Monday, July 22, 2013

The Haunted Hathaways

The Haunted Hathaways
Episode 1: Pilot
By: Carlos Uribe

The Haunted Hathaways is a show about a normal family who moves into a home occupied by ghosts.

Spoilers Ahoy!

The Haunted Hathways has a pretty complicated premise when it comes to live-action kid shows. There is a family that moves into a house that is occupied by ghosts. It's a high-concept idea that leaves a lot of room for supernatural hijinks but it does carry a level of tragedy that wizards don't carry. A ghost is what's left of a living person after they have moved on in this planet. This means that the ghost family in this show died at one point. Death is a pretty serious topic that can be hard for a kid to truly understand. Even if a kid does understand death, it's one that might naturally upset them. The conversations that The Haunted Hathaways might strike up could potentially be risky for any parent not prepared to talk with their kid about the subject. It could be risky because a kid might realize these ghosts were living people once and become alienated from it. On the other hand, a kid could never realize they were alive once. After all, a kid's innocence has a way of shaping their perspective. Maybe I only think about this because I'm an adult and my mind is willing to connect the dots that a kid's mind might not. It's possible that by presenting a light spin on ghosts, the kid might actually become more willing to accept the natural state of death. Whatever the case, it's likely going to be something that only comes up if the kid connects the dots. It's no surprise that the Haunted Hathaways does absolutely nothing to even broach the subject of death. If anything, it's content to largely make a lot of jokes without giving a real reason to why the show should exist in the first place. The plot in the pilot is predictable, the characters are flat, and there is zero depth in this show. It's basically the very representation of the reputation that multi-camera comedies have recently earned: lame jokes, weak characters, and silly plots. I'm guessing kids are going to like this show and it's good for them. Their parents? They'll probably be bored to tears as there's nothing redeeming about this show for anyone over the age of thirteen.


The plot for the pilot is largely to set up the premise. The family moves into a house filled with cobwebs because the mother presumably has the worst realtor in the world. She presumably bought the house online without looking at a photo because the family is largely unaware of it's conditions when they first arrive. That's when the ghost family notices them so they decide to do their best to scare aware the living family. Hijinks ensure and it's not long before the mother hires a ghost buster to get rid of them. Only the ghost family has a friendly member, Miles, that helps save the day for the female protagonist, Taylor, which basically convinces the human family to try to live with the ghost family. The ghost family agrees since they don't want the ghost buster lady to come back. It's a basic plot that never really has any subtlety to it. It sets up the premise and the very basic forms of the characters but it never goes anything beyond that. It doesn't establish themes, it doesn't justify it's own existence, and there's nothing more to it. The show itself starts to set up it's universe but it looks like the rules aren't going to matter. The show has the young ghost who can't control his powers but the other two ghosts have no problems doing so. Their very powers seem to basically amount to magic without any real limit. The biggest part is where two of the bad ghosts are confined to the living room but Miles is allowed to save the day before he gets captured. It makes little sense as to why the ghost buster's spell would work like this. This simply makes it feel like the show will only follow rules when the plot demands there be any and then discard them when their no longer needed. It's a comedy for kids so it doesn't really need rules for it's universe but a well-written show lays out the rules and then sets up scenarios where the rules are obstacles. In this show, ghosts can basically do anything except when the writers decide they can't.

The characters in the Haunted Hathaways are as flat as their plot. Taylor is a normal teenager whose freaked out by the ghosts and into gymnastics. She's a bland protagonist who could easily be replaced without anyone noticing. There is nothing more to the character. She has a younger sister in Frankie. Frankie's whole character seems to be built around the idea that she thinks ghosts are cool. That's basically all that there is to her. Their mother is Michelle, who has just gone through a divorce and has some self-esteem issues when it comes to being a mom. She does seem to believe in her bakery. She's largely as one-dimensional as her kids. The three ghosts aren't any better. The father of the ghost family is Ray. He's largely willing to scare the family away for seemingly no reason. He agrees to live with them but the series didn't actually give him a character. His oldest son is Miles, whose basically Casper. He wants to be friends with the Hathaway family because he's sociable. That's basically all there is to him. The youngest son is Louie, who talks a big game about what he can do but he always falls short. It's a good idea for the very basics of a character but the show never develops him beyond that. Basically: don't expect three-dimensional characters when watching this show. They exist solely to deliver the jokes.

