He has shown he does seem to enjoy messing with the others sometimes, notably in how he seems to know so many modern words yet still refers to cars as "landships" and the like, so... Certainly wouldn't be the first time any one of the ghosts lied about being part of or witness to something to make themselves seem more important and tough and so forth than they actually were, after all.)

[kathyk2]

4 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

Haven't they always done it that way? 

During the first season two ghosts would be missing per episode. This was probably due to Covid restrictions. It's annoying to see CBS treat Ghosts like a second class citizen. Other shows received more publicity and special air dates.

[Chit Chat]

5 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

Haven't they always done it that way? 

I realized that I never paid attention that closely to see that a main ghost is usually missing!  There's always so much going on in the episode that I figured they were in there somewhere, but it's pretty noticeable to me this season!

[Skooma]

On 11/16/2024 at 12:40 PM, iMonrey said:

I thought that was kind of dumb. They don't have money to throw around, why would Sam break all of their plates? She could have used books. 

Budget is the most likely reason. Salaries go up a little every year, and we're into our fourth season now and it's a fairly large cast. It's suspicious that just one of the main eight ghosts would be missing the past three episodes and it's been a different one each time. 

No, plates breaking are way more funny in a comedy show and set up that great line at the end where Jay asks where all the plates have gone.  This isn't a show about economics and budgeting.  There will always be an old watch or another book written about another ghosts to fill that boring stuff in.

And no it is not about budget.  They save no money at all having an actor out for an episode.  These guys have been signed to multi-year contracts.  It is all about the writers trying to squeeze in a large ensemble.  Which they did fine with after they stopped the rotation in Season 1.  Don't know why they went back to it but the actors are being screwed out of any money having an episode off.

On 11/16/2024 at 2:28 PM, shapeshifter said:

Haven't they always done it that way? 

Early episodes of Season 1 they rotated then promised they wouldn't do it again when fans started to complain but they are doing this again this year.

22 hours ago, kathyk2 said:

... It's annoying to see CBS treat Ghosts like a second class citizen. Other shows received more publicity and special air dates.

Huh?  I see Ghosts constantly being promoted on CBS.  Every other show it is promoted during commercial breaks and even during every NFL game CBS carries.  Massive promotions.  They are everywhere.  And many of the episodes  are repeated a lot in the summer and run up to the new season as well.

And the new special ads that no other show has ever EVER gotten on Survivor is a massive publicity perk for Ghosts.  Also more money for the Ghosts actors with 2 or 3 of them sitting on their couch commenting on the Survivor episode.  A very clever and great crossover for Ghosts.

The only real second class citizen regards promotion on CBS throughout the years has always been The Amazing Race and most fans including me remain pissed at that.

Edited November 17 by Skooma

[kathyk2]

3 hours ago, Skooma said:

No, plates breaking are way more funny in a comedy show and set up that great line at the end where Jay asks where all the plates have gone.  This isn't a show about economics and budgeting.  There will always be an old watch or another book written about another ghosts to fill that boring stuff in.

And no it is not about budget.  They save no money at all having an actor out for an episode.  These guys have been signed to multi-year contracts.  It is all about the writers trying to squeeze in a large ensemble.  Which they did fine with after they stopped the rotation in Season 1.  Don't know why they went back to it but the actors are being screwed out of any money having an episode off.

Early episodes of Season 1 they rotated then promised they wouldn't do it again when fans started to complain but they are doing this again this year.

Huh?  I see Ghosts constantly being promoted on CBS.  Ever other show it is promoted during commercial breaks and even during ever NFL game CBS carries.  Massive promotions.  They are everywhere.  And many of the episodes  are repeated a lot in the summer and run up to the new season as well.

And the new special ads that no other show has ever EVER gotten on Survivor is a massive publicity perk for Ghosts.  Also more money for the Ghosts actors with 2 or 3 of them sitting on their couch commenting on the Survivor episode.  A very clever and great crossover for Ghosts.

The only real second class citizen regards promotion on CBS throughout the years has always been The Amazing Race and most fans including me remain pissed at that.

Matlock and the Summit received special airings after NFL football. I saw many ads for Georgie and Mandy's First Marriage and NCIS Origins before they aired.

[Annber03]

1 hour ago, kathyk2 said:

Matlock and the Summit received special airings after NFL football. I saw many ads for Georgie and Mandy's First Marriage and NCIS Origins before they aired.

