One of my newest favorite shows this year is Ghosts on CBS. It wrapped up its first season in April as TV’s top new comedy and has been renewed for Season 2. To celebrate these achievements, CBS launched a “Summer of Ghosts” marketing campaign which honors each character from the show with their own “to die for” activation. For San Diego Comic Con, they brought “Pete’s Friend Zone,” honoring the upbeat Pinecone Trooper scout leader who met his demise from an unfortunate archery accident. Since I could only attend San Diego Comic Con on Friday, I missed the Thursday panel with the full cast so seeing this activation was a top priority.
“Pete’s Friend Zone” was set up at the Interactive Zone in Petco Park to resemble a campsite on “the lawn” of the show’s Woodstone Mansion. Upon walking in, I was greeted by a friendly trooper and handed a pamphlet that contained a map of the area. At the front entrance was also a “Welcome Center” if you had any questions. From there, you could make your way to the various stations which each had their own queue lines.
I started off at the Tarot tent. A group of five of us were brought in and seated around a table with a card reader. Each person took turns drawing a card and would then receive a personal reading. If the card you drew had a character on it, you got an extra merit badge (mine had several of them!)
At first, I thought the badges were cool freebie items you could keep. Unfortunately, they were not. BUT! They did go towards getting cool swag items you could keep. At each station (minus the refreshments), you had an opportunity to earn these badges. When you were ready, you could then take your badges to the Badge Redemption booth to redeem them for things such as mugs, bandanas, whistles, sunscreen, and even your own arrow through the neck!
The palm and crystal readers had really long lines so I went to the opposite side towards the Archery. If you hit the target, you got 2 badges – anything else, you still got one for trying. I tried twice but no bullseye for me – definitely harder than it looks!
Next, I went to the Photo Booth which had a couch set up against a green screen. After you took the picture, you could send it to yourself. For each social media platform you posted the photo on, you got one badge.
I went back to the merged crystal/palm reader line, and got some sweet tea from the Refreshment Station while I waited. When it was my turn, the Crystal Reader had me close my eyes and hover my hand over one of the crystals. She then told me I had a “big move” coming up. I don’t really plan on leaving Los Angeles anytime soon… but you never know.
When I was finally ready to turn in my badges, I went to the Badge Redemption station. After much back and forth, I went the practical route and decided on the bandana and bottle of sunscreen. The camping mug was very tempting, but I had forgotten my sunscreen that day and needed all the protection I could get! Spoiler alert, it was too late, and I still got the worst farmer’s tan XD
My Thoughts
I was super impressed by the whole activation! By far, the best thing in the entire Interactive Zone. I loved the variety of things to do, that there were refreshments, and the whole redeeming merit badges for swag idea. Also, every single person working the activation was SO kind and friendly. I was on my own and everyone was more than happy to help me out with photos and talk about the show with me.
The new season of Ghosts premieres Thursday, September 29th at 8:30pm on CBS. In the meantime, you can watch the entire first season on Paramount+.
*While I am employed by CBS, this post is not sponsored in any way.