The Haunted Hathaways is a typical kid's show without any value. It has jokes and there's a vague semblance of a premise and plot to hold them but that's it. The characters exist to say the jokes but aren't defined. The plot is predictable and the premise doesn't really bother to explore it's implications on death. Kids might enjoy this show, parents will bored, and this won't be one of those kid shows that gather an adult audience. There's just nothing here beyond the vague concept of a show and the lame jokes it contains.

19 comments:

  1. My kids are 5, 6, and 7 and have started watching this show and sure enough, I've had to start to talk about the finality of life a little before I was expecting. I flippantly asked "how did the Prestons die?" and that was met with shock. Nick is really dropping the ball here. I remember as a kid Mr. Hopper dying on Sesame Street and having a great talk with my parents about life and death. This is just irresponsible on Nick's part. I hope they start to address it in the future.

    By the way, I would like to keep checking out your site but white text on a black background is very difficult to stay with. You might want to consider a change in color scheme going forward. Solid writing but my eyes were crossing 1/3 of the way into the article. Good luck on the blog.

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    1. Thanks for the reply!

      I'll look into changing up the color scheme to make it easier to read.

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    2. Considering the fact that they live in New Orleans, they were probably victims of Hurricane Katrina.

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    3. I normally watch the shows before my kids get a hold of them and I haven't seen any issues yet. Then again my kids have had the opportunity to see how movies and TV shows are made so they understand the meaning of "story and a story line" also, I come from the "Beetlejuice" generation ;) ... just explain the basics of a ghost to ur kids, no need to go into depth for a show. There is no emotional connection to the characters so they won't fully understand the meaning of death unless they experience it first hand. Witches of Waverly Place had tons of controversy as well...

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  2. I actually like the show and don't find it flat at all I watch it every Saturday with my 3 and a half year old. I would like to know how the ghosts died though.

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  3. Nick Really Needs To Be Careful Not To Imply That The Past Away During Katrina.

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  4. They really need to be more carefully because I have a 7 year old and and a 6 year old and they have asked me how they died.

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  5. My kids like the show. I have a five year old who especially likes it. I found this article trying to figure out how the Preston's died. I don't think it's a bad idea for a kids show. It reminds me of The Wizards of Waverly Place how these "ghosts" can perform magic tricks. Anyway, based on the comments above, parents need to raise their own kids and stop expecting television shows to teach your children about life and death and sex. This show is obviously fiction. Or are we assuming that ghosts are real?

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    1. Maybe, they purposely didn't say how the Preston's died to make people keep watching to find out. I, personally, don't even care anymore.

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  6. I have to disagree with the writer when he says that this show is good for kids. His main concern is about how the family died, and everyone seems to repeat the same concerns. But no one has dug deeper...this show is teaching children that hauntings, conjuring and possessions are cool and funny. There is a very malicious satanic element in this show that seems to have been glazed over. I find it unnerving that Nick would bring this to children under the guise of laughs and hijinks. Take a really good look at this show for what it really is, not just for the pretty packaging it comes in.

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    1. Does no one remember the '90s? There were tons of kids shows and movies about ghosts and most of them didn't explain how they died. People are too touchy these days.

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    2. Satanic? Really? What about a talking horse that only talked to one man and no one else? I Dream of Jeannie, My Uncle Martin, or if you want to recent times Small Wonder? Lastly The Monsters. These shows are for pure entertainment by taking the ordinary and mixing it with something off the wall. Plain and simple....

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  7. I found this blog the same way as most people, because I googled how they died. After reading this I agree with the person above. I remember growing up with a movie called Ghost Dad, it was one of my favorites. There was also called Hearts and Souls with Robert Downey Jr, about a group of ghosts that are connected to a child who as an adult has to help them each take care of the one thing that would help them pass on. There was possession in both movies. There were other movies I watched too. And what about Ghost Busters? Do you think that destroyed children? Did people wonder who slimmer was when he was alive and how he died?