They're new shows, though (well, I don't know if "The Summit" is, but the other shows are) so they're going to get heavy promotion for that reason alone as a result. I remember being bombarded with promos for "Ghsots" when its first season was airing, too. But now that the show is in its fourth season and more stable and settled, they probably don't feel they need to push it so heavily as a result. 

"Ghosts" and Stephen Colbert's late show are the only things I personally watch on CBS, so I don't know how much promotion "Ghosts" gets iduring most of their other programming in general nowadays, but I do know I do see at least one ad for the show each night when watching Colbert. 

[chaifan]

9 hours ago, Skooma said:

The only real second class citizen regards promotion on CBS throughout the years has always been The Amazing Race and most fans including me remain pissed at that.

Wouldn't it be hilarious to have Pete trapse through an Amazing Race challenge, and have the rest of the ghosts at home watching see him?  (Of course, he'd be all, oh, that was a year ago, I've been sooooo many other places since then... let me tell you about them...)

I can't remember...  when Pete was in Aruba (or wherever he first traveled to) and phoned home, were the ghosts able to see each other on the video call?  Do we know whether ghosts can see other ghosts on tv/video, or in pictures?  

 

 

[iMonrey]

12 hours ago, Skooma said:

And no it is not about budget.  They save no money at all having an actor out for an episode.  These guys have been signed to multi-year contracts.

The actors are paid per episode. Not per season. With a built-in bump in per episode pay every year the show is renewed. Usually for five years, and afterwards contracts are re-negotiated. 

So, yes, budget is definitely a consideration if not the sole reason. If the actors are getting more money per episode but are written out of one or two of them, it even things out, budget-wise. Otherwise the network has to cough up more money, and networks are loathe to do that if they can help it. 

With this kind of show, and such a large cast, it's easy enough to write someone out without affecting the story. The writers may be under instruction to do so in order to keep costs down. And if they can keep costs down it makes it more likely for the show to get renewed. This is a business and it always comes down to money. There is no other logical reason to simply have Thor, or Sass, or Flower absent. They didn't have anything for the character to do? They found something for Hetty and Trevor to do even though they weren't directly involved in either storyline.

So yeah . . . it's money. It's just money.

[Annber03]

5 hours ago, chaifan said:

I can't remember...  when Pete was in Aruba (or wherever he first traveled to) and phoned home, were the ghosts able to see each other on the video call?  Do we know whether ghosts can see other ghosts on tv/video, or in pictures?  

Not that we're aware of, no. Sam couldn't see them when they all tried to Facetime her in "Holes are Bad", and when Freddie was trying to show that ghosts existed and played teh video of the keys moving on their own, all you saw was the keys moving, youcouldn't see the ghost on camera. 

[Bastet]

24 minutes ago, Annber03 said:

Not that we're aware of, no. Sam couldn't see them when they all tried to Facetime her in "Holes are Bad", and when Freddie was trying to show that ghosts existed and played teh video of the keys moving on their own, all you saw was the keys moving, youcouldn't see the ghost on camera. 

Those are livings not seeing ghosts on camera, though.  The question was about ghosts seeing other ghosts on video, but I don't remember Pete video calling home during his Caribbean adventure.

[Annber03]

2 minutes ago, Bastet said:

Those are livings not seeing ghosts on camera, though.  The question was about ghosts seeing other ghosts on video, but I don't remember Pete video calling home during his Caribbean adventure.

Oh, I know. But the ghosts saw that same video Freddie showed Sam and Jay and they couldn't see any ghosts on the camera, either. Should've added that into my last post for clarification. 

And you're right, Pete didn't call home during his Caribbean trip. He was too busy hanging out with Donna and then trying to make sure his body didn't disappear completely :p. 

[Skooma]

14 hours ago, kathyk2 said:

Matlock and the Summit received special airings after NFL football. I saw many ads for Georgie and Mandy's First Marriage and NCIS Origins before they aired.

So?  CBS advertises all it's shows.  They don't advertise Ghosts less like the first person said is what I was pointing out.  Of course they advertise other shows and replay them.  But they don't get MORE attention from CBS than Ghosts.  Ghosts isn't some orphaned show never advertised.

And, again, with the new Survivor / Ghosts ads Ghosts gets more than those other shows given Survivor's continued high ratings.

