The Haunted Hathaways - Series Premiere - Recap: Pilot
Recap and review of The Haunted Hathaways – Episode 1- Series Premiere – Pilot:
The Haunted Hathaways tells the story of a single mother and her two daughters (the Hathaways) who move into a home occupied by three ghosts - a single father and his two sons (The Prestons). The pilot sees the ghosts wanting to scare the new family out of the house, with the exception of the oldest ghost son Miles, who wants to forge a friendship with the oldest Hathaway daughter. The younger ghost son Louie is a scarer while the younger Hathaway daughter laughs at it all.
Led by awesome acting and big character development already - this show is a must see. A seemingly Nick take on Wizards of Waverly Place, read the recap & review to see which one I like better already! Nickelodeon needs this to break big (Sam & Cat is the only gem) and it has the potential to do so. I'm already heavily intrigued by the Miles Preston character and his portrayer, Curtis Harris. But that's enough, check it out!
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The Haunted Hathaways - Season Premiere - Recap and Review: Pilot
The episode begins with the Hathaways arriving at their new home in New Orleans, which looks very mystical and has cobwebs everywhere. A jazz portait of men begins staring at them as they walk in. The younger daughter, Frankie (Breanna Yde), really loves it, but the older, Taylor (Amber Montana) is freaked out - especially when she sees a chair moving by itself. Then they see a cat and Michelle (Ginfer King), their mom, is spooked as well. Taylor complains about having loads of friends and being a popular gymnast and now being the new kid. She then hears a weird noise, while Frankie cracks a joke about lasgna she ate. This girl is perfect for comic relief!
A boy then pops out and then his head falls off. He tries to spook Frankie by saying move, but she doesn't scream and move like Taylor did, saying that he is awesome! Louie (Benjamin Flores, Jr.) introduces himself to her but then says no introductions, he's just there to spook them out of the house. He tries to turn into something to scare her but ends up turning into a princess. Frankie calls him adorable but he says he's supposed to be mean and scary! He then uses the wand and disappears.
The Haunted Hathaways - Season Premiere - Recap and Review: Pilot
He travles back up to the attic, where the father, Ray (Chico Benymon) and his older brother Miles (Curtis Harris) are preparing to welcome the family. Louie says that the girl he met downstairs isn't afraid of them. Ray says that they will find a way to scare them. Miles said they should stop acting like ghosts and act like hosts! Louie then sucks him into a vaccum. Ray pulls him out and Miles explains he hasn't had someone his own age to hang out with and it would be nice. Louie says that ghosts are not nice and he wants to take the lead to scare these women out!
Taylor drags Michele back into the living room and asks Frankie where the ghost is. Frankie says that she doesn't know what she's talking about. Michelle thinks that Taylor is getting back at her for moving and she goes on a dramatic rant, which seems to be typical, as they expect waterworks. Taylor apologizes and says she probably just saw something since it was dark and Michelle says they need to get some sleep as they have a bakery to open tomorrow. She says there is ntohing to be afraid of before she sees herself win the mirror with mascara running and scares herself!
In their bakery, named Pie Squared, Taylor is practicing gymnastic moves and Michelle tells her to clean the tables. A girl stops in and compliments Taylor on the move she just did and intoduces herself as Lily. Lily invites her to be on the middle school's gymnastics team and she decides to go to practice later on that day. Taylor backflips into the kitchen to tell Michelle about it. Miles then pops out of nowhere. However, he doesn't want to scare her and tells her he's a good ghost! He tells her he's into journaling, badgammon, and dancing.
