The Ghost and Molly McGee

The Ghost and Molly McGee is an American animated supernatural comedy television series created by Bill Motz and Bob Roth for Disney Channel. A sneak peek of the show's theme song was first shown on May 1, 2021, during the network's "Halfway to Halloween" event, followed by the show's premiere on October 1, 2021. On August 31, 2021, more than a month before it premiered, the series was renewed for a second season, which premiered on April 1, 2023.
Synopsis
In the Human Realm, 13-year-old optimist Molly McGee arrives in her new hometown of Brighton, only to discover that her new house is already occupied by a grumpy ghost named Scratch. Scratch curses Molly in an attempt to scare her away; however, this backfires, forever binding him to her. While initially antagonistic toward her, Scratch opens up to Molly with time, and their friendship strengthens. The two go on wacky misadventures together and help each other through the good and bad in their lives (and afterlives).
In the second season, Scratch is named the new Chairman of the Ghost Council while a ghost hunting family, the Chens, moves in across from the McGees, and they have to keep the existence of ghosts a secret from them while trying to maintain their friendship.
Characters
Main
Molly McGee (voiced by Ashly Burch) is an optimistic 13-year-old girl who lives to make the world a better place, describing it as "enhappifying". Her father, Pete, is a city planner, forcing her family to move a lot throughout the course of her lifetime, until they finally decided to settle down in their "forever home" in Brighton, where she met Scratch. She later makes a human friend at school named Libby, who eventually learns about Scratch's existence in the episode "Scratch the Surface". She also has a crush on Ollie, a neighboring boy around her age, who reciprocates her feelings and is in a family of ghost hunters. She eventually helps him learn to trust ghosts in the episode "Frightmares on Main Street". In the Season 1 finale, "Molly vs. the Ghost World", she discovers how to separate her spirit from her body as a wraith, and in that form is able to bring joy to anything she touches in the Ghost World. In the episode "Out of House and Home/Home is Where the Haunt Is", the curse tying her and Scratch together was broken (as her family temporarily moved out of the house), but the two still stay good friends.
Scratch (voiced by Dana Snyder) is a grumpy ghost who accidentally cursed himself to be alongside Molly for all eternity. He isn't seen by any humans except the McGee family, Libby (since "Scratch the Surface"), Ollie (since "Frightmares on Main Street"), and June (since "Welcome to NecroComic-Con"). His job was to scare people as assigned by the Ghost Council (until "The Jig Is Up/Molly vs. The Ghost World"), but he liked spending his time being with Molly instead. Scratch glows a fluorescent cyan while visible, but is able to render himself invisible at will, as well as to shift his appearance at will and to distort his surroundings, typically to scare humans. He also has the ability to teleport between the Human Realm and the Ghost Realm at will. In "Out of House and Home/Home is Where the Haunt Is", after the McGees are forced to leave the house, him and Molly are no longer cursed together, but Scratch still stays with the McGees after they move back in. In Season 2, Scratch is named the new Chairman of the Ghost World due to Molly's actions in the Season 1 finale. He also has a ghost friend named Geoff, who annoys him at first, but eventually Scratch learns to like him.
Pete McGee (voiced by Jordan Klepper) is Molly and Darryl's Irish father, Sharon's husband, a City Council member, civil engineer, and former ice skater. Pete married Sharon with an unofficial wedding. He tends to act dimwitted at times, but means well.
Sharon McGee (née Suksai) (voiced by Sumalee Montano) is Molly and Darryl's Thai mother and Pete's wife. Sharon married Pete with an unofficial wedding. She originally had a tense relationship with her mother, Grandma Nin, but they began to get along better, starting with "The Best of Nin-tensions". Her income comes from doing gigs from an app named Gig-Pig. She dreams of becoming an artist.
Montano also voices Grandma Nin Suksai, Molly and Darryl's grandmother, Sharon's mother and Pete's mother-in-law.
Darryl McGee (voiced by Michaela Dietz) is Molly's mischievous younger brother. Darryl has a pet tarantula named Heidi Hairylegs and claims to get hook ups calling himself "a man with many connections". After his sister, he is the second character seen to become a wraith in "Double, Double, Darryl & Trouble".
