The Ghost and Molly McGee

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==

File:Ashly Burch (14703225936).jpg|Burch (Molly) File:DanaSnyder.jpg|Snyder (Scratch) File:Jordan Klepper (cropped).jpg|Klepper (Pete) File:Sumalee Montano by Gage Skidmore.jpg|Montano (Sharon and Grandma Nin) File:Michaela Dietz at the Florida Supercon 2016 (4) (cropped).jpg|Dietz (Darryl) File:Lara Jill Miller 03.jpg|Miller (Libby) McGee family • Molly McGee (voiced by Ashly Burch) is an optimistic 13-year-old 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 ( ; 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. (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. He isn't seen by any humans except the McGee family, Libby (since the episode "Scratch the Surface"), Ollie (since the episode "Frightmares on Main Street"), June (since the episode "Welcome to NecroComic-Con"), Ruben, and Esther (since the episode "Jinx vs. the Human World"). 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. 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. 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) is Scratch's first best friend when he was alive, during a moment she moved away from Brighton. Adia appears through Scratch's memories in "A Soda to Remember" and "All in the Mind". In the series finale, she appears via a video call with Molly, and in the final moments of the series, she reunites with Scratch/Todd in his new 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". • 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 "Kenny's Falling Star". • Rad Pham (voiced by Andrew Phung) appears in "Let's Play Turnipball!", "The Ghost IS Molly McGee" and "Fit to Print". • Winnie Fiama (voiced by Lennon Parham) appears in "Fit to Print". ==Episodes==

Series overview Season 1 (2021–22) Season 2 (2023–24) ==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. Disney Random Rings (2023) How NOT To Draw (2024) ==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. 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. Track listing ==Release==

The Ghost and Molly McGee premiered on Disney Channel on October 1, 2021. 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 Ghost and Molly McGee series was well received by critics and audiences. 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==