Universal after dark: CBS ‘Ghost Whisperer’ by the light of the moon: In Photos

By April MacIntyre Oct 25, 2007, 20:59 GMT

09/16/2007 - Jennifer Love Hewitt - The 59th Annual Primetime EMMY Awards - Arrivals - Shrine Auditorium - Los Angeles, CA, USA © Glenn Harris / PR Photos

Into the third season, Jennifer Love Hewitt’s character Melinda will soon discover a haunted underworld below her town of Grandview.

This coming Friday, October 26, is a very special scary edition of “Ghost Whisperer.”

On Thursday October 18th, CBS graciously hosted a handful of journalists for a special spooky Halloween teaser tour of Universal Studios where “Ghost Whisperer” is shot.

The press event arranged a nice sit down for us to talk all things Grandview with chic executive producer, Kim Moses and Ian Sander - along with a phone-in with executive producer and writer P.K. Simonds - who we were told was sporting a pair of Snoopy slippers and jammies as he putting the polish on a script at home.

Ian Sander

What Moses and Sander drove home was how quickly and thoroughly the show cross-markets and embraces digital media interconnectivity as well as content produced solely for web distribution. 

It allows their fans to connect in a community devoted to all things Grandview, ghosts and Jennifer Love Hewitt.

Web team

We were introduced to their crack team of digital wizards including Art O’Leary, Justin Fisher and director of digital media, Stephen Fleet.  These guys are having a ball producing their own scary stories in a web-based interactive video called “The Scariest Story Ever Told” where the cast of Ghost Whisperer starts the story each saying a line.

Professor Payne's arcane tchotckes

As we reported in a previous story, fans could record themselves saying the next line and submit it using YouTube and the website. The digital media people at the production offices will pick the winners and stitch the story together for broadcast on October 26.

exterior of "Same as it Never Was"

The press tour took us inside the standing interior sets for "Ghost Whisperer" built on various stages at Universal Studios. We got to tour the lot and see the exterior buildings used in Grandview too. 

Fans of the show know the eclectic old house that Melinda and Jim share, it is seemingly large with long hallways and staircases.

Melinda's living room

The house was designed after the art department spied a house in Altadena, California and was it was built inside the cavernous stage to replicate the exterior.  A craftsman styled-home with a big wooden porch and an enormous older tree on wheels for shot maneuvering.

The house interior was in the beginning phases of set decorating the entire show for Christmas, and is divided into two separated standing sets:  The house exterior has a front door you can enter, and the first floor layout includes an eclectic and country-styled overstuffed living room, dining room, and a kitchen with a fully stocked fridge, with a staircase that goes nowhere.

Kitchen

The second set inside the cave on the Universal lot has a second floor interior set that includes Love Hewitt’s character’s bedroom and spacious bathroom replete with a claw foot tub and lots of girlie touches.

Melinda's bathroom

We were told the art department changed up the colors in Melinda's house from season one to season three.

Boudoir de Ghost Whisperer

Season one had deeper colors for Melinda's home (and wardrobe) while season three warmed up the palette of tones to reflect Melinda's personality.

inside Payne's office

The Grandview archives were a great standing set to tour, the file room which was had a nice thick layer of manufactured dust which led us around to Professor Payne's richly decorated office, full of warm wood and masculine touches.

The office set has been blown out and expanded by the art department, set decorator Donald Krafft outdid himself in finding the arcane and esoteric objets d’arts to festoon Jay Mohr’s digs. 

Payne's cool desk

Alligator heads, tribal masks, overstuffed leather chairs, human skulls, crossbows, millions of books and relics of every stripe.

Payne's mask

The interior set of the antique shop was filled with amazing little finds, stuffed to the rafters with many items from all over the world.

inside store

"Same as it Never Was" is the name of the anique store in Grandview.

cool antique store "Same As It Never Was"

When the sun went down, we toured the Universal back lot on foot, armed with flashlights and a tour guide who shared the great history of ghost sightings on the lot. 

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One stage that Lon Chaney used was said to be spirited, and we were told during the 1931 making of Tod Browning’s “Dracula” with Bela Lugosi, the crew would wrap for the day, then the Mexican actors and crews would come in a shoot at night.

the tour at night

Our guide shared the story of some real “Ghost Whisperer” paranormal activity.  After filming last season's finale where a car is dropped three stories and just misses Melinda Gordon, the resulting footage from the scene showed Hewitt wasn't the only one in frame on film.

the press touring Universal at night

As Jennifer walked away from the car, a man got out of one side of the car and walked off the frame the other way. The entire crew and surrounding staff during the filming swear there was never anyone in the stunt car.

Executive Producers Ian Sander, Kim Moses, and greeting us by phone, P.K. Simonds were really engaged talking with our group; their show is continually building in popularity on CBS network television and owns Friday nights.

Kitchen

Both Sander and Moses alluded to plot shifts; “Whisperer” will be scarier, edgier, and more mysterious. The town of Grandview will become its own character in the series, as the town’s evil past is resurrected. 

There is a reason Melinda moved there after all.

This upcoming Halloween episode will underline the story arc of the mysterious underground that Melinda discovers in the Grandview city archives. It will deal not only with the buried and forgotten spirits of the town but also secrets of Melinda's personal history.

The sneak preview of the Halloween episode we were shown has Melinda learning more about her half-brother Gabriel, her father, and his relationship with Gabriel's mother, put in a mental institution.