Libby Stein-Torres (voiced by Lara Jill Miller) is Molly's best human friend. Libby has a love for turtles. She suffers from frequent slapstick comedy as she is shown to be rather unlucky. Libby hides her head in her turtleneck collar when she is nervous. She knows about historical people as they are people that passed away a long time ago. Libby was unaware of Scratch's presence until the episode "Scratch the Surface", when she learned about Scratch's existence, and later on, she became friends with him after they worked together to save Molly when she got trapped in a compost machine.
Recurring
Brighton citizens
Andrea Davenport (voiced by Jules Medcraft) is Molly's rival turned self-proclaimed BFF. She is very sensitive about how her first name is pronounced and she is the most popular girl at school. Despite her success, she seems unhappy at times, desperately craving the attention of her busy parents. As the series progresses, Andrea is shown to be more caring of other people, such as "Home is Where the Haunt is", when she started a fund to save the McGees' house, considering Molly as her BFF, as well as "Davenport's on Demand", when she shut down her app after learning that it was threatening other businesses and "Davenport's in Demise", when she learned that her online personality should be her true personality and that she should take a break from social media.
Sheela (voiced by Aparna Nancherla) is Molly's geeky friend.
Kat (voiced by Eden Riegel) is Molly's sweet pink-haired friend.
Miss Lightfoot (voiced by Julia Jones) is Molly's constantly nervous teacher.
Mrs. Roop (voiced by Jane Lynch) is a teacher at Brighton Middle School. She has a wife, Pam, mentioned in "No Good Deed".
Patty (voiced by Jenifer Lewis), an elder resident who quickly befriends Molly.
Mayor Brunson (voiced by Patton Oswalt) is Brighton's mayor.
Leah Stein-Torres (voiced by Pamela Adlon) is Libby's mother and friend. She is the "#1 fan" of her own daughter. Ms. Stein-Torres owns a bookstore called Book Marks the Spot.
Principal O'Connor (voiced by Eugene Byrd) is Brighton Middle School's principal. Though well-meaning, his uptight nature does not endear him to the students, and he is frequently made the butt of Darryl's pranks.
Irving the Illusionist (voiced by Trevor Devall) is a street magician who gets a thrill out of bewildering any passerby who sees him with his sleight of hand which, so far, mainly involves cards, coins and confetti.
Weird Larry (voiced by Trevor Devall) is a pawn shop owner whose eccentric ways tend to freak out anybody on account that he tends to ask for help with the uncomfortable favors such as the time he needed help finding and catching his beloved runaway pet skunk Vera.
Maxwell Davenport (voiced by Thomas Lennon) is the owner of a local department store and Andrea's conceited and self-entitled father who is obsessed with social media.
Mrs. Davenport (voiced by Jessica Keenan Wynn) is Maxwell's wife and Andrea's mother.
Joanie Pataky (voiced by Grey Griffin) is Brighton's news reporter.
Bobby Daniels (voiced by Danny Trejo)
Adia (voiced by Kimberly Brooks) is Scratch's first best friend when he was alive, during a moment she moved away from Brighton. Adia only appears through Scratch's memories in "A Soda to Remember" and "All in The Mind".
The Chen family
The Chen family are a Chinese-American family of ghost hunters introduced in Season 2.
Oliver "Ollie" Chen (voiced by Alan Lee) is Molly's love interest and the older brother of June. Ollie is the research specialist of their ghost hunting. He is also a vegetarian. He found out about Scratch's existence in "I Wanna Dance with Some-Ollie", and befriended him after realizing that not all ghosts are bad in "Frightmares on Main Street".
Juniper "June" Chen (voiced by Sue Ann Pien) is Ollie's younger sister and an inventor. She is autistic, as is her voice actress, and has a habit of brutal honesty. She is the technology specialist of her family and uses her many inventions to aid in their ghost-hunting. "Frightmares on Main Street" hints that she may have caught on to Ollie's secret friendship with Scratch, and the power Scratch may possess. She eventually found out about Scratch's existence in "Welcome to NecroComic-Con" and has developed a more positive view of ghosts since then.
Esther Chen (voiced by Stephanie Sheh) is Ollie and June's mother. Esther is in charge of the video and graphics with their ghost hunting.
Ruben Chen (voiced by Leonard Wu) is Ollie and June's father. Ruben is the lead investigator of their ghost hunting, having taken up the profession after an encounter with a ghost in his childhood.