And the Ghosts episodes that were repeated I was talking about were from last year to help catch new viewers up.  These other shows are new and don't have any old shows to replay.

[chaifan]

OK, so I must be remembering something different.  I thought Pete called home when he was disappearing.  I can't go back and check the episode, because I don't have Paramount+ or CBS paid access. 

I suppose it wouldn't be a good thing if ghosts could see other ghosts in video/film/tv.  It would make any show/movie impossible for them to watch. 

But Pete wandering into an Amazing Race challenge would still make a fun crossover promo.  😁

[possibilities]

I'm thinking the actors don't get residuals for episodes they aren't in, so they lose over the long term, regardless of what they are getting paid now.

 

[kathyk2]

9 hours ago, iMonrey said:

The actors are paid per episode. Not per season. With a built-in bump in per episode pay every year the show is renewed. Usually for five years, and afterwards contracts are re-negotiated. 

So, yes, budget is definitely a consideration if not the sole reason. If the actors are getting more money per episode but are written out of one or two of them, it even things out, budget-wise. Otherwise the network has to cough up more money, and networks are loathe to do that if they can help it. 

With this kind of show, and such a large cast, it's easy enough to write someone out without affecting the story. The writers may be under instruction to do so in order to keep costs down. And if they can keep costs down it makes it more likely for the show to get renewed. This is a business and it always comes down to money. There is no other logical reason to simply have Thor, or Sass, or Flower absent. They didn't have anything for the character to do? They found something for Hetty and Trevor to do even though they weren't directly involved in either storyline.

So yeah . . . it's money. It's just money.

CBS has done this before during the last season of Cold Case one cast member was missing per episode. Their cast was much small than Ghosts. I don't understand why Ghosts has to deal with budget cuts the ratings are good and the show is popular with critics.  

[possibilities]

Because TPTB want to maximize profits and are pissed off about the strike and this is a way to punish the actors.

[proserpina65]

22 hours ago, iMonrey said:

The actors are paid per episode. Not per season. With a built-in bump in per episode pay every year the show is renewed. Usually for five years, and afterwards contracts are re-negotiated. 

Do you know that for sure?  As in, have any of the actors for this show stating that is how their contracts work?  Because it does vary from show to show.

13 hours ago, kathyk2 said:

I don't understand why Ghosts has to deal with budget cuts the ratings are good and the show is popular with critics.  

Do we know that this is actually happening or is it just speculation from various commenters?

[iMonrey]

40 minutes ago, proserpina65 said:

Do you know that for sure?  As in, have any of the actors for this show stating that is how their contracts work?  Because it does vary from show to show.

13 hours ago, kathyk2 said:

Yes, that's how typical contracts work for network series television.

41 minutes ago, proserpina65 said:

Do we know that this is actually happening or is it just speculation from various commenters?

It is by far the most likely reason, if not the sole reason this is happening.

13 hours ago, kathyk2 said:

I don't understand why Ghosts has to deal with budget cuts the ratings are good and the show is popular with critics.  

It's not so much about budget cuts as it is about keeping costs from rising. Again, actors get an automatic bump in per-episode pay each year the show is renewed, so it automatically becomes more expensive every year. 

[proserpina65]

3 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

Yes, that's how typical contracts work for network series television.

It is by far the most likely reason, if not the sole reason this is happening.

It's not so much about budget cuts as it is about keeping costs from rising. Again, actors get an automatic bump in per-episode pay each year the show is renewed, so it automatically becomes more expensive every year. 

Thanks for the info.  It's an area in which I don't have much knowledge so the insight is appreciated.

Although I do think there probably is some element of having so many characters making it hard to fit all of them into every episode in a logical way as well.

[astrohip]

On 11/17/2024 at 12:02 PM, iMonrey said:

The actors are paid per episode. Not per season. With a built-in bump in per episode pay every year the show is renewed. Usually for five years, and afterwards contracts are re-negotiated. 

So, yes, budget is definitely a consideration if not the sole reason. If the actors are getting more money per episode but are written out of one or two of them, it even things out, budget-wise. Otherwise the network has to cough up more money, and networks are loathe to do that if they can help it. 

With this kind of show, and such a large cast, it's easy enough to write someone out without affecting the story. The writers may be under instruction to do so in order to keep costs down. And if they can keep costs down it makes it more likely for the show to get renewed. This is a business and it always comes down to money. There is no other logical reason to simply have Thor, or Sass, or Flower absent. They didn't have anything for the character to do? They found something for Hetty and Trevor to do even though they weren't directly involved in either storyline.

