''Ghost Whisperer'' is an American

supernatural Supernatural refers to phenomena or entities that are beyond the laws of nature. The term is derived from Medieval Latin , from Latin (above, beyond, or outside of) + (nature) Though the corollary term "nature", has had multiple meanings si ...

television series, which ran on CBS from September 23, 2005, to May 21, 2010. The series follows the life of

Melinda Gordon Melinda Irene Gordon is the title character of the American paranormal television series ''Ghost Whisperer'' created by John Gray. Gordon was portrayed by American actress Jennifer Love Hewitt. Character background Melinda Gordon (Jennifer Love ...

( Jennifer Love Hewitt), who has the ability to see and communicate with

ghost A ghost is the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that is believed to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to re ...

s. While trying to live as normal a life as possible—she is married and owns an antique store—Melinda helps earthbound spirits resolve their problems and cross over into the light, or the spirit world. Her tasks are difficult and at times she struggles with people who push her away and do not believe in her gift. In addition, the ghosts are mysterious and sometimes menacing at first, and Melinda must use the clues available to her to understand the spirits' needs and help them. The show was created by John Gray and was produced by Sander/Moses Productions, executive producer, and Jennifer Love Hewitt in association with ABC Studios and

CBS Television Studios CBS Studios, Inc. is an American television production company which is a subsidiary of CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global. It was formed on January 17, 2006, by CBS Corporation as CBS Paramount Television, as a renaming of the ...

. On May 18, 2010, CBS canceled the series after five seasons.

Premise

( Jennifer Love Hewitt) is a young woman from the town of

Grandview, New York Grand View-on-Hudson is a village incorporated in 1918 in the town of Orangetown in Rockland County, New York, United States. It is located north of Piermont, east of Orangeburg, south of South Nyack, and west of the Hudson River. The population ...

, who has the ability to see and communicate with the dead. Melinda lives with her husband, Jim Clancy ( David Conrad), and later their son Aiden (

Connor Gibbs Connor Gibbs (born February 2, 2001) is an American child actor. He is best known for his role as Aiden Lucas in the TV series ''Ghost Whisperer ''Ghost Whisperer'' is an American supernatural television series, which ran on CBS from Septemb ...

). She owns a shop called "Same as It Never Was". Each ghost seeks Melinda's help in relaying a message or completing a task that will put their spirit to rest, and allow them to cross over into the light. Those who died with unfinished business become earthbound and cannot cross over, and Melinda, as their earthly representative, helps them to find peace. The show does not present the ghosts as having sinned; rather it is the spirits' own guilt that condemns them, and their own fear of judgment that keeps them from "crossing over" into an afterlife. The series also starred Aisha Tyler as Andrea Marino, Melinda's best friend, who runs the antique shop with her. Andrea is killed in the first-season finale. During the second season, Melinda meets Delia Banks ( Camryn Manheim), a struggling real estate agent who forms a friendship with Melinda and who eventually agrees to run the antique shop with her. Delia is shocked to find out about Melinda's abilities; in fact, at first she claims Melinda needs psychological help. Delia eventually accepts Melinda's gift, though she remains skeptical at times. Delia has a son named Ned Banks ( Tyler Patrick Jones season 2,

Christoph Sanders Christopher "Christoph" Sanders (born April 21, 1988) is an American actor who is best known for his role as Ned Banks in the television series ''Ghost Whisperer'' and Kyle Anderson in the sitcom '' Last Man Standing'' on ABC (2011-2017) and FOX ...

thereafter) who finds out about Melinda's gift long before his mother does. Melinda also forms a friendship with Rick Payne ( Jay Mohr), a professor at Rockland University. He helps Melinda solve the conflicts of ghosts throughout the second and

third Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute'' Places * 3rd Street (disambiguation) * Third Avenue (disambiguation) * Hi ...

seasons. He departs in the fourth-season premiere for an expedition in the

Himalayas The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 10 ...

. The same episode introduced Eli James (Jamie Kennedy), another professor at the university, who goes through a near-death experience which unlocks an ability to hear ghosts. Unlike Melinda, he cannot see them. He becomes a close friend to Melinda and helps her investigate the hauntings.

