''The Ghost Busters'' is a live-action children's

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ne ...

that ran on

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

in 1975, about a team of bumbling detectives who investigate ghostly occurrences. Fifteen episodes were produced. The show reunited

Forrest Tucker Forrest Meredith Tucker (February 12, 1919 – October 25, 1986) was an American actor in both movies and television who appeared in nearly a hundred films. Tucker worked as a vaudeville straight man at the age of fifteen. A mentor provided fund ...

and

Larry Storch Lawrence Samuel Storch (January 8, 1923 – July 8, 2022) was an American actor and comedian best known for his comic television roles, including voice-over work for cartoon shows such as Mr. Whoopee on ''Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales'' and hi ...

in roles similar to their characters in ''

F Troop ''F Troop'' is a satirical American television sitcom Western about U.S. soldiers and Native Americans in the Wild West during the 1860s that originally aired for two seasons on ABC. It debuted in the United States on September 14, 1965, and c ...

''. The series is unrelated to the 1984 film ''

Ghostbusters ''Ghostbusters'' is a 1984 American Supernatural fiction, supernatural comedy film directed and produced by Ivan Reitman, and written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis. It stars Bill Murray, Aykroyd, and Ramis as Peter Venkman, Ray Stantz, and ...

'' (although

Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the mu ...

did pay

Filmation Filmation Associates was an American production company that produced animation and live-action programming for television from 1963 until 1989. Located in Reseda, California, the animation studio was founded in 1962. Filmation's founders and pr ...

a significant fee for a license to use the name). Like the film, the series spawned its own animated sequel in 1986. The series utilizes

slapstick Slapstick is a style of humor involving exaggerated physical activity that exceeds the boundaries of normal physical comedy. Slapstick may involve both intentional violence and violence by mishap, often resulting from inept use of props such a ...

, with scenes centered on the perpetual bumbling of the characters, good and evil alike. The series also makes references to classic cinema; the names "Spencer" and "Tracy" were taken from the actor

Spencer Tracy Spencer Bonaventure Tracy (April 5, 1900 – June 10, 1967) was an American actor. He was known for his natural performing style and versatility. One of the major stars of Hollywood's Golden Age, Tracy was the first actor to win two cons ...

, while the name Kong – not given to the gorilla – was a clear homage to

King Kong King Kong is a fictional giant monster resembling a gorilla, who has appeared in various media since 1933. He has been dubbed The Eighth Wonder of the World, a phrase commonly used within the franchise. His first appearance was in the novelizat ...

Premise

Spencer, Tracy, and Kong billed themselves as "The Ghost Busters", bumbling paranormal detectives. Kong (Tucker) was the leader of the trio with Spencer (Storch) as his partner, and Tracy (a gorilla, played by Burns) as their assistant who also drove their barely-functional jalopy. Their headquarters was situated in a run down office building in an unspecified city (Spencer's name on the door was misspelled "Spenser" while the opening credits spelled his name "Spencer"). Outside of normal office equipment, plus a large armoire on which Tracy hung numerous hats including his trademark

beanie Beanie may refer to: Headgear * Beanie (seamed cap), in parts of North America, a cap made from cloth often joined by a button at the crown and seamed together around the sides * Beanie, a knit cap, in Britain, Australia, South Africa and parts of ...

with a propeller, the office itself was also dilapidated, with peeling wallpaper and a

pay phone A payphone (alternative spelling: pay phone) is typically a coin-operated public telephone, often located in a telephone booth or in high-traffic outdoor areas, with prepayment by inserting money (usually coins) or by billing a credit or debi ...

near the door as the Ghost Busters' only means of communicating with prospective clients. Each episode consisted of the same formula: in the pre-credits teaser, a ghost or monster (usually accompanied by a half-witted sidekick), would manifest and vow to wreak havoc or vengeance on a particular person, the city, or even the world. After the credits, Kong would send Tracy and Spencer to a general store to get their next assignment from the unseen "Zero" (Scheimer). The tape-recorded message was usually hidden inside an everyday object such as a

bicycle A bicycle, also called a pedal cycle, bike or cycle, is a human-powered or motor-powered assisted, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, having two wheels attached to a frame, one behind the other. A is called a cyclist, or bicyclist. Bic ...

typewriter A typewriter is a mechanical or electromechanical machine for typing characters. Typically, a typewriter has an array of keys, and each one causes a different single character to be produced on paper by striking an inked ribbon selectivel ...

, or

toy A toy or plaything is an object that is used primarily to provide entertainment. Simple examples include toy blocks, board games, and dolls. Toys are often designed for use by children, although many are designed specifically for adults and pet ...

. In a parodic homage to '' Mission: Impossible'', the recording would end with Zero saying, "This message will self-destruct in five seconds"; after Tracy counted down the seconds, the message (and often the item in which it was hidden) would explode in Tracy's face. The Ghost Busters' assignments would invariably take them to the same place, a spooky castle with an adjoining graveyard on the city's outskirts (Kong would point out that the castle was the only one in or near the city), and after a series of farcical chases, the ghouls would be cornered and dispatched back to the netherworld by a "Ghost De-Materializer", usually activated by Kong as he triumphantly shouted "Zap!"

