CBS steps into the unknown with 'Ghosts,' and back to the familiar with 'CSI'

(CNN)CBS takes 1 measurement into the chartless and different into the comfortableness of the past this week, which is astir arsenic adventurous arsenic 1 tin expect risk-averse broadcasters to beryllium these days. "Ghosts," a mildly amusing comedy, tries to bring immoderate caller beingness to network's Thursday drama lineup, portion "CSI: Vegas" combines aged and caller faces astir its acquainted chalk outlines.

The premise successful "Ghosts" is reasonably simple, arsenic a young mates (Rose McIver, Utkarsh Ambudkar) inherit an aged location from the wife's deceased large aunt, 1 inhabited by a fig of ghosts from antithetic eras, depending connected erstwhile they died. Unable to leave, they're excited astir perchance having immoderate caller humor around, with 1 asking, "Whose beingness are you guys hoping to ticker next?"

The eccentric residents see a '60s hippie (Sheila Carrasco), an 11th-century Viking (Devon Chandler Long), a Native-American from the 1500s ((Román Zaragoza), and a foppish Revolutionary War militiaman (Brandon Scott Jones), who, among different things, is aghast to perceive that one-time rival Alexander Hamilton's sanction has go much celebrated than his.

Adapted from a BBC bid (creativity successful Hollywood lone goes truthful far), the unusual premix of characters yields a just magnitude of hit-miss gags and movie callbacks. One of the ghosts, for illustration -- a stock-broker bro (Asher Grodman) who died without his pants -- tin physically determination objects, barely, successful a motion to Patrick Swayze's quality successful the singular movie "Ghost."

Still, the question of whether the radical and spirits tin larn to coexist has an age-old prime to it, with the disclaimer that the premise creates immoderate limits connected wherever this conception tin go, and doesn't needfully bode good for however it's going to age.