As you all know, I’m an avid watcher of Ghost Whisperer. I thought I’d put together this post for anybody who’s thinking of getting into the series. The regular cast is mercifully quite small, which is part of the strength of the show - we get to know the lead characters intimately.
Melinda Gordon
Melinda is the Ghost Whisperer of the show’s title. She has the ability to communicate with the dead, something which runs in her family and which she has known about since an early age.
She’s married to paramedic Jim Clancy, although for some strange reason she didn’t change her name upon getting married.
Despite her blissful home life, she is pained by the fact that her father left home when she was a child, and she has a distant relationship with her mother (who is also a whisperer, but denies/hides the ability). She had a close relationship with her grandmother, who taught her about her gift. However, when her grandmother died, she was isolated by her ability and had no-one to talk to about it.
Melinda’s character is sweet, down to earth and loving. Plus she has the body of Jennifer Love Hewitt (don’t underestimate this point, ladies).
Jim Clancy
Ah, Jim Clancy. A man so perfect that he could only exist in fiction.
Jim is Melinda’s husband. They met when Jim was attending a fire in Melinda’s apartment building, and after an initially frosty start, the pair started dating. The rest is history.
Square-jawed, life-saving Jim knows all about Melinda’s supernatural secret, and being the missing link between man and god, is totally supportive of his wife communing with the dead. He helps her in whatever way he can, getting access to databases for research or talking to colleagues to find out more about the ghosts she’s tracking.
This loving, understanding, won’t have his wife sectioned for seeing ghosts character is played by David Conrad. He is reviled by normal men worldwide for his unrealistic depiction of a married man. OK, we could probably learn a lot from him…
Delia Banks
Delia became Melinda’s friend and colleague when a big plane landed on her previous co-worker, Andrea (see below). Delia is a widow and has a son, Ned. She has a loving relationship with her son, but her tendency to dwell on the death of her husband sometimes overshadows her relationship with Ned.
Delia previously worked in real estate, but accepted the offer of a job with Melinda when business was going downhill. She sometimes uses her connections and access to information to help answer Melinda’s seemingly strange queries about past owners of houses, etc.
After the loss of Andrea, Melinda seems reluctant to share her secret with Delia, so Delia thinks Melinda’s behaviour is slightly unhinged from time to time. Melinda’s typical strategy when a ghost appears in the store is to send Delia out for coffee.
In the second season of Ghost Whisperer, Delia has a potential romance with Jim’s colleague, Tim Flaherty. However, Tim’s cold feet and her preoccupation with her dead husband get in the way. Delia is played by the award winning actress Camryn Manheim.
Professor Rick Payne
Not-so-slick Rick is the stereotypical university professor who has a rather obvious crush on Melinda. Whether Melinda knows this or not, it is her key to discovering a lot of information.
You see, Rick is a Professor of Occult Sciences and Melinda visits him regularly to get his input on whatever spook is currently bothering her.
Aside from his input into the paranormal, Professor Payne’s relationship with Melinda is worth watching on Ghost Whisperer. At first, he’s a complete sceptic about ghosts, treating them as an academic topic. Melinda approaches him with questions, but doesn’t reveal why she’s looking for particular information. It’s not until later that she tells him about her secret and he witnesses ghostly activity first hand.
Professor Payne is played by actor/comedian Jay Mohr, best known to me for being Jennifer Aniston’s camera toting love interest in Picture Perfect.
Andrea Moreno
If you’re watching the first season of Ghost Whisperer, Andrea is Melinda’s friend and co-worker from Same As It Never Was. Unlike Delia, Andrea knew about Melinda’s secret, so we find ourselves wondering why Melinda keeps Delia in the dark about her prowess with the paranormal.
Sadly, Andrea was in the wrong place at the wrong time when a plane crashed outside the sleepy town of Grandview. Initially thinking she was still alive, she returned to Grandview where she became the subject of a tug of war between Melinda and the evil Romano. Thankfully, Melinda prevailed and now Ms Moreno is sorting out second hand junk in heaven…
Andrea was played by the (very sexy) actress Aisha Tyler, who briefly played Ross’ girlfriend in Friends.
