Anthony Strack (Anthony Perkins) is a widower and a prolific horror story writer. He was recently married to the much younger Elizabeth (Leigh Taylor-Young). Elizabeth has a young daughter, Cindy (Juliet Sorci). Anthony has a creepy teenage son, Edgar (Joshua John Miller). The equally strange housekeeper is Miss Blasko (Pam Matteson). The new blended family lives in Anthony’s spooky mansion. They have been going through a tumultuous adjustment period.
Elizabeth learns that the first Mrs. Strack died ten years ago that very night. She had fallen down a flight of stairs and broke her neck. Her portrait still hangs above the fireplace. Upset that the first Mrs. Strack’s portrait is still prominently shown, Elizabeth wants it removed. Anthony balks at the idea. He believes that when a person dies unexpectedly their spirit remains. He believes that removing the picture would upset the spirit.
Elizabeth disconcerted that Anthony is so caught up in what she believes as superstition and wanting to assert her dominance as the new mistress of the manor, removes the portrait of Judith. As soon as she does, Judith returns from the dead.
“The Ghost Writer” was released in 1990. It is an unsold pilot that featured Anthony Perkins and Leigh Taylor-Young. The only version I could find was a work print. ABC intended to use it as a midseason replacement but that never materialized. The pilot, created by Alan Spencer, was shot in 1988 by Roger Corman’s “New World Television”. ABC sold the pilot to Fox who aired it in 1990.
It is your basic sitcom with canned laughter. The jokes are corny, campy and mostly puns, but delivered with Perkins’ slightly quirky style. I am an Anthony Perkins fan, but I can understand why the series was never picked up. Still, when you compare it to some of the other sitcoms that did get sold, this one was better than a lot of them. Had the cast been able to get comfortable with their roles, and had the jokes gotten better, it could have had a following.
Even if the series had found a buyer it wouldn’t have been on the air very long. Perkins died in 1992 of AIDS related pneumonia.
A young Larry Wilmore has a bit part as a paramedic.