Ghost Whisperer Still Going Strong After Five Seasons

By: Alaina Gizzo
Posted In: Entertainment

The fifth season of Ghost Whisperer brings the idea of “super mom” to an entirely new level. Picture this: you’re in your SUV in your little black dress and heels when the ghost of some high-strung realty king drifts into your passenger seat, demanding that you help him uncover his dead body. So after some time in the crawl space of an ancient brown stone building, you find the body, call the cops and then have to explain why you always find dead bodies without actually telling the truth. You balance all of this in your patent leather heels. Luckily, your Adonis-like doctor husband was able to pick up your kid from soccer practice while you were preoccupied with the authorities and the dead realtor. Sometimes these things just happen, especially if you’re Miranda Gordon (Jennifer Love Hewitt), and you talk to ghosts.

Ghost Whisperer airs on CBS Fridays at 8 p.m., right before the more judicially oriented Medium. Unlike in Medium, Miranda does not usually work alongside the authorities, but typically researches these ghostly enigmas independent of the penal code, and only dials 911 accordingly. And she does this all while donning the latest high-end fashions. Through evoking the paranormal-fantasy genre in this forensic mystery-solving method with a touch of cutesy fashion (at least for the heroine), Moses and Sander brilliantly crafted this show into a must-see series.

Hewitt, mainly known for her role as Sarah Reeves in Party of Five during the 1990s, manages to play the grown-up part of protagonist Miranda, who has always been able to communicate with the dead. In this season, Miranda balances being the mother of a five-year-old, owning an antique shop cleverly named “Same As It Never Was,” and solving the unfinished business of various spirits. She usually acts as the living agent for tying together all loose ends.

As a character, Miranda is relatively obvious to viewers. Being utterly maternal and nurturing, Miranda simply can’t help but solve the mysteries she discovers from her deceased solicitors. Alongside her best friend Delia Banks (Camryn Manheim) and occult colleague, fellow ghost whisperer, Eli James (Jamie Kennedy), she often uses internet searches and basic interviewing skills to piece together the broken stories she obtains from ghosts. Meanwhile, her gorgeous physician husband, Jim Clancy (David Conrad), always remains supportive.

Miranda at random discovers ghosts (whether the ghosts likes it or not) and tries to help them crossover into the realm of the dead by solving whatever mystery lies at hand. Through research and finding and then essentially interviewing the deceased’s living family, friends and co-workers, Miranda always manages to solve the enigma, thus allowing the spirit to crossover.

Potentially, viewers could become bored with the predictability of the show. Here are a few givens: Miranda sees a ghost, she noses around, is forcefully escorted from at least one building, painstakingly solves the big mystery and then she helps the ghost crossover and returns home to repeat the cycle again. Basically, the show follows the forensic crime show genre, but instead uses a paranormal backdrop, which seems entirely innovative given the popular genre trends of the 2000s.

In fusing together these two genres, Moses and Sander create something like CSI: Graveyard; yet through this genre mixing, all instances of paranormal activity are portrayed in a naturalistic way, or at least as naturalistic as they can be within the context of the show. The costuming of ghosts is usually time specific according to when they died, while all of the “living” cast members wear higher-class fashion. Miranda, without fail, is costumed in a dress or skirt and heels, while best friend Delia, as a professional, is often wearing chic pant suits. Miranda’s high-end fashion, however, even carries on to her pajamas. She frequently experiences ghostly visions in her sleep, and awakes in frilly, lacey floor-length night gowns. Flannel just doesn’t cut it for this ghost whisperer. The fashion portrayed through her costuming, however, illustrates her outright girly trendiness. Plus, as an antique store owner, she is a fan of aesthetics.

All in all, Moses and Sander successfully worked toward building a series that creatively blends the crime solving genre with America’s slight obsession with the occult. Five seasons later, the show still appears to be strong.