So yeah . . . it's money. It's just money.

It's not quite that simple. Actors in a show like this are usually guaranteed X amount of money. They can't say "we'll pay you $N per episode", and then only have them appear in (for example) three episodes. The contract will detail it, but most likely they get either $X per season, and appearances won't matter, or they'll get $X per episode, and are guaranteed a certain number of episodes. Either way, they know exactly how much they're making.

This is NOT a tactic to save money after the fact. Actors & agents aren't that foolish.

[Neptune]

https://deadline.com/2024/11/ghosts-asher-grodman-season-4-interview-episode-5-recap-1236177180/

[Skooma]

17 hours ago, proserpina65 said:

Do you know that for sure?  As in, have any of the actors for this show stating that is how their contracts work?  Because it does vary from show to show.

Do we know that this is actually happening or is it just speculation from various commenters?

There is no actual contract information on what their contracts exactly are.

[iMonrey]

17 hours ago, astrohip said:

It's not quite that simple. Actors in a show like this are usually guaranteed X amount of money.

Yes, they have a guarantee of a certain amount, so they know up front they won't be included in all the episodes. 

7 hours ago, Skooma said:

There is no actual contract information on what their contracts exactly are.

Contracts for network series are pretty standard, it's not some deep dark secret. The only thing we don't really know is exactly how much each actor is paid per episode, and in all probability they don't all make the same amount. 

23 hours ago, proserpina65 said:

Although I do think there probably is some element of having so many characters making it hard to fit all of them into every episode in a logical way as well.

They managed to do it just fine for the past two seasons. They managed to find roles for Hetty and Trevor this episode even though neither had any real involvement in the stories. If they were really just getting lazy and trying to make it easier on themselves they could have left Trevor and Hetty out of the episode, too. But as noted above, they are guaranteed a certain amount of episodes. 

So there's just really no other logical reason someone's missing each week. It's not like Sheila Carrasco was too busy one week, then Roman Zaragoza was too busy the next week, then Devan Chandler Long was too busy the week after that. So, who's going to be too busy next week? 

Network TV shows just don't make as much money as they used to with all the streaming platforms and other avenues for advertisers. A network looks at how much it costs to make a show versus how much money they make off it when deciding whether or not to renew it for another season, so it's in their own best interest to keep costs down every year if they want to keep it going.

[SG429]

It's also tough to write for a large cast in a 22 minute script, giving everyone meaningful dialogue and roles while advancing a plot and sub-plot, especially when inn guests or other one-off characters are involved.

[proserpina65]

2 hours ago, iMonrey said:

They managed to do it just fine for the past two seasons.

Flower wasn't in the first few episodes of last season.  I know that was due to the actress' personal issues but it worked for storyline purposes as well.  I just see this as actually more logical than having every main ghost in every episode, personally.  It doesn't really bother me.  I just figure sometimes they're off doing their own thing in another part of the mansion/grounds.  Obviously it does bother other people, though.

 

[SG429]

20 minutes ago, proserpina65 said:

I just figure sometimes they're off doing their own thing in another part of the mansion/grounds.

After all, ghosts have lives, too. 😉

[iMonrey]

8 hours ago, proserpina65 said:

Obviously it does bother other people, though.

It doesn't bother me if we don't see Nancy, or Nigel, or the other shed ghosts or basement ghosts (although I still want to know what the hell happened to Carol). But when one of the Main Eight is missing with no explanation if does bug me. Why? Well, for example, this episode ends with Sam up on stage doing this great number and all the ghosts are at the back of the theater watching. Except Thor. Why?

If they're going to do this, they need to throw in some line of dialogue to explain why he's missing this. Instead it kind of feels like they don't want to address it and hope we won't notice.

Quote

Flower wasn't in the first few episodes of last season.  I know that was due to the actress' personal issues but it worked for storyline purposes as well. 

Exactly. We got an explanation why Flower was missing. We didn't get one for Thor missing Sam's performance. Throw in a line about him missing it because he's upstairs watching Vikings or something. Don't ask me to handwave it.

