MovieChat Forums > Ghost Whisperer (2005) Discussion > What really killed this show

What really killed this show

posted 12 years ago by Derek6050
28 replies | jump to latest

I'll give you facts why this show was cancelled its because there was so many issues that were unresolved. There are 5 issues with each season.

1. Who was this Romano guy (the guy with the black hat who leading the ghosts who perished in a plane crash) When or how he vanished? In my opinion, he should've been a villain in the show.

2. Gabriel (Melinda's so-called half-brother) and he too didn't come back and left out of thin air, the third season finale made no sense at all, its like the writers weren't even paying attention in previous episodes adding to Melinda's missing father and why Gabriel had any relation to her. They threw that story away like garbage and was quietly buried since. Shame on them.

3. The Jim/Sam fiasco really made me mad they should've thought of another way if the guy playing Jim was having contract issues. It was very pointless to try to kill him off and then come back in a different body.

4. Melinda's kid was just annoying to me and was another pointless plot figure against the shinies or whatever they were called.

5. was the entire show too focused on the melodramatic sob stories of Melinda running into ghosts who were pissed for the wrong reasons. The show just should've had evil ghosts, supernatural forces, and demons. It could've been better had they explored that many opportunities and they kept missing every time. It was still unfairly canceled though. That is all.

[–] SunKrux 12 years ago

Thank you for your opinion, but those are not 'facts' as to why the show was cancelled. It got cancelled lime many other shows, money and ratings issues.

You made a couple of points I sorta agree with, Romano & Gabriel. Paul Eastman, Melinda's biological father was not Gabriel's father so Gabriel wasn't biologically related to Melinda. I'm not sure that Tom Gordon was his father either. It would have been nice to see what had been planned for the part of S3 that didn't happen due to the writer's strike that hurt a lot of shows that year.

I have no issues with Jim/Sam or Aiden storylines.

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[–] Derek6050 12 years ago

Yeah you're right they're not facts at all. I was just maintaining my frustration about why this show should've had more things than just ghosts. The rating were slipping i forgot about that. I was so dissatisfied about Seasons 2 and 3 cause they should've gone back to Gabriel or the Romano guy.

[–] SunKrux 12 years ago

Considering it was called Ghost Whisperer, why would it need more supernatural stuff? If you want demons and all that jazz, watch Supernatural. While I wanted to know more about Romano, Gabriel, and Paul Eastman, I did not want this show to turn into Supernatural. I like that it just stuck to ghosts.

I always figured the Shadows were the followers of Romano. The Shinies were the ghosts of children. But that's just me. I came into the show well after it had been cancelled.

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[–] Derek6050 12 years ago

Still would've better if the show had gotten into a darker tone, but yeah, it would've became another Supernatural or Charmed basically and its rating would've plummeted downhill. It had its ups and downs but was still a good show. I still stick to my opinion that the Laughing Guy, Romano, and Gabriel should've made another appearance.

[–] dbzgal04 12 years ago

3. The Jim/Sam fiasco really made me mad they should've thought of another way if the guy playing Jim was having contract issues. It was very pointless to try to kill him off and then come back in a different body.

That right there is what butchered the show for me and made me stop watching.

[–] IvyTempleton 8 years ago

This person is so grouchy. The OP admitted she worded it wrong and this chick just wanted an argument.

[–] gigicats6 12 years ago

I assumed Gabriel found out that Melinda was not his sister when she did, he had no interest in her then and left Grandview. I also thought Romano tried to kill Melinda but failed at that cermemony for those lost in the plane crash. The children who kept having visions of her death saved her though. When Romano failed to kill her, I thought he was banished to a darker place in the netherworld. Just my thoughts... I didn't feel any season left us with unresolved storylines.

[–] DreamsAgain 9 years ago

Yup, I'm sure that money and ratings issue had a lot to do w/ it.
Actually, this show was on for quite a few Seasons---for a regular TV show.
Also, you can still watch all the re-runs just about every day on TV, if you happened to have missed a plot line.
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[–] Derek6050 12 years ago

Dude, make your perv comment somewhere else please.

[–] teppo-2 12 years ago

I just watched the entire show from start to finish in the last couple of weeks, so here's my take.

1. I agree. They seemed to hype him and the "laughing guy" up in the first season and partially in the second. And then the show inexplicably jumped first to the "people below" who I first imagined to be those who chose to follow Romano, but apparently weren't really related to him at all in the end. And after that it was the shadows and shinies, and still nothing about Romano. Disappointing that they left it unresolved, and I doubt they had plans to resolve it even if there had been a sixth season since they hadn't even mentioned the guy for three seasons.

2. Yeah, he just vanished. Then again, so did her mom I suppose. But at least there wasn't really a major unresolved plot point in the latter case.

3. Not knowing the real world reasons behind it, what they did with the Jim/Sam thing indeed immediately gave me the impression that they were looking for a way to change the actor. There really were contract issues? Figures. It's not a HUGE deal in the end I suppose, but admittedly it could've been handled better probably.

