‘Not Dead Yet,’ ‘Ghosts,’ ‘Upload’ & More Shows Where the Dead Aren’t Gone for Good
Sometimes the dead makes for the best TV (and no, we’re not talking about murder victims in procedural dramas).
Just look at how popular Ghosts — already renewed for a third season — is for CBS, following a couple who inherits an estate and converts it into a B&B and the spirits inhabiting the place (only Rose McIver’s Sam can see them). Then there’s The Haunting of Hill House and Bly Manor on Netflix if you’re looking for something less comedic and a lot more spooky. And life continued after death on Dead Like Me and The Good Place.
Now, ABC is debuting a new comedy that also features those who have passed on, with Not Dead Yet on February 8. And so because of that, we’re taking a look below at the aforementioned shows and more where the dead aren’t gone for good.
American Horror Story
Unsurprisingly, given the show’s name, this anthology series (which premiered in 2011), has featured multiple seasons that fit this list, including Murder House, Coven, Hotel, and 1984. Available on Hulu
Boo, Bitch
A high school senior (Lana Condor), just as she’s aiming to live her best life, dies but finds it’s not quite over for her yet as she continues on as a ghost in this Netflix series from 2022. Available on Netflix
Dead Like Me
The 2000s dark dramedy on Showtime — there was also a follow-up movie in 2009 — followed grim reapers (Ellen Muth, Mandy Patinkin, Callum Blue, Jasmine Guy, Rebecca Gayheart, Laura Harris) who remove people’s souls, hopefully before they die, and escort them until they move on into their afterlife. Available on Roku
Deadbeat
In this ABC supernatural comedy, which premiered in 2014, Tyler Labine plays a medium who uses his ability to talk to the dead to make a living. Available on Hulu & CW Seed
Ghost Whisperer
For five seasons on CBS, this drama followed Melinda (Jennifer Love Hewitt), who could see and communicate with ghosts. She tried to balance living a normal life with helping those spirits resolve their problems and cross over into the spirit world. Available on Hulu
Ghosts
The CBS comedy premiered in 2021, and not only do we get to see Sam (McIver) and Jay (Utkarsh Ambudkar) managing their B&B, but we love following the spirits’ (Brandon Scott Jones, Richie Moriarty, Danielle Pinnock, Asher Grodman, Román Zaragoza, Sheila Carrasco, Rebecca Wisocky, Devan Chandler Long) lives as well, from how they died to their relationships now. Available on Paramount+
The Good Place
The NBC comedy, which premiered in 2016, showed that people can change after death, when Eleanor (Kristen Bell) met fellow deceased (William Jackson Harper, Jameela Jamil, Manny Jacinto) after she was told she was in the titular location. It was much more complicated than that. Available on Netflix
The Haunting of Hill House & The Haunting of Bly Manor
As the names of these Mike Flanagan series from 2018 and 2020 make clear, there are ghosts everywhere. Hill House followed siblings (Michiel Huisman, Elizabeth Reaser, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Kate Siegel, and Victoria Pedretti) forced back to the haunted house where they grew up, while Bly Manor saw a young governess (Pedretti) arrive at the titular property. Available on Netflix
The InBetween
In this one-season drama on NBC in 2019, Harriet Dyer plays a bartender with the ability to see the dead, which allows her to sometimes help the police (including her foster father, played by Paul Blackthorne) solve crimes.
iZombie
Ghosts isn’t McIver’s first time in a show about the dead, but in this CW series (which premiered in 2015), her character was the one no longer living like she used to. Rather, her medical student, after being turned into a zombie, worked at the coroner’s office and helped solve crimes by eating the brains of victims to see their memories. Available on Netflix
Medium
For five seasons on this NBC series, Patricia Arquette played a medium who consulted for a district attorney’s office; her character’s children inherited her ability to talk to the dead. Available on Paramount+
Not Dead Yet
In this upcoming ABC comedy, Gina Rodriguez plays a journalist who after starting to write obituaries as part of restarting her life begins to see the people of her column.
Pushing Daisies
In this 2000s fantasy drama on ABC, Lee Pace’s pie-maker can bring the dead back to life, but there are twists, including if he touches a person again, they die permanently. He uses his ability to help solve crimes … and to keep his childhood friend (Anna Friel) alive (again) after she dies. Available on HBO Max
Santa Clarita Diet
This three-season Netflix horror comedy, which premiered in 2017, follows a couple (Drew Barrymore, Timothy Olyphant) after she becomes a member of the undead with a craving for human flesh. Available on Netflix
Shining Vale
A writer (Courteney Cox) and her dysfunctional family (Greg Kinnear, Gus Birney, Dylan Gage) move to a house where Mira Sorvino is a ghost who ends up serving as her muse in this Starz series that premiered in 2022. Available on Starz
Upload
What if you could live on in a virtual afterlife after death? That’s the concept of this Prime Video series, which premiered in 2020, starring Robbie Amell as one such person who has been uploaded and Andy Allo as his “angel” in the afterlife. Available on Prime Video
