Ghost Whisperer finale to shed light on unanswered questions

by Bill Harris

There have been a lot of curves in the road this season for Jennifer Love Hewitt. To put it bluntly, she has emerged from any ordeal with even more admirers.

Meanwhile, Hewitt’s series, Ghost Whisperer, continues to, uh, rack up ample ratings on what usually is a flat night for TV. The third-season finale of Ghost Whisperer can be seen Friday on CTV and CBS.

“The theme of the show always has been Melinda being the light and how the dark is sort of always trying to quash her light,” said Hewitt, referring to her character. “The darkness definitely got stronger this year.”

Speaking of darkness, things got a little dark for Hewitt personally with the paparazzi last November.

While on vacation in Hawaii, some unflattering pictures of Hewitt’s bathing-suit-clad rear end were taken and splattered all over the celebrity magazines. But Hewitt’s dignified reaction - she did not apologize for her body and merely lamented the way in which famous females are scrutinized - earned her kudos in many corners.

And what goes around comes around, as it were. TV Guide recently named Hewitt and Patrick Dempsey of Grey’s Anatomy TV’s sexiest stars, female and male divisions.

As for Ghost Whisperer, its success is based primarily on Hewitt’s star appeal, but it also knows its audience very well and thus gives the Friday night crowd exactly what it wants. Hewitt stars as Melinda Gordon, a young woman who can communicate with the dead.

“My main job is not necessarily to make people believe in ghosts every Friday night, but to make them believe in the spirit of what it is we’re trying to say on the show, and in who Melinda is,” said Hewitt, a 29-year-old native of Texas.

“I am conscious of protecting her territory. I want to make the right mistakes with her, and I definitely have ways that I think Melinda should go. Sometimes if I think we’re going to go in a slightly wrong direction, I’ll ask the writers if they could do something about that. And they’re really lovely, they give me that opportunity.

“I think they know that Melinda’s best interests are my job there, so they’re pretty good about listening.”

In the season-finale of Ghost Whisperer, Melinda ignores the risks to her own life and finally gets some answers about her long-absent father and why her mother has hidden the truth about him for so many years. Anne Archer, Martin Donovan and Ignacio Serricchio return as Melinda’s mother, father and step-brother, respectively.

“I love getting to do all the scary stuff, I love it when they put Melinda in jeopardy,” Hewitt said. “For me that’s when I get to step outside of just doing the crying. It feels like you’re doing a little horror movie every week and that’s really fun for me.

“It’s the same reason science fiction is as exciting as it is. People are really fascinated by the supernatural.”

And apparently by you, too, Jennifer.

No "ifs" or "butts" about it .....