Ghost Whisperer

When I first heard of this show I thought it would be the most ridiculous thing ever. But I have this habit of disliking really good shows at first. The thing about it that caught my eye and made me want to watch it was the theme song; the imagery was fascinating and the song was slightly haunting. Appropriate, I thought.

The show is about a woman who can communicate with spirits. She lives with her husband and owns an antique shop. I loved the idea that it was a husband and wife show -- there are so few of those. It's sweet.

I highly recommend this to someone who doesn't mind some extremely sappy moments, wants a little mystery, and is looking for a really cool theme song!

I am not a sappy person, nor do i like chick flicks.

Let me tell you, I REALLY liked this show. I cried 3 times from the touching scenes. Not TOUCHING scenes, emotional ones...what were you thinking? Give it a chance...J. Love is a decent actress who has had some stinker movies, but we've all got to pay the bills. Ladies, if ANYTHING watch it for the husband...

I was surprised to see Aisha Tyler in this show, and for the tiny amount of time she was in it, I thought she was very good.

The pilot was a little shallow in that they wanted to give you as much information as possible, but some areas need to be fleshed out. Give it a chance.

I liked Ghost Whisperer. I don't know how long it will last, but who can tell nowadays. (I figured Joan of Arcadia for a seven year run.)

At least Jennifer Love Hewitt is back and she's not reprising Party of Five this time. She's chasing ghosts, which allows her to do everything she does well except sing. (She has a great voice. Started out singing in Texas at age 3. Maybe she'll meet a singing ghost somewhere along the way.)

So it's Ghost Whisperer on CBS versus Medium on NBC and that may rankle Medium fans but Medium is on a different night and seems to be slowing down this season. I always tape Medium because it usually puts me to sleep in the last half-hour, despite the admirable talents of Patricia Arquette and Jake Weber and their wonderful TV kids Sofia Vassilieva and Maria Lark.

It isn't Jennifer Love Hewitt versus Patricia Arquette in any case. These two actresses are as different as night and day in look, style and approach. Both total pros and completely capable of leading a series.

I didn't like the Medium rip-off scene where a prophetic nightmare wakes Melinda (Jennifer Love Hewitt) in bed with her husband (David Conrad), but once you get past the obvious similarities GW goes way beyond Medium. Melinda doesn't depend on dreams. She sees ghosts everywhere, all the time. (The bedroom in Medium is that show's main set.)

Ghost Whisperer is no Dead Zone and it's not jumping on the post-X-Files backlash bandwagon like Supernatural either. It's more Touched By An Angel (a similarity that Dead Zone exec producer Michael Piller specifically instructs his writers to avoid.)

The Ghost Whisperer pilot did center entirely on Hewitt, but it's her show, after all. I wondered if they cut stuff out for time. References to what her husband does for a living were rather obviously thrown in as voiceovers until they briefly discussed his day as a paramedic, rather than showing him in action somewhere in the beginning to establish him.

I liked that producer Hewitt pulled in character actors Eddie Jones (ex-Pa Kent from Lois & Clark, the Invisible Man's boss, etc) and Jon Polito and also Wentworth Miller (from Prison Break) as guest stars. (And was that June Lockhart as Melinda's grandma? Sure looked like her.) Wentworth Miller reminds me so much of Steve McQueen that I'm hooked on Prison Break, despite the limited nature of that plot line. And the scene where guest Balthazar Getty (as Michael Adams) told Melinda off was terrific.

Anyway, there's no denying that Hewitt is beautiful and maturing as an actress. She has a great, expressive face. (I admit that the whole show could be shot in close ups and I'd probably still like it.) Modern former child actors like Hewitt and Sarah Michelle Gellar and Seth Green knock me out because they always seem to know exactly what they're doing. They don't just stand around waiting while other actors deliver their lines. They're always "on".

But Hewitt is more than just a pretty face. (She could have been a Charmed One after Shannen Doherty left, but turned down the role.) I say let's see what happens with Ghost Whisperer. It may just be the surprise hit of the season.

