The Ghost and Molly McGee is an American animated supernatural musical buddy comedy television series created by Bill Motz and Bob Roth that aired on Disney Channel from October 1, 2021, to January 13, 2024. The series features the voices of Ashly Burch, Dana Snyder, Jordan Klepper, Sumalee Montano, Michaela Dietz, and Lara Jill Miller.
A sneak peek of the show's theme song was first shown on May 1, 2021, during the network's "Halfway to Halloween" event. On August 31, 2021, more than a month before it premiered, the series was renewed for a second and final season, which premiered on April 1, 2023.
Contents
Synopsis
In the Human Realm, 13-year-old Irish-Thai American 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, who curses Molly in an attempt to scare her away, but this backfires, forever binding him to her. While initially antagonistic toward her, Scratch slowly opens up to Molly, and their friendship strengthens while going on wacky adventures and misadventures together and helping each other through the good and bad in their lives (and afterlives).
In the second and final season, Scratch becomes the new Chairman of the Ghost Council, and a ghost-hunting family called the Chens moves in across from the McGees, who plan to keep the existence of ghosts a secret from the Chens while trying to maintain their friendship.
Characters
McGee family
Molly McGee (voiced by Ashly Burch) is an optimistic 13-year-old Irish-Thai American 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 meets 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", Molly discovers how to separate her spirit from her body as a wraith. In that form, she is able to bring joy to anything she touches in the Ghost World. In the episode "Home is Where the Haunt Is", the curse tying her and Scratch together is broken (as her family temporarily moved out of the house), but the two still stay good friends. In "A Period Piece", it is revealed that Molly wears mascara as makeup appears to be ruined when she started crying and makes her confession, though the episode shows her putting on make up in an attempt to be more adult in front of her friends, so she is just wearing mascara in that episode.
Pete McGee (voiced by Jordan Klepper) is Molly and Darryl's Irish father, and Sharon's husband. He is an urban planner 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. She married Pete with an unofficial wedding. Sharon originally had a tense relationship with her mother, Grandma Nin, but they began to get along, starting in the episode "The Best of Nin-tensions". Her income comes from doing gigs from an app named Gig-Pig. She dreams of becoming an artist.
Grandma Nin Suksai (also voiced by Sumalee Montano) is Molly and Darryl's maternal 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, as shown in the episode "Double, Double, Darryl & Trouble".
Stein-Torres family
Libby Stein-Torres (voiced by Lara Jill Miller) is Molly's best human friend. Libby is of Jewish and Argentine descent and 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 shy. She knows about historical people, as they are people that died a long time ago. Libby was unaware of Scratch's presence until the episode "Scratch the Surface", when she learned about his existence. Later on, she became friends with him after they worked together to save Molly when she got trapped in a compost machine.
Leah Stein-Torres (voiced by Pamela Adlon) is Libby's mother, with whom she has a close bond. She is the "#1 fan" of her own daughter. Ms. Stein-Torres owns a bookstore called Book Marks the Spot.
Davenport family
Andrea Davenport ( AHN-dree-uh; 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.
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.
Dorothea Davenport (voiced by Jessica Keenan Wynn) is Maxwell's wife and Andrea's mother.
Ghosts
Scratch (voiced by Dana Snyder) is a grumpy and gluttonous ghost who accidentally cursed himself to be alongside Molly for all eternity. 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 become invisible, shift his appearance at will, and 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" and "Home is Where the Haunt Is", after the McGees are forced to leave the house, he and Molly are no longer cursed to stay 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 Scratch eventually learns to like him. In the series finale, "The End", Scratch is revealed to be the wraith of a human named Todd Mortenson. He decides to return to his human life and travel the world, and reunites with his friend Adia Williams.
The Ghost Council: The Ghost Realm's council who make sure ghosts in their homeworlds cause misery.
The Chairman is the main antagonist of Season 1 who is a ghostly chairman, taking inspiration from 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 major characters of the series 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.
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, which his father disapproved of.
Grimbella (voiced by Kari Wahlgren) is a greyish-lavender ghost and one of the council's members, who speaks with a British accent.
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 boyfriend 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 Geoff in his childhood.
Other Brighton citizens
Source:
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) is an elder resident who quickly befriends Molly.
Mayor Brunson (voiced by Patton Oswalt) is Brighton's mayor.
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 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.
Joanie Pataky (voiced by Grey Griffin) is Brighton's news reporter.
Bobby Daniels (voiced by Danny Trejo)
Adia Williams (voiced by Kimberly Brooks) was Scratch's friend when he was alive. In the series finale, she is introduced when Molly contacts her via a video call. In the final moments of the series, Adia reunites with Scratch/Todd after he returns to life.
Guest stars
Howlin' Harriet (voiced by Eden Riegel) appears in "Howlin' Harriet".
Tammy Myers (voiced by Chandler Kinney) appears in "The (Un)natural".
Kenny Star (voiced by Tom Kenny) appears in "Getting the Band(shell) Back Together" and "Kenny's Falling Star".
Greta Gerwig (voiced by herself) appears in "Hooray for Mollywood!".
Uncle Ted (voiced by Yuri Lowenthal) appears in "Mazel Tov, Libby!".
Eva Hernandez (voiced by Alanna Ubach) appears in "The Turnip Twist".
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".
Billy McGee (voiced by John DiMaggio) appears in "Twin Trouble".
Jilly McGee (voiced by Marieve Herington) appears in "Twin Trouble".
Totes (voiced by Sumalee Montano) appears in "Goat Your Own Way".
Pango (voiced by D'Arcy Carden) appears in "Scare Tactics".
Reggie (voiced by Sean Giambrone) appears in "The Internship".
Candace Green (voiced by Natasha Rothwell) appears in "Out of House and Home/Home is Where the Haunt Is".
Episodes
Shorts
Chibi Tiny Tales (2021–23)
Shortly after the series premiere, The Ghost and Molly McGee joined 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.
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.
On January 14, 2024, one day after the final episode aired, Motz revealed that despite getting an order for ten season three scripts, Disney chose to end the show due to low ratings on Disney+. Motz and Roth were granted an additional episode to give the show a proper send-off. Sixteen days later, eighteen scripts and outlines for the cancelled season three were posted online in their entirety to the Internet Archive.
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.
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 to 5 being released prior to their televised premieres.
The first episode was uploaded to YouTube on October 2, 2021. The second and final season premiered on April 1, 2023, with the first five episodes of the season being released on Disney+ the following day.
Reception
Critical reception
The series was well received by critics. 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".