Ghosts
The Ghost Council: The Ghost Realm's council who make sure ghosts in their homeworlds cause misery.
The chairman, the main antagonist of Season 1 who is a ghostly chairman, representing the Grim Reaper. He feeds on misery, and expects other ghosts to spread it for him. He was destroyed alongside the Flow of Failed Phantoms by Molly's joy during the Season one finale.
The Barrister Ghosts are the secondary antagonists of Season 1 who are in charge of making sure ghosts in the world maintain their jobs of causing misery in their cities. They did not introduce themselves by name prior to Season 2, before which Scratch was unaware they had names at all.
Lucretia (voiced by Grey Griffin) is a purple ghost who is one of the council's members.
Sir Alister (voiced by John DiMaggio) is a green ghost who is one of the council's members. In life, he yearned to play the lute professionally.
Grimbella (voiced by Kari Wahlgren) is a grey-ish lavender ghost and one of the council's members, who speaks with a British accent.
Bartholomew (voiced by Greg Baldwin) is a grumpy blue ghost and one of the council's members.
Geoff (voiced by Eric Edelstein) is a goofy ghost who is Scratch's best ghost friend. His running gag is him spelling his name. He's been in a long-term relationship with Jeff for 100 years.
Ghost Bouncer (voiced by John DiMaggio) is the bouncer of the Haughty Hunts Club, a club that let ghosts in, if they're official members.
Abraham Lincoln (voiced by Kelsey Grammer) is the 16th U.S. president, nicknamed "Honest Abe".
Ezekiel "Tug" Tugbottom (voiced by Chris Diamantopoulos) is Sally's troublemaking younger brother, who took credit for her accomplishments until Molly, Libby and Scratch exposed the truth.
Sally Tugbottom (voiced by Kerri Kenney-Silver) is Brighton's founder and Ezekiel's older sister. Sally has a pet bear.
Franklin Roosevelt (voiced by John DiMaggio) is the 32nd U.S. president and Theodore Roosevelt's fifth cousin.
Julius Caesar (voiced by Greg Baldwin) is the Roman general and statesman.
Cleopatra (voiced by Grey Griffin) is the Egyptian queen of the Ptolemaic Kingdom.
Jinx (voiced by Liza Koshy) is a purple ghost who is a joy hunter sent by the Ghost Council to eliminate Molly. In Season 2, she continues to antagonize Scratch after the Chairman's demise.
Jeff (voiced by Vincent Rodriguez III) is Geoff's "Afterlife Partner". He is known to be highly protective of Geoff and threatens those who'd harm him whether physically or emotionally.
Sobgoblins (voiced by Grey Griffin) are species of ghosts that feed on misery and sadness.
Guest stars
Howlin' Harriet (voiced by Eden Riegel) appears in "Howlin' Harriet/The (Un)natural".
Tammy Myers (voiced by Chandler Kinney) appears in "Howlin' Harriet/The (Un)natural".
Kenny Star (voiced by Tom Kenny) appears in "Getting the Band(shell) Back Together/The Greatest Concert Ever" and "Web of Lies/Kenny's Falling Star".
Greta Gerwig (voiced by herself) appears in "Mama's Gotta Hustle/Hooray for Mollywood!".
Uncle Ted (voiced by Yuri Lowenthal) appears in "Mazel Tov, Libby!/No Good Deed".
Eva Hernandez (voiced by Alanna Ubach) appears in "The Turnip Twist/All Systems No".
Dianne (voiced by Yvette Nicole Brown) appears in "The Turnip Twist/All Systems No" and "Web of Lies/Kenny's Falling Star".
Sonia Davis (voiced by Alanna Ubach) appears in "Ice Princess/Ready, Set, Snow!".
Billy McGee (voiced by John DiMaggio) appears in "Innocent Until Proven Ghostly/Twin Trouble".
Jilly McGee (voiced by Marieve Herington) appears in "Innocent Until Proven Ghostly/Twin Trouble".
Totes (voiced by Dee Bradley Baker) appears in "Goat Your Own Way/A Very Hungry Ghost".
Pango (voiced by D'Arcy Carden) appears in "Scare Tactics/Bad Boy Bobby Daniels".
Reggie (voiced by Sean Giambrone) appears in "Citizen McGee/The Internship".
