The Scruffy Scribe

I’ve peeled my eyes away from screens full of horror to bring you something a little different! This week we have a startling sitcom from the 1975, the ORIGINAL Ghost Busters. These three brave souls were fighting evil spirits years before the Ghostbusters we all know and love.

Ghost Busters is just what it sounds like, a couple of guys (well one is a gorilla, we’ll get to that) busting ghosts. Only, these ghosts aren’t quite as menacing as the ones Venkman and the boys faced. Ghost Busters Spencer, Tracy (the Gorilla) and Kong (for some reason NOT the gorilla) accept missions from a voice belonging to someone named Zero. Each mission, Zero would send a recording in some strange object, be it a fish, a pie, or a mounted deer head, telling the Ghost Busters about what ghost they’d have to bust. Then the message would explode. Classic! And poor Tracy was always left holding the object. But he took every explosion like a champ, so not only is he a walking gorilla (with a variety of hats, again, more on that later) he’s apparently immortal.

Each episode centered around a different ghost that needed busting. Some of these ghosts included the likes of Doctor Frankenstein and his Monster, Billy the Kid, and the Red Baron, among many more. Well, not many more, because there were only fifteen episodes. That’s right, this show only lasted one season, and that’s because it was ahead of its time in the ghost busting department. Each assignment inevitably led to a spooky looking castle or a haunted graveyard. Literally there were only like two sets for them to fight ghosts. And there weren’t many more locations that they filmed on, outside of their office. So, each time they ended up at a spooky castle, it was the same one each time. Something straight off of Scooby Doo.

Then, each episode would always end the same, there would be some kind of chase, and then just when it looked like the ghost was going to get away, bam! They’d get hit by the Ghost Dematerializer. Which does not look as cool as a proton pack, but hey, it gets the job done.

I have to wonder just where the ghosts go, they don’t get stored in a facility like in Ghostbusters, they just sort of disappear. So, do they just cold bloodedly murder the ghosts? I don’t know, only God can answer that question. 

So, let’s talk cast. There were three main characters as I mentioned above. Spencer, played by Larry Storch, Tracy, played by Bob Burns in a gorilla suit, and Kong, played by Forrest Tucker. Spencer always wore a zoot suit, which, even by the 70s must have been old fashioned. He was pretty much a nitwit and a coward. How he got to be a Ghost Buster, I’ll never know. Tracy, the gorilla, was the wild card of the group because he couldn’t talk, he communicated through gestures and drawings. And, as mentioned above, he had a sweet array of hats. Mostly he wore a beanie with a propeller, but had one for whatever the occasion called for. The best part is that he is in fact credited as “trained by Bob Burns.” That’s commitment. Then there’s Kong, who’s basically the leader. He’s kind of serious and grumpy and gesticulates a lot with his hands.

Both Storch and Tucker stared in the 60s sitcom F Troop, so this was not there first time teaming up. They were both also on episodes of Columbo, which I mention for my unfiltered love of Columbo.  Storch would, before and after this show, go on to star in a whole bunch of television you don’t care about. Tucker would also star in a lot of tv and some horror flicks, including The Crawling Eye from 1958 which may or may not appear on this blog someday. And Bob Burns, the, uh gorilla trainer, is best known for the roll of Tracy in this very show.  

Special shout out to Marc Richards who not only created this show but wrote every episode! I think this was the thing he was most known for, but seeing as this show isn’t that well known, eroded by the winds of time, I’m not sure if that’s a thing I can say. Still, creating and writing a show is no small thing, especially considering it ran on CBS. My hat’s off to you, Mr. Richards.

Now, if you’re like me, you may be asking yourself, just why didn’t this Ghost Busters work, when just nine years later, the 1984 version took off like a rocket? Well, this show was pretty low budget and the main characters weren’t as cool as actual scientists busting ghosts. That being said, I have a huge soft spot in my heart for this bumbling trio. On a personal note, this show was made known to me by a friend of mine who has since died, and thus whenever I think of Ghost Busters, I think of him. That aside, I think the world was simply not ready for ghosts to be busted at the time. The conditions were right in the 80s. It was a Back to the Future moment.

However, that isn’t to say that the two properties are not related at all. After the success of Ghostbusters (1984), spurred Filmation to take a second look at their own Ghost Busters property. And thus, the confusion continues. Ghost Busters came back as a cartoon! But not the one you’re thinking of. You’re thinking of the Real Ghostbusters which premiered just five days after GhostBusters the cartoon. OK, yes, there is a lot going on here, there’s a lot of ghost busting to keep track of, I’m sorry. Thus, to avoid confusion back in the 80s, and I imagine to take a little jab at the competition, the Ghostbuster from ’84 got a cartoon called the Real Ghostbusters. Ouch. Imagine being called not real even though you were the original. Thoroughly confused and or busted yet? Yeah, me too. Point is, they tried it again and though it lasted 65 episodes, there was only one season. Yes, a 65-episode season could happen back then, because it was a cray time. It was the 80s.

As I mentioned, I have a huge soft spot in my heart for this show, and that might be what it takes to watch this show, because it’s really kind of rough around the edges. But hey, what can you expect from a mid 70s sitcom with a low budget? I actually find the aesthetic of this show to be pretty charming, and while I’m not going to go out on a ledge and say it’s actually better than 84’s Ghostbusters, I will say it’s a fun time. If you can through the camp, which that’s partly what this blog is all about!

This is kind of an interesting one, too, because it’s the first tv show that I’ve reviewed, instead of a movie. So I can’t give you a solid plot unless you want an episode by episode break down, which, while kind of you for nodding politely, I know you do not. Suffice it to say there are 15 whacky episodes with whacky ghosts chasing whacky Ghost Busters.

In the end, I say give this show a try. It’s free to watch on YouTube. And maybe I’m just saying that so I have someone to talk to about this tv show, but is that so much to ask? IS IT?!

It’s also something so incredibly 70s that you have to see it to believe it, you have to experience it. If you do end up watching an episode or two, let me know what you think!

Please?