The Haunted Hathaways - Season Premiere - Recap and Review: Pilot
Taylor runs out to go tell Michelle that she knew the house was haunted before Clay Bannister, a food critic walks in. She is concerned with getting a good review and goes to grab a pie sample, not listening to anything Taylor said. Louie then pops up to go scare Clay but he is interrupted by Frankie. Louie informs her than only people who live in the house can see them. Frankie wants to give him scare tips, but he's not interested. He is then scared by a clown that pops up out of a cake, then he disappears. Louie and Ray pop up as heads on the wall and Louie apologizes for not being good, but then Ray tells Miles to watch him in action. Ray then enters Clay's body and starts acting like a chicken and tries to scare Michelle. Taylor tells her that he is possessed and this has to be something to do with the ghosts in the house!
The Haunted Hathaways - Season Premiere - Recap and Review: Pilot
Michelle says that no one scares off a food critic and gets away with it! They then go upstairs and see the ghosts! Frankie tries to greet Louie but he's not up for it. Miles tries to clear the air and says they should do introductions. Ray says the introductions don't matter because the Hathaways need to move out soon! Michelle says that Ray and his kids have 20 minutes to get out. They go downstairs and then Ray turns the living room into a blizzard. She then calls a ghost exterminator over. The woman does some stuff to get rid of them and then Frankie says if she's the babysitter, she needs references! This girl is funny! Taylor wants the exterminator out before Lily and the other girls come over.
The Haunted Hathaways - Season Premiere - Recap and Review: Pilot
She goes down to the kitchen and then Miles pops out, and wants to challenge her to ping pong. Taylor says she has a change to make actual friends and discourages talking to him. Miles then wants to help out for what his family did and cleans up the bakery. Taylor slips and falls and gets icing on her nose and hair. The girls are outside so he conj
Ray and Louie come downstairs to the living room and laugh at the "fake" ghost exterminator. However, when they try to walk through a wall, they can't! Back in the bakery, Lily comes in with the rest of the team while Taylor's hair is a mess. They can hear the ghost exterminator so Taylor talks louder to drown it out and offers them lemonade. When taking them the lemonade, she slips and falls again, and Miles pops out and apologizes. The other girls want to leave, and Lily says she'll see her at school. Miles then locks the door, gets inside Taylor's body and does the flip. The girls are excited at what she did and Lily says she has to come to the gym with them tomorrow! Miles apologizes to her but Taylor thanks him and says he saved everything for her. He says he knows how it feels to want a friend, and that is been a while since he's had one. Taylor says that they can be friends, but he begins dissolving and disappears.
He travels to the living room where the ghost exterminator is in the process of getting rid of them. Frankie tries to stop it but Michelle says they need to be gone. Taylor then runs up stairs and tries to convince Michelle to save them. Ray and Louie say they will do anything and Michelle tells the ghost exterminator to shut it down. The ghosts are happy. Michelle says she has no clue how the two familes could live in one house but they are willing to try and Ray agrees. Louie says they could do that "for now" Michelle gets spooked.
The Haunted Hathaways - Season Premiere - Recap and Review: PilotThe two families have dinner and Miles says they should go around the room and do introductions, before Louie makes the turkey in the middle of the table dance. Taylor says maybe this isn't a good idea while Frankie and the Prestons begin dancing!
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I can't get across how much I loved this episode tonight! This is an awesome family show, and already they are developing these characters - especially Curtis Harris' Miles and Breanna Yde's Frankie who are my two favorite characters now, and have distinct personalities. I also love Michelle (Ginifer King) as the "determined good mother." Heck, all the characters are great, and their actors are doing a fine job as well. This show is just loads of fun, and the haunted ghost aspect makes all of this even better. With the exception of Sam & Cat, Nickelodeon is lacking in the live-action department as seen by all the recent cancellations over start-up series and the ending of juggernatus iCarly and Victorious. The Haunted Hathways definitely needs to be the show that helps S&C give them much needed life! The show feels eerily similar to Wizards of Waverly Place, but this early in the game I'm willing to say I like this show a lot better than Wizards, but as The A.V. Club points out they don't gave a Selena Gomez big star lead, but I think they all can pull this off. By the way, the A.V. Club wrote and awesome review of the show as well, check that out!