4. Annoying... well, that's kids for you, I wasn't really that bothered.

5. I guess there could've been more evil ghosts and such - the whole Romano storyline for one. I suppose they might've passed on that for one reason - Melinda was basically helpless against the ghosts. Yeah, she could see and hear them, but couldn't really "fight" them if they decided to get nasty. Even her ability to get visions later on came out of nowhere, but suddenly giving her even more power would've probably been handled poorly.

I did enjoy the show, but the "long term story" should've maintained coherency and continuity. The other fumbles weren't so bad, basically almost every show has them.

[–] Mystt 10 years ago

It's been a long while since you started this thread but wanted to throw my 2 cents in...

I actually kind of like the Jim/Sam fiasco. lol It keeps me watching until the end of Season 4 anyway. But as soon as that kid who can't act to save his life shows up, I bail. I just finished watching seasons 1-4 again and put on the first episode of season 5, am reminded how much he annoys me and never watch S5 episode 2. I believe there might have been hope for the show if the child had been able to act.

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[–] 10 years ago

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[–] aromatic_ring 9 years ago

The whole Jim/Sam thing killed it for me. But the unfinished story lines also killed me. I also just started watching this again, 5 years later. I used to love this show when I was 14-19. However, now being 24, it's not the same.

Melinda's constant jumping when a ghost pops up, gets old. She puts herself in really unsafe situations. What really bothered me was the episode with that stalker lawyer, who originally stalked his inter, but when the intern died, he started stalking Melinda. However, when that lawyer guy comes back from the dead, he doesn't want to leave Melinda, then he gets grabbed from the people underground. Then the very next episode, she goes underground! Like, hello, you have a dangerous stalker down there! But, he doesn't appear anymore after that.

[–] Denisesheree 9 years ago

Once they wrote in the kid I was done, he was annoying and a terrible actor, however loved the jim/sam thing but didn't get the weird looking guy(sam) actor they choose to replace her handsome husband...didn't make sense..wasn't surprised it got axed

[–] dgniewek 9 years ago

I agree that the kid was dreadful. All the cute kids the show had over the years and they selected a not cute, bad actor to be the regular in Season 5.

Season 5 was really bad all around -- with the kid, the Shinies and the Shadows and the almost total amnesia about the Jim/Sam thing from Season 4. It's a shame because it was a great show until Season 5.

[–] Melissa-32 9 years ago

What amnesia thing about Jim/Sam? That was resolved in season 4. No need to keep on with it after Jim's memory returned.

If you are referring to them calling him, "Jim" well take a look at his lab coat. Sam's middle name was James (it says Dr. S James Lucas.) enabling them to continue to call him Jim.

[–] dgniewek 9 years ago

Rarely refered to that he was Sam Lucas. Sam's parents and Jim's mother were absent. No reference to other people seeing him look like Sam. No reference at all to the "step-in." Seemed rather strange.

[–] Melissa-32 9 years ago

It's 5 years later. It would have seemed strange to me if there were constant references to him being in a new body. Especially since only 5 people in Grandview know. Now if Season 5 picked up a few months after Season 4 and continued with Aiden being an infant then yeah, I'd agree we'd need more. And I just take it for granted that his mom knows. Would I have liked to have seen her reaction? Sure. But that time passed when they made that 5-year leap.

And unless they kept the amnesia thing going, it's probably better that we just never saw Sam's parents. (I have a feeling that they would have reverted to controlling behavior..a leopard doesn't change its spots after all.) And with a new grandchild I can see endless pressure from them.

I do wish that they had kept Jordan, though.

[–] Manna-Fest 9 years ago

Um, his name tag on his hospital uniform was "S. James Lucas", and there's Aiden's last name being LUCAS and then there's an episode where he's called DR. LUCAS by one of his colleagues. Season 5 made it clear he was Sam Lucas just by all of that. We did not need to hear the name "Sam" all the time just to be reminded of the fact that he stepped in some one's body as that storyline being over.

[–] eileen-guthrie555 9 years ago

The Jim/Sam fiasco really made me mad they should've thought of another way if the guy playing Jim was having contract issues. It was very pointless to try to kill him off and then come back in a different body.

Your right about that. I hated that they killed off Jim. I think it was the biggest mistake. I loved the show and all of the actors on it. But it was a cowards way out. The ratings started slipping and they tried to shake things up and we really ended up with Jim anyway. Because when Melinda saw Sam all she saw was Jim, because Jim's soul was in Sam.

The producers knew it was over and in that last year they tried to wrap up some storylines because they knew the show wasn't going to get renewed. I would have liked to seen more but I knew it was over when they killed Jim. I read some of the fan boards back then and people were pissed off and many fans stopped watching because of what they did. It was stupid to mess with a fan favorite and it cost them the show. Plus, I didn't think CBS was too smart to put Medium on after, too much paranormal for one Friday night.