More TV Show Stuff

OK, so I guess I'm in one of those pissy little moods where everything annoys me. And today what's annoying me is another TV show. Ghostwhisperer.

Well, for crying out loud! What have they done to this show? Another bunch of lunatics sitting around a back room writing crap! Are they all high?

In case you're not familiar, Ghostwhisperer is a show about a woman who sees dead people. (Yeah, hard to believe, I know.) Anyway, the show had a great character ensemble that included Jim Clancy, the Ghostwhisperer's husband. Mostly, at first, this show was about seeing and helping ghosts. You know, ghostwhispering. The relationship between Melinda and her husband Jim was great, supportive, caring, and fun to watch and secondary to the main theme. That started to change after a few seasons, where they started making the relationship more prominent. At first it was good, but then they started having differences over whether or not to have a baby. What did that have to do with seeing ghosts? Nothing. Somehow writers thought this would be really interesting. Take a great relationship, with well loved characters, and give them some problems that would change the theme of the show. They even had to bring on board another 'ghostwhisperer' to take over the theme so they could focus on Melinda and Jim's problems.

Well, to add to those problems, they decided to kill off Jim. Take a beloved character, that added great depth and love to the show, and kill him off! Everyone who watched the show, as far as I could tell, HATED that he was killed. But, not to worry, this show is about ghosts, so what did they do? They decided to have Jim, now a ghost, 'jump' into the body of someone who had just died. That would be Sam.

So, Sam suddenly wakes up on the gurney where he's been pronounced dead. We all know it's not really Sam, but Jim in there, follow? But Jim, now called a 'step-in', has amnesia. So now the main theme of the show revolves around Melinda getting Sam/Jim to remember being Jim and not Sam. Poor Sam/Jim doesn't remember his Sam family or life, nor his Jim life. Meanwhile, we keep seeing the same actor who plays Jim, playing Sam/Jim, except in reflections. You know, like a car window, a mirror, anything shiny. In those places we see another actor playing the role of Sam's body. The body Jim 'stepped' into.


Last week, while trying to rescue Melinda, Sam/Jim almost drowns, has a 'life flashes before your eyes' moment, and suddenly remembers he's Jim. He remembers it so well that when Melinda calls him 'Sam', he has to ask why. She realizes he finally remembers being Jim and hugs, kisses, tears, and laughter ensue.

Well, they're so happy to be re-united, that all it takes is a mirror, a small yell of shock from Sam/Jim (which we hear but don't see) and all is well. Everyone is laughing, smiling and thrilled about how romantic it is to have Jim back. Everyone except me.

He's not Jim. He's Sam/Jim. And how is it romantic to find yourself loving a ghost in someone else's body? And how do they explain this to Sam's family? Does anyone think it's romantic for Sam's family to not know that their son and brother is dead. How is it romantic to have Jim walking around in someone else's dead body? I'm not finding any of this romantic. I'm finding it a bit gross. I'm even finding it a bit horrific. I'm even finding it hard to think about watching the show anymore, knowing they've decided it's a great idea to have a beloved character gone, but not forgotten because he's walking around in someone else's dead body. Isn't that like body snatching? One step up from grave robbing; call it 'gurney robbing'? I'm completely creeped out and coming from me, that's saying a lot!