The Ghost & Mrs. Muir (TV series)

The Ghost and Mrs. Muir
Edward Mulhare and Hope Lange, 1968.
Genre	Situation comedy
Starring	Hope Lange Edward Mulhare
Theme music composer	Dave Grusin
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	50 (List of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	David Gerber
Producer(s)	Howard Leeds Gene Reynolds Stanley Rubin
Camera setup	Single-camera
Running time	24 min.
Broadcast
Original channel	NBC (1st season) ABC (2nd season)
Audio format	Monaural
Original run	September 28, 1968 (1968-09-28) – March 13, 1970 (1970-03-13)
Chronology
Related shows	The Ghost and Mrs. Muir

The Ghost & Mrs. Muir is an American situation comedy based on the 1947 film of the same name, which was based on the 1945 novel by R. A. Dick. It premiered in September 1968 on NBC. After NBC canceled the series, it aired on ABC for one season before being canceled a final time.

Synopsis

The series stars Hope Lange as Carolyn Muir, a young widow who rents Gull Cottage, near the fictional fishing village of Schooner Bay, Maine along with her two children, housekeeper and their dog. The cottage is haunted by the ghost of its former owner: Daniel Gregg, a 19th-century sea captain, played by Edward Mulhare.

While the earlier film was set in early 1900s England, the sitcom employed a contemporary American setting.

Production and reception

The story was developed as a series for TV by Jean Holloway and filmed at the Hollywood Studios. Hope Lange won two Emmy Awards for Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for 1968-1969 and 1969-1970. Despite Lange's consecutive Emmy wins, the show struggled in the ratings and only ran for two seasons. During its first year on NBC, its chief competition was the popular CBS-TV sitcom My Three Sons.

In Spring 1969, NBC canceled the series. ABC picked it up and scheduled it to be shown on Thursday nights at 7:30 P.M. in September, 1969, followed by That Girl and Bewitched. The series was again unsuccessful in beating out another hit CBS series, Family Affair. As a result, ABC canceled The Ghost & Mrs. Muir in Spring 1970.

Cast

• Hope Lange as Carolyn Muir, a writer.
• Edward Mulhare as Captain Daniel Gregg. The captain is a poltergeist, able not just to affect things in the house, but also at a distance, and can appear and disappear at will. He can only be seen and heard by the people he chooses. His bad temper can affect the weather.
• Charles Nelson Reilly as Claymore Gregg, the town clerk among many other jobs, a descendant of the captain (although the captain is often ashamed of this and claims that Claymore is not related to him), and Mrs. Muir's landlord. He is one of the few who knows of the captain's continued presence, and is usually terrified of his ancestor. Reilly made this terror of "The Captain" a running gag during his appearances on The Hollywood Squares.
• Reta Shaw as Martha Grant, the housekeeper
• Kellie Flanagan as nine-year-old Candace 'Candy' Muir, Mrs. Muir's daughter. A tomboy with short hair.
• Harlen Carraher as Jonathan Muir, Mrs. Muir's son
• Scruffy as Scruffy, the Muirs' Wire Fox Terrier.

Episodes

Main article: List of The Ghost & Mrs. Muir (TV series) episodes

External links

• The Ghost & Mrs. Muir at the Internet Movie Database