Disney’s The Ghost and Molly McGee is back for more fun on April 1st and we had the opportunity to chat with Bill Motz and Bob Roth, creators/executive producers behind the Emmy Award-nominated series. In this interview, we talk about the fan reaction to the first season in addition to what’s in store for the sophomore outing.
Laughing Place:
Now that you are getting ready to debut season two, what was it like to see the fan reaction for Season 1?
Bill Motz:
It's been fantastic. As you know, when you work on a show, you do it in secret with your crew, and you think you're doing maybe good work. You hope so, you hope that people will like what you're making and you pour your heart and soul into it, so does the whole crew. And then it goes out there with a lot of fear and trepidation and you hope that it connects. And so it's been really gratifying to see just how much people have enjoyed The Ghost and Molly McGee.
Bob Roth:
I love seeing all the fan art online. There's so much of it. It's a tidal wave coming at us, and there's so much creativity from the fans. I just love that.
LP:
We have all fallen in love with the city of Brighton and the colorful residents that we've all gotten to know here and there. What's it been like to create such an amazing supporting cast in the show?
Bob Roth:
That was something we went into this really intentionally with. We wanted to mirror what The Simpsons does where there is a whole town of characters and let's not do toss away characters if we can help it. If we're going to do somebody who owns a shop, let's think about who that person is and spotlight them a little more and sort of develop a character. It's not to say we walk in with a full biography for that first appearance, but we're like, okay, let's find the little quirk about that person and then the next time that need comes up, instead of creating somebody new, let's go back to that person and start to develop Weird Larry or whoever we're talking about. Let's see more of the mayor. Let's see these characters develop and take on their own life. Because eventually that does lead to episodes where you spotlight them. We never walked into this with the notion that we were going to have an episode spotlighting the mayor, but Patton Oswalt brought so much fun to him it's like, "Yeah, we're going to do a whole episode about that guy."
Bill Motz:
And it's been fun to see who the fans connect with. Ice Cream Girl, for example, is somebody that the fans often bring up. Like, we don't even have a name for this character. Ice Cream Girl.
Bob Roth:
Hats off to Justin Rodriguez, our lead character designer. He puts so much love and talent into those background characters that they start to take on a life of their own. We get fans questions online, "Tell me more about this person." And we're like, "That person literally just came out of Justin's pen. I don't know anything more. We'll think about him for season two or three."
LP:
And in this season the Chens move into Brighton and they bring a lot of joy and a lot of trepidation to the town. Can you talk a little bit about the decision to bring that new dynamic into season two?
Bill Motz:
We kind of thought, first of all, that house across the street, we were often intrigued like, "Who lives in this house?" You see it all the time in the windows. And we thought what would be fun is to bring in a family that just seems like the perfect fit for the McGees. They are a best friend family.
Bob Roth:
Not just for Molly, but for Dad, Mom, Darrell.
Bill Motz:
Yeah. They're all just like, oh my gosh, life is now complete. Except then they discover that their career avocation is ghost hunting, and that puts a beloved member of the family in danger. And now that creates a tension. So they have to keep a connection alive, otherwise the neighbors are going to get suspicious, but they also have to protect Scratch. And there's also a hope that maybe they can change their point of view on the chance that maybe they can learn to love ghosts. Maybe.
LP:
At the end of season one, we had the resolution of what happened to the chairman as a looming threat throughout the first season. Molly's positivity resolves it as positivity should. But without revealing too much, sometimes when there's a power vacuum in the ghost world, just like in the real world, there's things that need to happen after that. And you guys really seem to be wanting to address that in this season as well.
Bob Roth:
I want to be careful that we don't spoil too much here. But yeah. You put it exactly right, there's a power vacuum there and it's got to be filled by somebody. So somebody gets the job and it's going to turn Molly and Scratch's lives upside down.
Bill Motz:
You get that thing of, as you were saying, in real life. You make this big sort of political change or whatever it is and then dynamics are very different. And how does that affect everyone involved? That's part of the fun of playing in this season to see how.
LP:
The music from season one is renowned at this point, and it seems like that's going to continue into season two. Are there any highlights we should be looking forward to?
Bob Roth:
Oh man. Every single episode. But the one I will leap to is we have a New Year's Day episode. I don't want to talk too much on what it's about, but when the demo for that one came in, I was meeting my family at a cabin that's two hours away. I listened to this one minute song on repeat the entire drive for those two hours and never once got tired of it. It is that good. Rob Cantor is a genius.
Bill Motz:
Yeah, I mean there are many episodes this season where the songs are just outrageously good and one that sticks. All of them really. But one that sticks in my mind especially is one featuring Dad, and I won't say much more than that, but you'll know it when you see it.
Bob Roth:
We also have a Halloween episode and the song for the Halloween episode is so good.
Bill Motz:
It's incredible.
LP:
Well, I can't wait. And just to wrap up, is there anything you hope fans will take away from
season two?
Bill Motz:
Well, for one, I think that we are going deeper in season two. Season one is about laying out the world, explaining the world, and the character dynamics and all of that. And now season two, we're going to go deeper with our main cast. Also with our supporting cast, there's going to be some mysteries explored. You're going to learn a little bit more about who Scratch was, a number of those kinds of things. And so I'm very excited for people to see us unfold the mythology a little more.
Bob Roth:
And that said, if you loved all just the silliness of season one, that's not going anywhere. We're doing everything Bill said, but we're always keeping it fun.
LP:
Well congratulations. I can't wait to see more episodes. It's just such a perfect way to spend your weekend morning. And I'm just really grateful for bringing this joy not only to our audience, but to myself as well.
Bill Motz:
Well, thank you.We appreciate that.
Bob Roth:
We really appreciate that. I mean, that's why we do this, right? We aren't doing it to entertain ourselves. We want to entertain ourselves, but ultimately it's about getting out to people like you and your families and the whole world. We want people to see this and enjoy it.
You can find out what is in store for Scratch, the McGees, the Chens, and the rest of Brighton when The Ghost of Molly McGee returns on Disney Channel and Disney XD on April 1. You can also catch up on the first season on Disney+