Creepy, scary, etc, and better in season three......

by Steve Pond

Photo by John Russo

Jennifer Love Hewitt is talking to Jay Mohr about dead people while standing in a room of old lamps, dusty antique radios and chairs dangling haphazardly from the rafters. The creepy set----the basement of the antique store owned by Hewitt's character Melinda Gordon----is a key addition to the show: This is the year that "Ghost Whisperer" goes underground literally and figuratively.

"There are things underneath the town," executive producer John Gray says of the new territory that will be explored this season. "Those things become very scary and take us in a whole new direction."

The basement will be the portal to those things, as will the new town archives, located deep beneath city hall. "They're haunted, of course," says Gray, who adds that the town of Grandview will have ties to Melinda's family along with the unsavory supernatural history; "Hundreds of years ago, it might have been a Salem-like place where people were killed for being ghost whisperers."

Sitting on a set in a strapless dress that laces up the back and plunges in the front (hey, there's a reason that this show saw a notable jump in male viewers ages 18 to 34 last season), Hewitt---"Love" to everyone who works with her---admits she doesn't know most of the town's secrets yet. "Melinda thought she was choosing to live in this nice, sweet, quaint town," she says, "but now she realize that the town has chose her." Heading out to shoot another scene, she adds, "we love the new basement---we're doing a lot of really creepy, cool things this season."

Returning for another round of ghostly doings are her perfectly patient husband, Jim (David Conrad), pal Delia (Camryn Manhiem) and eccentric Professor Payne played by Mohr. A recurring guest last season, Mohr is now a full-fledged cast member---although in his case that doesn't mean full-time. "I really wanted to come back," Mohr says. "It's five minutes from my house, every body is super nice, Love is really kind and professional, and I work about two days out of eight."

Along with the new character of a blogger (played by Omid Abtahi) who threatens to expose Melinda's otherworldly talents, the show will bring back her late father (Martin Donovan), who appeared to her in the last season's finale, and seemingly evil ghost whisperer Gabriel (Ignacio Serricchio), who may turn out to be her brother.

"Before, there were people in this town who were slightly strange," Hewitt says. "But now, Grandview itself is getting intense. It's scary, but in a good way!"

Story: © 2007 TV Guide. All Rights Reserved.
Image: © 2006 Emmy Magazine. All Rights Reserved.