Candace Green (voiced by Natasha Rothwell) appears in "Out of House and Home/Home is Where the Haunt Is".
Lord Doom (voiced by W. Earl Brown) appears in "A Doll to Die For/The (After)life of the Party".
Blair (voiced by Kimberly J. Brown) appears in "The Unhaunting of Brighton Video/100% Molly McGee".
JR (voiced by Jim Rash) appears in "Like Father Like Libby/Dance Dad Revolution".
Calvin Redtop (voiced by Tony Hale) appears in "Web of Lies/Kenny's Falling Star".
The upcoming guest stars for Season 2 include Lennon Parham and Andrew Phung.
Production
The animated series was first conceived by co-creators Bill Motz and Bob Roth in 2007. The two of them had worked at Disney for years, with their first ever script being an episode of Darkwing Duck. At the time, the series was known as The Curse of Piper McGee and initially focused on the titular girl's family moving to Transylvania where she was cursed by a vampiric ghoul simply named the Count. This version of the show was initially first pitched to Nickelodeon who passed on it. After fourteen years, the duo had completed work on Lego Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures when Disney signed them an overall deal. They re-pitched the series, with the new title of The Curse of Molly McGee, where it got a positive response this time.
On July 23, 2019, Disney Channel greenlit the series, which was to be produced by Disney Television Animation, and executive-produced by Motz, Roth, and Steve Loter. On September 24, 2020, Ashly Burch and Dana Snyder joined the series in its lead roles. The same day, the series was retitled The Ghost and Molly McGee.
The crew used several songs as inspiration from the series. Motz released a playlist featuring those songs throughout 2020 and part of 2021.
Music
The series' theme song was written by Allie Felder, Mike Kramer, Bill Motz and Bob Roth, and was performed by Ashly Burch and Dana Snyder. Songs for the series are written by Rob Cantor, with each episode featuring a musical sequence of approximately 1 minute. The show's score is done by Michael Kramer. An extended play album of some of the songs from the series was released on October 1, 2021.
Track listing
Episodes
Series overview
Season 1 (2021–22)
Season 2 (2023)
Shorts
Chibi Tiny Tales (2021–23)
Shortly after the series premiere, The Ghost and Molly McGee became the latest to join the Chibi Tiny Tales series.
Broken Karaoke (2021–22)
Part of the Broken Karaoke series that was started by Big City Greens.
Theme Song Takeover (2022–23)
As part of a promotional campaign, Disney Channel began airing the Disney Theme Song Takeover wherein supporting characters from different shows performed the theme song to the series they were in.
Disney Random Rings (2023)
Release
The Ghost and Molly McGee premiered on Disney Channel on October 1, 2021. The first five episodes of the series were added to Disney+ on October 6, resulting in episodes 3-5 being released prior to their televised premieres.
The first episode was uploaded to YouTube on October 2, 2021. The second season premiered on April 1, 2023, with the first five episodes of the season being released on Disney+ the following day.
Reception
Critical reception
Kate Robertson of Stuff described the main characters as a pair forming an "unlikely friendship" who help each other evolve, describing Molly as "an optimist [...] who just wants to make the world a better place" and Scratch as a "pessimist who hopes for the worst," and stated that the series is "funny, charming and an all-round joy to watch." Ashley Moulton of Common Sense Media rated the series 4 out of 5 stars and depicted it as a "funny ghost-girl buddy story...[with] mild ghoulish scares." She also stated that younger kids will be spooked when ghosts transform, but older kids will not, stated that ghosts are "a bit rough around the edges" and there is some cartoon violence. However, she stated that human characters act in a more positive manner, stated that the show's protagonist, Molly, is a "great role model", compared the series to Monsters, Inc. but called it a "charming, sweetly spooky animated series."
Accolades
Notes
References
External links
Production website
2020s American animated comedy television series
2020s American animated television series
2020s American horror comedy television series
2021 American television series debuts
American children's animated adventure television series
American children's animated comedy television series
American children's animated fantasy television series
American children's animated horror television series
American children's animated musical television series
American children's animated supernatural television series
American flash animated television series
Animated television series about families
Animated television series about ghosts
Asian-American television
Disney Channel original programming
English-language television shows
Television series by Disney Television Animation
Television shows set in the Midwestern United States