CBS
I know I’m a week late on this, but this is the cusp of the next new episode of Ghost Whisperer and I’m still reeling by that premiere. In the last season finale, we were left with a doozy of a cliffhanger: six people, five shadows. Jay Mohr’s Professor Payne pointed this out to Melinda and we panned up to a shot that not only showed the five distinct shadows, but also offered a nice down-shot of Jennifer Love Hewitt’s cleavage (I refuse to believe this wasn’t intentional).
Oh my god! What could it mean? Is somebody dead? Whose shadow is missing? Is Jim dead? Payne? It was an amazing cliffhanger leaving fans reeling and speculating throughout the summer. So of course everyone tuned in last Friday to find out what it all meant. Is Delia dead? Her son? Melinda!? And then the show started … and everyone was there … and nobody was talking about it. WTF?!
When it was finally brought up, Payne blew it off. But he was preparing to take a sabbatical to traipse through the wild on another Indiana Jones inspired adventure (which you can translate as meaning Jay Mohr is starring in Gary Unmarried on CBS and if that tanks his sabbatical will be over). But the shadows?! What does it mean? Payne doesn’t see or hear spirits. How could he see it? I spent the entire episode watching everybody’s interactions to see who was and wasn’t talking to others. I’ve seen The Sixth Sense. I know what to look out for.
At first, Jim looked a likely culprit. But then he talked to Delia and everybody could see everybody else and we spent most of the episode distracted by Jamie Kennedy. Is Melinda building her own “Scooby Gang?” I’m not a huge Jamie Kennedy fan and didn’t think his presence really added much to the show, but maybe he’ll grow on me.
And then at the end Payne left. Nobody died or is dead. Is that what it meant? Payne leaving? Why would a supernatural occurrence foreshadow an international trip? And why would he be able to see it? Did anyone else see it?
Why leave us on a huge cliffhanger like that and then do absolutely nothing with it, Ghost Whisperer? Write yourselves into a corner? Maybe they’ll get to it tonight. Certainly there were cryptic hints that death may come to Melinda. That’s all fine and good, but you dropped the ball on that cliffhanger, Ghost Whisperer. That was probably the worst season premiere following a cliffhanger in the history of television!
Clacked by Jason Hughes 
on Oct 10, 2008 @ 15:49 EST5EDT
It is indeed a let down that it wasn’t explained in the season premiere (I have yet to watch tonight’s episode). I think it foreshadows the fact that one of these characters is set to die this fall. In the past season (and I think before that… I’ve started watching GW last May regularly and have been catching every episode that reruns on cable so I’m watching everything out of order and in two languages…), there has been clues that someone close to Melinda was in danger. The missing shadow is just one of these clues in my opinion.
If you have read the spoilers on who is set to die, you will understand that huge cliffhanger. But I agree that the payoff should have been sooner than later.
The spoilers over the summer on who was to die came up against major back lash and interviews with the writers/creators/actors since has hinted that they have since changed their minds and are going to go in a different direction.