Edited November 20 by iMonrey

[sweetandsour]

Coming in late here, but a couple of things:

The term I've seen is "fractional series regular," which means the series regular actor is contracted to be in a set number, but not all, of the episodes over the season.  I'm almost positive that's what I saw discussed for shows like The Vampire Diaries and characters like Bonnie in later seasons.  I don't know that I've seen it reported, but I am pretty sure that's what's going on with all of the Chicago shows on NBC.  There is often someone missing from the series regulars in every episode.  It's either not mentioned at all (well, they might just have the day off from the hospital on Med, or no one talks about how a firefighter on the same shift as everyone else isn't there that day) or "Torres is on furlough," "Torres is helping his mom out," and so on.

Those examples are all later seasons of established shows that get more expensive the longer they go on, so they cut back in other ways.  Ghosts is a newer show, but it started out as not including everyone except Sam and Jay in every episode.  The ghost actors' initial and currently in-effect contracts may perhaps stipulate they are fractional series regulars, and their presence in more episodes beyond that in seasons 2 and 3 may be in addition to the terms of the contract.

Anyway, I also wanted to share these fun clips of Rose's many talents from her iZombie days.  In this episode, she and her Medical Examiner boss went undercover at an amateur dance contest/reality show.  She can move and she looks like the most radiant dancer doll here.

Bonus points for Rahul Kohli and Malcolm Goodwin dancing, too.  (Rahul in both clips, Malcolm in the second one.)

 

[Skooma]

10 hours ago, proserpina65 said:

Flower wasn't in the first few episodes of last season.  I know that was due to the actress' personal issues but it worked for storyline purposes as well.

I wouldn'tc all being pregnant and having a baby a "personal issue" which kind of sounds more like what you would say about someone in rehab or something.

[b4pjoe]

FBI and FBI Most wanted series regulars are doing the same thing for cost cutting measures.

Quote

Yes, some series regulars on the CBS shows FBI and FBI: Most Wanted will appear in fewer episodes in the 2024-2025 TV season:

Fewer episodes: Series regulars will appear in two fewer episodes than usual.

Cost-cutting: This is a cost-cutting measure to save money.

Series affected: Only FBI and FBI: Most Wanted are affected because they are more expensive to produce.

Guaranteed payment: Series regulars will be guaranteed payment for 20 episodes.

Additional episodes: Actors will have to be paid extra for additional installments. 

 

[Skooma]

Quote

Yes, some series regulars on the CBS shows FBI and FBI: Most Wanted will appear in fewer episodes in the 2024-2025 TV season:

Fewer episodes: Series regulars will appear in two fewer episodes than usual.

Cost-cutting: This is a cost-cutting measure to save money.

Series affected: Only FBI and FBI: Most Wanted are affected because they are more expensive to produce.

So according to the above ONLY those 2 FBI shows are cutting back.  Not Ghosts.  And Ghosts, filmed in and outside (Woodstone Manor exteriors) Montreal and not having tons of sets, wouldn't be that expensive to produce in comparison.

[shapeshifter]

2 minutes ago, Skooma said:

So according to the above ONLY those 2 FBI shows are cutting back.  Not Ghosts.  And Ghosts, filmed in and outside (Woodstone Manor exteriors) Montreal and not having tons of sets, wouldn't be that expensive to produce in comparison.

And it makes more sense to me that any cost savings to the production of Ghosts by not shoehorning-in everyone into each and every episode is secondary to the effect on the quality of storytelling by having a strict requirement to include 10 or more regulars in each 20-minute episode. (Note that the FBIs are 40 minutes.)
Novels with 10 or more characters do not include all of them in every chapter.

[b4pjoe]

39 minutes ago, Skooma said:

So according to the above ONLY those 2 FBI shows are cutting back.  Not Ghosts.  And Ghosts, filmed in and outside (Woodstone Manor exteriors) Montreal and not having tons of sets, wouldn't be that expensive to produce in comparison.

29 minutes ago, shapeshifter said:

And it makes more sense to me that any cost savings to the production of Ghosts by not shoehorning-in everyone into each and every episode is secondary to the effect on the quality of storytelling by having a strict requirement to include 10 or more regulars in each 20-minute episode. (Note that the FBIs are 40 minutes.)

They may not be saying they are cost cutting but it is still a financial benefit to limit the number of episodes for each character. And yes I do understand it is a 20 minute show and not feasible to have every character in every episode.

