On paper FOX’s new comedy Ghosted *should* be a slam dunk. It stars two proven comedic talents in Adam Scott and Craig Robinson, has an interesting and fairly original premise and seems willing to spend some money on its special effects. Theoretically, this show should be awesome.

Unfortunately, it’s not. Or at least, it’s not yet. Despite all the things Ghosted has going for it, the series’ pilot episode flounders quite a bit, struggling under the weight of a mountain of set-up, awkward exposition and generally pointless shouting.

All is not necessarily lost, however. There’s plenty of room for the series to grow – and there’s nothing out there like it right now, so that’s a plus.

Have you ever wondered what a comedic version of The X-Files might look like? Well, that’s Ghosted in a nutshell. Scott plays Max Jennifer, a nerdy genius (he’s actually a former astrophysicist) who believes his wife was abducted by aliens. And Robinson plays Leroy Wright, a skeptical former detective best known for his work on missing person cases. Put them together and what do you got? A Mulder and Scully for the modern era, but who drop way more funny one-liners.

The two men are brought together thanks to the mysterious Bureau Underground, a secret government agency that monitors paranormal activity. One of their agents has gone missing, and his last video transmission to home base specifically told his superiors to look for these two men. Why? How does he even know these people? Well, the episode never really goes into all that, so maybe we’ll get to it later. Or maybe we won’t because this also doesn’t necessarily seem like the kind of show that’s going to worry much about things like continuity. After all, why did the shady government agency chose to kidnap two grown men in order to convince them to help out with their clandestine investigation instead of just, you know, asking? Shrug emoji, I guess.

But, in all honesty, it doesn’t even matter that much. The actual plot of this episode is all about putting the pieces into place for the rest of the season, and if those future installments work out, we probably won’t remember what happened here. “Pilot” largely serves as a vehicle to introduce us to our two leads, tease the general oddballs working at the Bureau Underground and show off some fancy CGI that proves aliens and the paranormal are real. We eventually find the bureau’s missing agent again, just in time to see him lifted, bodily, into an alien spacecraft. Max and Leroy vow to keep working at the Bureau and figure out what everything they’ve experienced means.

Set-up aside, the best parts of the pilot are scenes that have nothing to do with alien hunting in the strictest sense. The moments in which Leroy and Max are sleuthing, staking-out buildings or pretending to be copy machine repairmen bring the biggest laughs, and the two actors have an instant, natural chemistry with one another. Their banter is easy, believable, and consistently funny – Scott’s earnest nerdishness is a great foil for Robinson’s dry and cynical wit. Whether it’s watching Max try to explain the concept of the multiverse using multiple Kevin Spaceys or Leroy attempting to ignore his partner by belting the lyrics to Steve Winwood’s “Higher Love” in his face, their dorky odd couple vibe is charming.

In fact, the entire series has an ‘80s sort of feel that really works for it. In many ways, it mirrors the popular action comedies from back then, and I don’t think it’s an accident that the musical cues are all straight out of films like Ghostbusters or Beverly Hills Cop. Seeing how well that ’80s tic worked for shows like Stranger Things, it’s something I think Ghosted should definitely lean further into in future.

After all, the show works best when it’s not taking itself too seriously, and it should probably just accept early on that most of its viewers will tune in for the laughs and not its thoughts on extraterrestrials or alternate realities. Let me put it this way, I’m not entirely sure that I care why an alien-possessed body can detach its head and run around screaming, in the strictest sense. I care about whether I laugh about how these guys react to that scenario.

So, is Ghosted worth watching? Maybe. It’s probably worth at least having a look at the series’ second episode. Because it’s difficult to tell whether the show is going to be good from this first installment.

First, this is a pilot, and those are usually not necessarily the best barometer of what a show can become. There’s too much initial exposition baked into even the most regular of sitcoms – and Ghosted comes with a pretty large set-up to explain. It doesn’t have a lot of room to do much else in this episode. And second, it’s clear that the show doesn’t entirely know what it wants to be just yet. It’s technically a comedy, but it also seems to want to be a mystery and a thriller at various moments.The show doesn’t necessarily have to pick a single lane going forward, and maybe it’s actually for the best if it doesn’t, but it’s going to have to get better at finding a balance between all these things.

Will Ghosted get better? It’s possible, even likely. Scott and Robinson have the makings of a fantastic comedic duo. We’ve seen both of these men be funny on other properties. Heck, we’ve even seen Robinson in a buddy cop comedy already – every time he guest starred on FOX’s Brooklyn 99. These two could do great things together. Ghosted just has to give them some material that’s worthy of their talent.

To borrow a phrase from a different, but clearly related show: I want to believe. But we’ll just have to see how it goes.

Season 1, Episode 1 (S01E01)

Ghosted airs Sundays at 830PM on Fox.

Read all of our reviews of Ghosted here.

Read our reviews of more of your favorite shows here.

Lacy is a digital strategist by day and a writer because it seemed like a good start to her supervillain origin story. Favorite things include: Sansa Stark, British period dramas, and that leather duster that Aeryn Sun wears in Farscape.

Follow Lacy on Twitter: @LacyMB

Keep up with all of Lacy’s reviews here.

Lacy Baugher | Contributor