Fans of the Disney Channel animated series, The Ghost And Molly McGee, gathered at San Diego Comic Con and were treated to a panel dedicated to the show featuring some of the cast, crew, creative team, and season two spoilers peppered throughout.
For those unfamiliar, The Ghost and Molly McGee is the story of a ghost and the girl who brings him back to life…figuratively speaking of course. When a cantankerous ghost named Scratch places a curse on exuberant tween Molly McGee, it backfires and leaves him forever cursed to be in Molly's presence. Now, he’s forced to go everywhere Molly goes and do everything Molly does… which, in Molly’s eyes, makes him her best friend! As Molly drags reluctant Scratch along on all her misadventures, a funny thing happens: Scratch comes to like Molly and an unlikely friendship blossoms.
Immediately the panel started off with a sneak peek at a new Broken Karaoke short coming to Disney Channel featuring Molly and Scratch performing a parody of a song from the popular Zombies franchise about eating bread.
Fans of the show will immediately pick up on the altered catchphrase of Molly McGee, with her saying “Sweet Baby Cornbread” in lieu of just Corn.
Joining the panel on stage were voice of Daryl McGee, Michaela Dietz and voice of Geoff, Eric Edelstein alongside by Creators/Executive Producers Bill Motz and Bob Roth and Executive Producer Steve Loter as well as Rob Cantor, who does all the music for the show.
Ashly Birch (Molly), Dana Snyder (Scratch), Jordan Klepper (Pete), and Sumalee Montano (Sharon/Grandma Nin) had pre-recorded greetings that were shown.
A good portion of the panel was dedicated to the music of the show, which is appropriate considering the series is a musical series, with a song featured at least once in each episode. One thing they talk about is how the songs require research and come close to other popular songs considering the show isn't set to one particular genre. The group also shows a deleted a capella song, “Me Dear Doreen” that was written for three seconds in a montage but became “a 30 second ode to organ harvesting.”
They mention their favorite songs, some more meaningful than others, like “Lose Lose” or bonkers songs featured in the show like “Fried Food.” Michaela however, sticks to the show’s main theme as her favorite, because “how can you not get excited when you hear that song.”
Rob, who is known to many for his Shia Labeouf Viral video, loves the Hanukkah song that is performed by Libby as a beat poem. A clip of that song was then shown.
The pre-recorded guests were also asked the same question, and Dana Snyder picked “My Best Friend’s Bat Mitzvah.”
Ashly liked “Make you Make Up”
Sharon liked her song, “Giggin’ for a Livin,” while Jordan gave a bit of a spoiler for season 2, saying his favorite song (which was only seen by panel attendees and has not surfaced on the internet (yet)), was “Dance with Me.” We look forward to that next season.
The panel discusses that the show was never meant to be a musical show, but after including a musical montage in the pilot, they realized this should probably happen in each episode. Rob joked, that was his plan all along. Overall, the group discusses that their favorite part of the show is the story of this family doing what they can to “enhappify” the world around them.
“Enhappify,” another of Molly Mcgee’s key phrases, is said numerous times throughout the panel, and rightfully so. That’s what the show does for the audience, and it seems that that’s how it is with the cast, crew, and creative minds behind the show as well.
Plus, this was the first time some of the cast has even met each other in person, considering the show was created and produced in the height of the pandemic.
The conversation switches gears, and Michaela focuses on how the show also features an Asian-American family and many people approach her (not even knowing that she is in it) saying how refreshing and great the representation on the series is.
As with the songs, those who couldn’t be there were asked what their favorite parts of the series are, and Ashly loves that it's about celebrating differences, and embraces differences with open arms. Jordan loves the family feeling but also that it shows that everybody is struggling to get by. Voice of Libby, Lara Jill Miller, mentions that she loves the design and the colors, the art, and the writing, but more importantly the heart behind the series. Sumalee loves the real relationships, the real problems that families and friendships have. Dana loves the heart, but also the silliness and the grossness, but the core of two people who love each other, prompting an affectionate “Aw” from the crowd.
Now that they’ve gotten that fun stuff out of the way, it is San Diego Comic Con after all, so they are ready to reveal a new song from Season 2. To remind fans, the chairman of the Ghost World is now gone…since Molly killed(?) him with a playful boop. Now, the Ghost Council doesn’t know what to do with themselves considering they have no Chairman to answer to.
During the Q/A portion of the show, there were talks of a The Ghost and Molly McGee feature film, but it all depends on viewers, so be sure to watch the series on Disney Channel, DisneyNOW, and Disney+, where the rest of the first season will arrive on August 3rd.
Michaela was also asked who her favorite character was besides Daryl, since you know, she voiced him. She responded with The Mayor (voiced by Patton Oswalt), even though everyone’s favorite ghostly best friend Geoff was right there in front of her. The funny faux pas was well received and she amended her answer, saying Eric’s performance was brilliant and Geoff is the best character, besides Daryl of course.
The Q/A also promised the addition of new characters for the second season, perhaps a new(?) chairman, and much more fun that is waiting when the series continues. Since the first season ended just a few weeks ago, it will still be a bit before we know more about when season two will debut. Until then, you can watch the series on Disney+, with the rest of season one arriving on the streaming platform on 8/3.