[proserpina65]

15 hours ago, iMonrey said:

It doesn't bother me if we don't see Nancy, or Nigel, or the other shed ghosts or basement ghosts (although I still want to know what the hell happened to Carol). But when one of the Main Eight is missing with no explanation if does bug me. Why? Well, for example, this episode ends with Sam up on stage doing this great number and all the ghosts are at the back of the theater watching. Except Thor. Why?

If they're going to do this, they need to throw in some line of dialogue to explain why he's missing this. Instead it kind of feels like they don't want to address it and hope we won't notice.

Exactly. We got an explanation why Flower was missing. We didn't get one for Thor missing Sam's performance. Throw in a line about him missing it because he's upstairs watching Vikings or something. Don't ask me to handwave it.

And I don't really care why Thor wasn't there.  Maybe he doesn't like musicals.  Maybe he was yelling with his son.  Doesn't affect the story one bit for me.  We'll have to agree to disagree on this one.

13 hours ago, Skooma said:

I wouldn'tc all being pregnant and having a baby a "personal issue" which kind of sounds more like what you would say about someone in rehab or something.

 I wasn't sure if she was pregnant at the time the episodes were filmed or was on maternity leave by then.  But I would call being pregnant/on maternity leave a personal issue because I don't view that phrase as necessarily a negative thing. ymmv

Edited November 20 by proserpina65

[iMonrey]

On 11/20/2024 at 11:53 AM, b4pjoe said:

And yes I do understand it is a 20 minute show and not feasible to have every character in every episode.

I hate to beat the dead horse here but they managed to do it just fine the past two seasons. Did they suddenly just decide it's too hard? Like one less character and two or three fewer lines is that much of a relief to the poor writers?

There's an obvious reason we now have a different character missing each episode this season and it's money. I don't understand why people have such a hard time believing that. It's not rocket science.

[Driad]

The "missing character" issue is not unique to this episode. Maybe there should be a thread for the staffing and economics of the show?

[b4pjoe]

30 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

I hate to beat the dead horse here but they managed to do it just fine the past two seasons. Did they suddenly just decide it's too hard? Like one less character and two or three fewer lines is that much of a relief to the poor writers?

There's an obvious reason we now have a different character missing each episode this season and it's money. I don't understand why people have such a hard time believing that. It's not rocket science.

As I first posted it is about money but when you have 8 main ghosts and several other that aren't main ghosts plus the other characters from Jay and Sams family, construction workers, guests etc....it is hard to find a place for every main ghost and the side benefit is the money saved when you don't have to pay them for every episode. Plus the longer the show runs those people are going to want more money. It is ALWAYS about money in the long run.

[Paloma]

On 11/20/2024 at 1:25 AM, sweetandsour said:

Anyway, I also wanted to share these fun clips of Rose's many talents from her iZombie days.  In this episode, she and her Medical Examiner boss went undercover at an amateur dance contest/reality show.  She can move and she looks like the most radiant dancer doll here.

Bonus points for Rahul Kohli and Malcolm Goodwin dancing, too.  (Rahul in both clips, Malcolm in the second one.)

Thank you for sharing--I'd forgotten about those scenes, but they were great! And I especially loved the Dirty Dancing references, in some of dialogue but even more in the visuals (almost copying the movements when Johnny and his partner were teaching Baby to dance).

Edited November 21 by Paloma
forgot the best part

[Orcinus orca]

On 11/15/2024 at 4:37 PM, Chit Chat said:

In one interview with some of the actors, Brandon Scott Jones asked Roman about his haircare routine, and IIRC, he said that he doesn't do anything special to it.

Hasn't used conditioner in 500 years.

[mojito]

On 11/15/2024 at 7:34 AM, Annber03 said:

Yes, but once her realized Marissa was the female version of Jay, he still seemed interested in her, and then there was his reaction when Flower jokingly asked if he was referring to Marissa or Jay when he was talking about "seeing his ex" at the end of the episode. The way he said, "I..don't know..." just  seems like a hint to something going on there. 

If you put Marissa's personality on Nancy's body, there would've been no attraction. Sass was all about Marissa's looks and flexibility. All she would have to have after that was a bearable personality. And let's face it, Sass hasn't shown any interest in sneakers or D&D or the NY Knicks as far as I know. 

I liked Pete's being jealous that he can't date Jay. 

I liked that Pete's being fleshed out with more personality and even showing him to have his moments of being annoying.

(I just watched this episode a few minutes ago. Imagine my surprise when I noticed there was an episode that I'd not seen yet.)