Ghosts of Monaco

Premise

Ghosts of Monaco is a long running mystery thriller television series featuring a large cast of recurring characters set in a Monaco detective agency, with the goal of solving murders before the victim's ghosts are sent to Limbo and thus go cold. The series is notable in that every episode that has a new victim will start by showing the victim shortly after their death, often in graphic detail, as most cases on the show are murders and homicides.

Reception

The series is critically acclaimed, and has run for 19 seasons, and potentially will for many more due to its massive following. The series' writing, characters, and story arcs are widely loved, and due to its massive amount of episodes with overarching storylines is well suited to find something for most mature audiences to enjoy. Horror and thriller fans of the series often praise the show for its well thought out action scenes and copious use of practical effects for victims' bodies and violence scenes, especially in season 5, which was reported to have used so much fake blood that some set pieces were permanently stained.
Ghosts of Monaco's main claim to fame is that it makes use of consulting actual members of Shia's Cult, giving the show an incredible amount of realism into the process of death, workings of ghosts, and few cartoonish depictions of the cult's members and their operations. Rather than depicting Shia's cult as evil or mean for taking away the dead, they are portrayed as simply doing their jobs in order to keep life and death in balance, no matter how harsh or upsetting it is for the living, often acting in tandem with detectives to solve cases. A notable instant in season 12 had an appearance from Shia, the God of Death on screen, played by Shia themselves. Though just a small scene during the Festival of Death, it was widely acclaimed for its realism and having the real death god present. Many minor gods have also made appearances on the show, often in passing or during festivities, though often played by actors and not by their real life counterparts.
A major plot point of season 7 made use of the Theory of Same Magic Origins of Spatial, Dimensional, Illusion, and Time Magic, in which the head detective, Luiza, gained the ability to use time, spatial, dimensional, and illusion magic, using all to gather more evidence, ethically or not, to solve her murder cases and convict their killers. This plot was at first not widely received well and divided the show's fanbase, with many claiming that it went against the well established morals of Luiza's character with how often she was not only breaking the law, but unlawfully gathering evidence and invading the privacy of other characters often for little gain. Season 8 continued this plot with a new major plot, centering around investigations into Luiza's conduct in the workplace, satiating many fans with the realistic consequences of her actions, while some fans remained unsatisfied that the new arc had largely replaced the mystery elements and crime solving. Season 8's ending shocked fans world wide with its ending, when one of the suspected killers, who had been released due to the questionably gathered evidence, killed Luiza following her suspension.
Season 9 began with shifting the series' main character to Luiza's partner, Erik, seeking to solve her murder alongside her ghost, now played by one of the series' many background actors, due to being in costume for all scenes. Luiza's character still occasionally reappears in flashback sequences that are often reshot, still making use of Luzia's original actress. While many fans remain upset at Luiza's death, solving her murder becoming the main plot, alongside many side plots involving her ghost avoiding going to Limbo, has become a fan favorite direction to keep the show going.

Notable Episodes

S01 E1- Pilot, part 1

A plane mysteriously crashes outside of Monaco, with few clues to its cause. While the majority of the victim's ghosts have already gone to Limbo and are accounted for, the ghost of the pilot can't be found, and the Cult of Death has no record of them manifesting, suggesting that she may never have been on the plane in the first place.

The pilot episode of the series set up the entire show with its format and stunned viewers in its brutality, realism, and use of real members of Shia's Cult. Although initial viewership was low, the re-run of the pilot on the show's second week received massive viewership through word of mouth.
S02 E19- Lockers

Detective Luiza is called to a seemingly normal case of a slip and fall, however on arriving on scene, not all evidence points to a simple case of a wet floor. The victim's ghost, a four time gold medalist, flees the scene when Luiza arrives before she can be questioned.

The episode received critical acclaimed due to being based on a real murder case, that of Sophia Murkunbough, who was killed in her gym's locker room by her coach following a knee injury for not performing up to expectations. The original case was originally dropped due to pressure from sporting organizations and Sophia's coach until it was later revealed he had manipulated Sophia's assets and winnings from the previous season to go to himself and his family, and that he had been siphoning her funds for years. The Murkunbough family worked in tandem with the Ghosts of Monaco team to bring new light and interest to Sophia's case and the disastrous legal battle that had left them publically shamed and ridiculed for nearly a decade. According to the family, the scene of the show's victim's ghost, Lydia, scratching 'I didn't slip- Coach' into the interrogation room's table was based on actual recordings of Sophia's ghost. Following the episode's release, the Running League of Monte Carlo issued a formal apology and reinstated Sophia's rank most-humorously.

Spin-Offs

The spin off series, Ghosts of Laramidia, is a more comedy centric version of the original series, set in Nevada. While the series does follow the same premise, it is much lighter in tone and skips the notable opening sequence in which every episode of the main series starts showing the victim shortly after their death and transitioning to the interrogation room and theory board. It is thought that the grim and brutal opening of the original series was skipped in order to keep ratings down, allowing the show to air on more networks earlier in the day. Ghosts of Laramidia also often makes much more use of the 'road trip' style of show, with less overarching plot and a more 'villain of the week' premise. It has much more outright comedy and much more lighthearted jokes, often at the detectives' expense, often from the victims themselves and their frustrations in communicating.
There are several mystery game spin offs, such as board games, card games, and video games, though most often fail to draw large audiences, most being a novelty to the main series' fans.