    I have a 6 year old, almost 7. He watched this show all the time, and when I asked him how did they die he just shrugged and said not sure they haven't said. He wasn't freaking out he wasn't upset. I have not hid anything about death from my son. And innocent little children, they aren't thinking about all that. They just like watching the fun stuff that does happen in the show. Most of the time a kid doesn't make a big deal about something unless their parents make them think they should. For instance kids don't know scary movies are supposed to scare them unless they are told they should. My kids, and I have 4 of them have never had a problem with nightmares or had problems with watching scary movies. I was so scared of a lot of movies when I was a kid because instead of explaining to me that they weren't real my parents did what most parents do, they tried to shield me from it. But when they were watching something at night and they thought I was asleep and I wasn't, I was exposed just enough that it scared me, gave me nightmares for years. I don't keep things from my kids, I am very open about scary things and how they aren't real. I find the actors and i show them pictures of them and what they really look like, they have always understood. It is also possible that this show exists for the same reason, to make the thought of ghosts not scary to a child. I realize that all parents have a different approach and I don't think either way is wrong, every parent knows their child. And if you know that your kid cannot handle those kinds of things, that they do have nightmares then by all means, protect them from it. When my oldest started spending time at her dad's she changed, she became scared of things she wasn't scared of before because he told her that the stuff she was watching was scary. I started having to approach things with her differently for a while until I was able to get her to understand it wasn't real again.

    I most definitely do not believe that this show is irresponsible or satanic, there are much worse shows/movies out there to pick on. I agree too that you cannot expect a tv show to explain things to your child.

    I don't think that it matters that the characters don't have a lot of depth. This show is geared towards children, they don't need a really deep character. If it was for adults then I would agree, but who cares. The kids like the magic stuff and I've watched a few episodes I actually like it. The characters do have some depth, they're not all that flat. I am curious as to how they died too, but I guess I can see why they wouldn't want to go into that, how they wouldn't want the children to focus on how it happened that would be too far I think.

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  8. Found this from googling how they died.

    I think the biggest thing to worry about it the misrepresentation of ghosts in the show.

    If you don't believe in them, good for you, but personally, I believe that there are more things out there than just humans and just like people, ghost aren't always going to be your friend.

    I think if they are going to do a show like this, they also have to address death, the dangers of playing with something or someone unknown, and what death really is.

    I know they are kids, but death isn't something to take lightly. It's someone's life ending and making jokes about it isnt cool.

    And to address the anon who brought up ghost busters, for my point only I will say they fought them. The ghosts weren't making jokes and being silly, they were evil.

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  9. how is nickolodean responsible for your own kids?

    i have a channel blocker and my kids know they cant watch TV unless they ask. mostly they prefer to play outside. TV is for that hour after dinner and before bed when its too dark to play outside.

    i watch every show first, if i dont like it, i dont let my kids watch it. they are 3 and 5. when they get old enough to start asking to watch particular programs thats a whole new ball game

    but i dont blame or say networks should be responsible for what my kids learn. that's my job.

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  10. Wow, you people are weirdos. What freakshow overanalyzes kid's shows like this? What's next, are you people going to ask how Casper died? Are you going to say that Casper's Satanic and gives the false impression that ghosts- WHICH ARE NOT REAL AND IF YOU BELIEVE OTHERWISE, I GOT A BRIDGE IN BROOKLYN TO SELL YOU- are all harmless and friendly?

    You people seriously need to get a life. Then later lose said life, come back as a ghost, and be bothered forever by people who keep asking how you died while completely ignoring the fact that you're making the walls bleed with the horrible powers you gained by shedding your corporeal form.

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    1. Of course, it's that kind of thinking that it's just a "kid's show" that leads to crap entertainment for children. There are kid's shows that do try to be more than just that and appeal to a broader audience and doesn't dumb itself down. See: Adventure Time.

      As for Casper, your acting like that didn't have exactly the same controversy when it came out. Because it actually did. The 1995 movie also accounts for how he died.

      I'm not saying Casper's satanic or this show is demonic. Some commentators are but that's based on their religious beliefs and I for one am not going to disrespect them by making fun of them for it. If they have moral problems with the show, that's their right. I personally don't.

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  11. I asked my 9 year old grandson how they died? I think only adults want to know. He said "they just did" when I pushed it He said "they just did, accept it." Smart kid. I think they died in a heater accident carbon monoxide poisoning. I also think Max and Ruby parents were run over by a lawn mower. but I don't tell the grandchildren this. Yes I'm a weirdo, like the person a post ago said.
    And proud of it.






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