Season 2 of CBS’ popular new sitcom “Ghosts” is set to begin production this month, and the cast is raring to go. As Danielle Pinnock puts it, it’s like returning to “summer camp.”
“It’s gonna be so fun,” she told TheWrap. “I cannot wait for what they have in store for us.”
Like the rest of us, Pinnock is expecting Season 2 to dive even deeper into the pasts of the ensemble of ghosts at the center of the story. She’d especially like to learn more about her character Alberta, a Prohibition-era lounge singer from Tulsa.
“She is a rough and tumble kind of girl. She’s been through a lot,” Pinnock said. “Not only is she a jazz singer, she had probably a murderous bootlegger boyfriend. There was something I was just actually watching recently where she was talking about like Fats McGinty putting somebody in a vat of acid. Like, what is this lady going through? She’s a badass.”
Those one-off remarks we heard in Season 1 give plenty of room for more exploration in Season 2, Pinnock contends. She adds: “Who are these bootlegger boyfriends? Because it seems like it’s a few and I’m like, ‘Go off sis.’ To be like this really fierce plus size, badass I mean just being able to play her, it just feels so good.”
Pinnock landed the role of Alberta in 2020, when she, like the rest of the world, was “at home watching reruns of ‘Selling Sunset’ in my pajamas, baking bread.” After more than a decade of acting, this is her first series regular role.
“I just got to my knees and just bawled, because…20 years as a journeyman actor and finally being able to book that series regular dream role of a lifetime with an ensemble — it’s not even something that I prayed for. It’s something that I’ve been manifesting for years,” she said.
It’s no wonder she landed the part after, she explains, she went all out for her audition, which she filmed in her kitchen wearing a sparkling dress, a fur coat and a red cloche (not entirely a far cry from Alberta’s getup).
“I was like, ‘I think she needs a little pizzazz,’” she said. “I would never ever in the land of Neverland go off for a character like that. But I was like, you know, I’m at home in my kitchen doing this, so why not? The next day they call and they say, ‘We want to screen test you.’”
The rest is history, as they say. “Ghosts” has quickly become one of CBS’ most popular comedy series, consistently scoring in the key 18-49 demographic and drawing about 6 million live + same day viewers. It wasn’t a shock that the series was renewed for Season 2 before the first installment came to a close.
In Pinnock’s opinion, it’s no surprise that the series resonated with people of all ages, given the diverse portrait of history that it is painting.
“I think the reason that fans are really loving it is because they’re able to see themselves in the series,” she said. In addition to Alberta, the phantom crew includes a Revolutionary war soldier, a member of the Lenape tribe, a finance bro, and even a Viking.
She continued, “I think like a lot of times on TV you can have people of color in a show, and we’re really just decorations. We’re there to fit a quota, to say ‘Oh, we got the black girl.’ And that’s not what ‘Ghosts’ is at all…Everybody is striving to make sure that we all have a full life.”
They say that the best comedy tells a harsh truth. Pinnock thinks “Ghosts” is doing that too. In between laughs, “we don’t shy away from the racism of American history,” she said, adding that the racism of 1920s America is really showcased in Season 1 Episode 9, when we get a glimpse at Alberta’s past life.
“I think that’s what makes this show so special,” she continued. “Yes, it’s a comedy, but we also kind of hint at ‘Hey, there were some rough patches and still are things that we need to talk about and share.’”
Season 1 of “Ghosts” is streaming year-round on Paramount+. The series is expected to return to CBS’ comedy slate in the fall.