Ghostwriter (TV series): Difference between revisions

Surreal, quirky mystery/educational series on [[PBS]] and [[The BBC]] from 1992-1995 produced by [[Sesame Workshop]]. A group of middle-school kids in Brooklyn, New York are the only ones who can see a benevolent, [[Ghost Amnesia|amnesiac ghost]], whom they dub Ghostwriter. He can only see and communicate through writing, and he uses his abilities to help the kids solve mysteries. The show never made it clear who Ghostwriter was, or why he chooses to help people. Although some episodes implied that the ghost retained more memories than he claimed to, Ghostwriter's true identity was never revealed.

Presumably because of PBS censorship codes, [[Gory Discretion Shot|almost all violence on the show happened off-camera]]. This made the show painfully slow and talky most of the time. But some scenes were truly [[Nightmare Fuel|scary nail-biters. For instance, in the "Who Is Max Mouse?" climax, the only chance the heroes had to solve the case was making a high-stakes bet with the perp, and losing it would result in a guaranteed prison term for one of the kids. In an equally scary arc, one of the kids suffered chemical poisoning from improperly discarded dry-cleaning chemicals near a playground that the characters frequently visited and her friends discover in their research that the effects of this poison are potentially lethal]]. The villains ranged from eccentrics to raving nutcases, and were fascinating -- too much so, as [[Flat Character|they made the heroes look bland]]. Some episodes managed elaborate mysteries without any villain at all.

Not recommended for anyone over the age of twelve, but worth seeing just for how the writers managed to come up with tension without much on-screen violence or if you grew up with the show and see well it was back then to now. And keep an eye out for [[Special Guest|Julia Stiles]], [[Samuel L. Jackson,]] and [[Spike Lee]] [[Special Guest|in guest roles]].

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