Episodes

Cast

* Jennifer Love Hewitt as

* Aisha Tyler as Andrea Marino (seasons 1–2) * David Conrad as Jim Clancy / Sam Lucas * Camryn Manheim as

Delia Banks The following are fictional characters from the television drama ''Ghost Whisperer'' created by John Gray. Main characters Melinda Gordon Melinda Gordon, played by Jennifer Love Hewitt, is the protagonist of '' Ghost Whisperer ''. Melinda ...

(seasons 2–5) * Jay Mohr as Professor Rick Payne (season 3; recurring, season 2; special guest, season 4) *

as Ned Banks (seasons 4–5; recurring, season 3) *

Jamie Kennedy James Harvey Kennedy (born May 25, 1970) is an American actor and comedian. He has played Randy Meeks in the '' Scream'' franchise (1996–2000) and a multitude of characters in ''The Jamie Kennedy Experiment'' (2002–2004) on The WB. His ot ...

as Professor Eli James (seasons 4–5)

Notes

Production

Development

''Ghost Whisperer'' is based in part on the work of Mary Ann Winkowski. Development of the show dates back to at least two years before its premiere. James Van Praagh was a co-executive producer and consultant on the show. The show was produced by Sander/Moses Productions in association with

(originally

Paramount Network Television The original incarnation of Paramount Television was the name of the television production division of the American film studio Paramount Pictures, that was responsible for the production of Viacom television programs, until it changed its na ...

) in season one and ABC Studios (originally Touchstone Television in the first two seasons) and CBS Paramount Network Television in seasons two to four. The show was filmed on the Universal Studios back lot in Los Angeles. One area on the lot is Courthouse Square from the ''Back to the Future'' trilogy, though it has been drastically modified to depict Grandview. For example, the

clock tower Clock towers are a specific type of structure which house a turret clock and have one or more clock faces on the upper exterior walls. Many clock towers are freestanding structures but they can also adjoin or be located on top of another buildi ...

in ''Back to the Future'' has been completely covered up. The front of Melinda and Jim's house is also the same set used by the Finch family in the film adaptation of ''

To Kill a Mockingbird ''To Kill a Mockingbird'' is a novel by the American author Harper Lee. It was published in 1960 and was instantly successful. In the United States, it is widely read in high schools and middle schools. ''To Kill a Mockingbird'' has become ...

''. Cast and crew members said they believed that the set got visits from real spirits. After the show's cancellation and shortly before the sets were torn down, Jennifer Love Hewitt filmed a tour demonstrating the ways in which the areas were different from those shown in the TV broadcast. Sound effects were completed at Smart Post Sound. Visual effects for the pilot and some season one episodes were completed at Flash Film Works. Visual effects for nearly the entire series were created at Eden FX.

Roy Forge Smith Roy Forge Smith (18 May 1929 – 6 February 2017) was a British production designer known for his work in films, such as ''Monty Python and the Holy Grail'', and television, including 44 episodes of the '' Ghost Whisperer'' from 2005 to 2007. Smi ...

, who frequently collaborated with John Gary, was the

production designer In film and television, the production designer is the individual responsible for the overall aesthetic of the story. The production design gives the viewers a sense of the time period, the plot location, and character actions and feelings. Wo ...

on 44 episodes of the show, spanning two season, from 2005 to 2007. Creator John Gray grew up in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, which is not far from Grand View-On-Hudson (also called Grand View), west of the

Hudson River The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between Ne ...

. Piermont is often referenced in episodes as the neighboring town, which is accurate to real life as Grand View is actually located just north of Piermont. Professors Rick Payne and Eli James worked at the fictional "Rockland University", and, perhaps not coincidentally, the actual village of Grand View is a village located in

Rockland County, New York Rockland County is the southernmost county on the west side of the Hudson River in the U.S. state of New York. It is part of the New York metropolitan area. It is about from the Bronx at their closest points. The county's population, as of ...