If you want an edgy show on mediums, then watch Medium. Not that this show isn't edgy, instead I feel it fulfills a separate niche in the TV world - it's almost like comfort food. Ghost Whisperer completely surprised me. I thought it was going to be some dopey show that would be shown in reruns on Lifetime (ironically enough, they show reruns of Medium on Lifetime). Out of boredom one day I turned it on and was pleasantly delighted! Like I said before, it's not super edgy but it's cute, it's interesting, Jennifer Love Hewitt is very likable and her husband Jim is hot, to say the least. It keeps you interesting without layering on the sap. I even enjoy the small town and I am a complete city girl. Bottom line: it's one of those shows that you can curl up with a mug of tea or hot chocolate and a blanket and watch almost anytime - seriously it's like comfort food.

What you get with the Ghost Whisperer is a lighthearted and feel-good series about, what can be the hardest thing in life, death.

This doesn't mean that death is handled in a simplistic and blithe manner. Truthfully, the subject matter, on the whole, is handled with care and expertise.

What makes the show so watchable are the relationships and characters, which are portrayed and make it a pleasure and a joy to watch. The directors are on top of their game too. Each of them has the ability to make you feel happy and elated and then creep you out with an eerie atmosphere - and ultimately have you reaching for the hankies at the soppy happy ending. I still marvel at how the writers turned even the darkest tales into lightness as the ghost always, mostly, walks into the light. Though I won't complain too much as most episodes lifted me up and put a smile on my face, which is always a good thing.

Jennifer Love Hewitt as Melinda Gordon and David as Jim Clancy and, later, Sam "Jim" Lucas work perfectly together and are pretty believable as the "Perfect - Good-Looking Couple" - do these really exist? Ah, well, it give's the viewer something to dream about. Then add to the mix, Aisha Tyler as Andrea, Jay Mohr as Prof. Rick Payne, Camryn Manheim as Delia Banks, Christoph Sanders and Tyler Patrick Jones as Ned Banks, Jamie Kennedy as Prof. Eli James, and David Clennon as Carl you get a great cast with well written and fleshed out main personalities. Though, there are some issues here too. The main one for me being the Jim and Sam storyline: This had so many possibilities and just as the writers start to get their teeth into the subject matter the story just peters out. Sam is pretty much forgotten, even by the people who know Sam... Parents, family, previous friends, and lovers... nobody that knows Sam ever turns up. This is a wasted possibility and left me quite dissatisfied.

This, however, is the only thing which is wrong with the entire five seasons... continuity. Even though the majority of the stories are standalone, there's a major storyline which runs through each season. These are dark and ominous but all of them just peter out or are resolved instantaneously. The worst for this is the story concerning Melinda's father and brother. This had all the mystery and suspense and was building up to be one hell of a story... and the writers decided to change direction... and in one episode the story was resolved and both brother and father were forgotten and never seen again. More missed opportunities.

A major missed opportunity was the relationship between Melinda and Rick. These two had palpable chemistry, though it would have wrecked the "Perfect Couple" image the show wants to put across. So out goes one major character to be replaced by a very similar one, Eli - and this one is minus any sexual sparks. I did hope that Rick might appear again, especially at some crucial times in her life, since he was meant to be such a good friend. But he just turned out to be somebody else who is out of sight and out of... who was I talking about again?

To be honest, and thinking too much on it the "Bye Bye - You're Gone" list is pretty massive. Not only is there Sam's missing people, Rick, Melinda's Dad and Brother, there's even Melinda's Mum (though she only lives one town over) and Jim's Mum who also disappears for good - bad grandparents, who never come over to check on their grandson. To the extreme that their own offspring never discuss them with their son.

Another gripe of mine is Delia's unwavering self-perpetuated ignorance concerning ghosts. Though she has a few ghostly experiences herself, she is unwilling to believe in there existence. Then after the longest time... piff-paff-puff - and she's not talking to the dead too.

Even though you'd think all this would be a major setback and a viewer turn off, it's actually just a niggle as each story has merits of their own and holds the viewer attention and actually sturs emotions. At the end of the day, you can let the niggles just fade away and you will still enjoy the story.

This is the second time I've watched the series as it's being rerun on the telly and I enjoyed it just as much the second time around. I still wish that there were more "realistic" stories as not everything has a happy ending.

If you want an easy watch with a few smiles, a couple of laughs, along with a ghost story and a morality tale then this could be for you. A nice way to spend forty-five minutes curled up with your loved one on a dark winters night.