TV Series: Ghost Whisperer

As my regular readers already know, I don't only watch films. I also watch television series, both drama and comedy. I don't watch them on television itself. I cancelled my television license two years ago. I disconnected and boxed the satellite receiver I had been using. I can still watch television programmes online. Under English law a television license is needed if I watch live television programmes on the Internet, but I don't need a license for watching recorded programmes, such as those offered by Iplayer. This way I can watch the very few current series that I like, and I can sample other series that I'm not sure about. Even so, this is the exception. The only television series I watch regularly online is "Doctor Who". I watch all other television series on DVD.

I own a large number of television series on DVD. I have two large bookcases full of box sets. If you click on the "TV Series" label on the right you'll find some of the series I watch. I don't review every series I watch. Sometimes I watch a whole season of a television programme over the course of a few days. More often I alternate the series that I watch, a few episodes at a time. This gives me more variety, and it's more of a television-ish experience.

"Ghost Whisperer" is in some ways a guilty pleasure. I wouldn't call it a great television series. If I had to make a list it wouldn't be in my top 10, and probably not even in my top 20. And yet I enjoy it. It's good light-hearted fun. Melinda Gordon is a woman who can talk to ghosts, or as she prefers to call them "earthbound spirits". These are people who have died, but remain on Earth because they have unfinished business. Sometimes it's revenge, but more often it's a last message they want to tell a loved one. Melinda helps the ghosts tell their messages or give up their plans of revenge, so that they can "pass on" by walking into the light. It seems that in the Ghost Whisperer mythology, as far as I've watched, that all the dead go to the same better place. There's no Hell awaiting us, only happiness where we reunite with those we have lost.

This superficial Weltanschauung isn't something I would take seriously, but one thing attracted me to the series in the first place: Jennifer Love Hewitt. I admit to having something of a crush on her, ever since I first saw her in "I know what you did last summer" 15 years ago. Her large breasts on a tiny body make her look delicious, and her playful grin is captivating. "Ghost Whisperer" is worth watching just to see her pretty dresses from week to week.

Having said that, the series has a strong supporting cast, in particular Jay Mohr as Professor Rick Payne and Camryn Manheim as Delia Banks, Melinda's shop assistant. In the first season the assistant was Aisha Tyler who played Andrea Moreno. Please don't get me wrong, Aisha is very beautiful, but somehow she didn't fit into the series and I was glad when they killed her off at the end of the first season. She was beautiful but boring, there was no chemistry between her and Jennifer Love Hewitt. The weakest link in the series is Jim Clancy who plays Melinda's husband Jim. Or maybe I'm just jealous.

Till now I've only watched about half of the series. (It ran for five seasons from 2005 till 2010). Maybe it will improve as it continues. But whether it does or not, I'll watch it all.