Release

Broadcast

Season one premiered on September 23, 2005, and ended on May 5, 2006. It received an average of 10.20million viewers. Season two of ''Ghost Whisperer'' premiered on September 22, 2006, and ended on May 11, 2007, again airing Friday nights on CBS during the same timeslot. CBS officially renewed the show for a third season placing it in its regular Friday 8 p.m. ET time slot. The third season premiered September 28, 2007. Twelve episodes were completed before the Writers Guild of America strike, and once the strike ended, CBS had announced that the show would return April 4, 2008, with six episodes. On February 15, 2008, CBS renewed ''Ghost Whisperer'' for a fourth season. For the fourth season,

joined the cast as Psychology professor Eli James. Jay Mohr left after the first episode as the plot had his character, Professor Rick Payne, going on sabbatical (Mohr took a role in ''

Gary Unmarried ''Gary Unmarried'' is an American sitcom created by Ed Yeager, which ran on CBS from September 24, 2008, to March 17, 2010. The series focuses on a recently divorced couple (Jay Mohr and Paula Marshall) sharing custody of their kids while startin ...

''). Recurring cast member Christoph Sanders joined as a regular cast member. The fourth season of ''Ghost Whisperer'' premiered on Friday, October 3, 2008, and concluded on May 15, 2009, and consisted of 23 episodes. In an interview by P.K. Simonds with E! Online, it was announced that ''Ghost Whisperer'' would return for a fifth season. CBS renewed ''Ghost Whisperer'' for the fifth season on May 20, 2009, which began airing on Friday, September 25, 2009, at 8 p.m. ET and ran for 22 episodes.

Syndication

On May 5, 2008, it was announced that the first three seasons of ''Ghost Whisperer'' were purchased for $169.8million ($700,000 per episode, per network) for syndication by SyFy, Ion Television, and WeTV. Episodes began airing in mid-2009 on ION, and in the third quarter of 2009 on SyFy and We. The first four seasons began airing in syndication on CBC Television in Canada on August 31, 2009.

Home media

The Region 1 DVD releases are distributed by Paramount Home Entertainment/ CBS DVD, while releases in all other regions are distributed by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment (formerly Buena Vista Home Entertainment). On March 17, 2015, CBS DVD released ''Ghost Whisperer- The Complete series'' on DVD in Region 1.

Streaming

The series is available to stream on

The CW ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

's free digital-only network, CW Seed. The show is available on

Hulu Hulu () is an American subscription streaming service majority-owned by The Walt Disney Company, with Comcast's NBCUniversal holding a minority stake. It was launched on October 29, 2007 and it offers a library of films and television series ...

. The show is available on

Disney+ Disney+ is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned and operated by the Media and Entertainment Distribution division of The Walt Disney Company. The service primarily distributes films and television se ...

Reception

U.S. ratings

Episodes in the first half of the fourth season won their time slot every week in viewers, and across all age demographics, including the 18–49 age bracket, and also usually won the night for CBS as the most-watched show on Friday nights. Furthermore, fourteen episodes from Season 4 surpassed 10million viewers, of which seven surpassed 11million viewers.

Cancellation

On May 18, 2010, citing rising costs and a decline in viewership, CBS announced that ''Ghost Whisperer'' would not be renewed for another season. ABC expressed interest in picking up ''Ghost Whisperer'' for the 2010–11 U.S. television season; however, on May 27, 2010, Michael Ausiello reported that ABC had passed on renewing ''Ghost Whisperer'' for a sixth season. In 2010, '' Zap2it'' declared ''Ghost Whisperer'' the second "most missed axed show" after a poll determined 19.4 percent of voters would miss it. In October 2010, Jennifer Love Hewitt thanked the fans of the show for their support in a goodbye video (filmed in June 2010), saying "Your love and support has meant everything to the cast and crew of ''Ghost Whisperer'' and we will all miss you guys very, very much. Go get our DVDs, think about us, miss us and know how much we all will miss you. Much love." In January 2011, Hewitt told the press of her opinion about the cancellation, saying "When you’ve taken people on a journey for so long, the least you can do is give them a goodbye. For a show that was about unfinished business, we didn’t get to finish." In January 2018, Hewitt was really adamant about a potential reboot or revival: “If they’re going to redo it, then I have to go back and be the ghost whisperer because I am not giving up my “Ghost Whisperer” throne. That part just meant too much to me, and it was so much of who I was, I worked really hard to make Melinda who she is. So if they wanted to do a 10-episode revival on Netflix, like finishing the series or something, I’m happy to do that. But giving it over to somebody would crush me."