Ghosts and monsters

The show frequently made use of ghostly characters and other characters from popular and literary culture, as well as real-life historical figures. These included: * Dr. Frankenstein and his monster * A

Mummy A mummy is a dead human or an animal whose soft tissues and organs have been preserved by either intentional or accidental exposure to chemicals, extreme cold, very low humidity, or lack of air, so that the recovered body does not decay fu ...

The Red Baron Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen (; 2 May 1892 – 21 April 1918), known in English as Baron von Richthofen or the Red Baron, was a fighter pilot with the German Air Force during World War I. He is considered the ace-of-aces of t ...

The Canterville Ghost "The Canterville Ghost" is a humorous short story by Oscar Wilde. It was the first of Wilde's stories to be published, appearing in two parts in '' The Court and Society Review'', 23 February and 2 March 1887. The story is about an American fa ...

Count Dracula Count Dracula () is the title character of Bram Stoker's 1897 gothic horror novel '' Dracula''. He is considered to be both the prototypical and the archetypal vampire in subsequent works of fiction. Aspects of the character are believed by som ...

Billy the Kid Billy the Kid (born Henry McCarty; September 17 or November 23, 1859July 14, 1881), also known by the pseudonym William H. Bonney, was an outlaw and gunfighter of the American Old West, who killed eight men before he was shot and killed at t ...

Belle Starr Myra Maybelle Shirley Reed Starr (February 5, 1848 – February 3, 1889), better known as Belle Starr, was an American outlaw who gained national notoriety after her violent death. She associated with the James–Younger Gang and other outlaws ...

* The captain and first mate of the ''

Flying Dutchman The ''Flying Dutchman'' ( nl, De Vliegende Hollander) is a legendary ghost ship, allegedly never able to make port, but doomed to sail the seven seas forever. The myth is likely to have originated from the 17th-century Golden Age of the Du ...

Regular cast

as Jake Kong *

as Eddie Spencer * Bob Burns as Tracy (credited as the gorilla's "trainer") *

Lou Scheimer Louis Scheimer (October 19, 1928 – October 17, 2013) was an American producer and voice actor who was one of the original founders of Filmation. He was also credited as an executive producer of many of its cartoons. Early life and education ...

as the voice of Zero

Production

In an interview conducted with Bob Burns III in 2007, he revealed that all 15 episodes were taped in a span of 9 weeks, every other day. Burns also revealed that the show did well enough in the ratings to warrant a second season, coming in at number two behind '' The Shazam!/ISIS Hour'', but Filmation decided instead to put more money into its number-one program, thus canceling the show after one season. Though the series ended, reruns were broadcast for some time afterward. Burns stated that it was rumored that the master tapes of all 15 episodes had been destroyed after having changed hands a few times. Fortunately, this rumor was put to rest when a full set of the master tapes (or copies) was re-discovered, and subsequently released on DVD.

Sequel

In 1986, after the success of the Columbia ''Ghostbusters'' film, the show was revived in animated format with Kong and Spencer's sons, Jake and Eddie Jr., inheriting their fathers' business (and Tracy the Gorilla) in ''

''. Kong's first name was never mentioned in the original series. Spencer is named as Eddie in the second episode, "Dr. Whatsisname".

Home media

BCI Eclipse LLC (under its Ink & Paint classic animation entertainment label) (under license from

Entertainment Rights PLC Entertainment Rights PLC (formally known as Sleepy Kids) was a British multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate that specialized in TV-shows and cartoons, children’s media, films, and distribution. In May 2009, the company was ...

) released the entire series on DVD in Region 1 on April 17, 2007. This 2-Disc DVD boxset contains all 15 episodes from the original 1975 live-action series, uncut, re-mastered and transferred from the original broadcast videotapes, and presented in their original production order. It also contains extensive special features including interviews, photo galleries, rare footage and trailers from BCI's Ink & Paint brand. In addition, unlike many of BCI Ink & Paint's other Filmation releases, this DVD set appears to have been sourced from the original

NTSC The first American standard for analog television broadcast was developed by National Television System Committee (NTSC)National Television System Committee (1951–1953), Report and Reports of Panel No. 11, 11-A, 12–19, with Some supplement ...

videotapes (the show having been recorded on tape rather than shot on film). Prior to this, there were at least three VHS tapes released by Continental Video during the 1980s. These are now extremely hard to find. The show was billed as ''The Original Ghostbusters''. Australia received the complete series on DVD in a two-disc set on July 11, 2016. As of 2009, this release has been discontinued and is out of print as BCI Eclipse has ceased operations. Mill Creek Entertainment announced the re-release of the series on DVD.

Episodes

References

External links

*
The Ghost Busters @ 70slivekidvid.com

Screencrush review of ''The Ghost Busters''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ghost Busters, The 1970s American sitcoms 1970s American children's television series CBS original programming 1975 American television series debuts 1976 American television series endings American children's television sitcoms Television series by Filmation Television series about ghosts Occult detective fiction Ghostbusters