Awards and nominations

In other media

Webisodes

'' Ghost Whisperer: The Other Side'' is a series of webisodes released on the ''Ghost Whisperer'' website.The Other Side 2 – Ghost Whisperer on CBS TV
Starting in Season 2, a total of eight webisodes were produced for every season. The first two seasons follow Zach (played by

Mark Hapka Mark Hapka (born May 29, 1982) is an American film and television actor who first gained attention for portraying the lead role of the spirit 'Zach' on the '' Ghost Whisperer'' spin-off '' Ghost Whisperer: The Other Side''. Hapka is most notable ...

), a young delivery boy who dies while delivering a package. He soon learns how to do things in the spirit world, and gets revenge on his best friend Danny, who he thinks killed him. Season 3 of the webisodes deals with a ghost named Marc (played by Justin Loyal) trying to help his high school crush Olivia (played by Jaimi Paige) find true love as her fiancé George does not love her. The fourth and final season of the webisodes deals with the ghost of a man named Bo (played by Matt Knudsen) who haunts James Tyler (played by Mark Lutz) and his family after they move into their new home. Melinda from the television series doesn't appear in the internet series as it takes place entirely in the spirit world. However, characters from the webisodes have appeared in the television series. In the second-season finale of ''Ghost Whisperer'', Zach made an appearance while trying to get help from Melinda before being taken into the Dark Side, leaving the internet series in its own cliffhanger. Zach later made another appearance and crossed over in season three episode 16 of ''Ghost Whisperer''. Marc and Olivia make brief and uncredited appearances in episode 21 of season 4 of ''Ghost Whisperer''.

Internet promotion

andshamethedevil.net is a site linked to ''Ghost Whisperer''. The site is mentioned in the Season 3 premiere. By clicking on the star in the upper right hand corner, the site appears to crack into pieces. Those pieces can be moved by dragging, revealing this message: "Meet Me In The Underworld". Small type at the bottom of the page read the repeated words: "bloody mary. bloody mary. bloody mary." Also clicking on the word 'bloody', it leads to another site rubloodymary.com. There is a hidden message under the graphic. By holding down the mouse key and dragging it around, a new image will appear along with the message. andshamethedevil.net is no longer used as promotion for the show and has since been turned into an unrelated advertising

blog A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in Reverse ...

, although rubloodymary.com can still be accessed by typing the address into an address box in an internet browser. In the series, penthius.info is often used by Melinda to look up information about the families and ghosts that she is investigating in Grandview. A real world version of this site was created in February 2008. The site description read: "Penthius.Info is a free search engine and video super site based on the search engine in the television series The ''Ghost Whisperer'' with Jennifer Love Hewitt." It was first mentioned in a post on TV.com by misscalais, a fan who created the site to promote the show. Ghost Whisperer was also heavily promoted on the website, House of Ghost Whisperer built and maintained by Scott L. Spencer. As of today it is still active.

Video game

In July 2009, Legacy Interactive announced a licensing agreement with CBS Consumer Products to develop a video game based on the ''Ghost Whisperer'' television series. In January 2010, it was announced that the game was set to debut on the PC and Mac and include characters and themes from the show. On November 1, 2010, a developer diary was posted on the game's website, detailing areas in the game and confirming that Melinda, Jim, Delia and Eli will feature. The release date, which was initially early 2010, was changed to 2011 and the subtitle announced in the original press release, ''Shadowlands'', was dropped from the game. The game was written by Emmy award-winning television writer Lance Gentile. It was released on August 7, 2012, exclusively at Wal-Mart.

References

External links

* *
''Ghost Whisperer''
at Yahoo! TV
''Ghost Whisperer'' at Living TV (UK)

Ghost Whisperer Italia

"Scoop: 'Ghost Whisperer,' 'Tree Hill' do time warp (again)"
by Michael Ausiello, EW.com {{Ghost Whisperer 2005 American television series debuts 2010 American television series endings 2000s American drama television series 2010s American drama television series 2000s American supernatural television series 2010s American supernatural television series American fantasy television series CBS original programming English-language television shows Television series about ghosts Romantic fantasy television series Saturn Award-winning television series Television shows about psychic powers Television series by ABC Studios Television series by CBS Studios Television shows set in New York (state) Television shows featuring audio description Television shows filmed in Los Angeles Television shows filmed in California