Hewitt Pulls Triple Duty in Ghost Whisperer's "Explosive" 100th Episode

For Ghost Whisperer's star and executive producer Jennifer Love Hewitt, every day on the set is a busy one. But that didn't stop her from pulling triple duty as the director of the CBS series' 100th episode, airing Friday at 8/7c.

"It was definitely daunting and definitely nerve-racking, but I was really excited and honored to get to do it," Hewitt says. "Having been on the show and worked this hard on it, it was really nice to be in control of such a big episode."

Ghost Whisperer producers talks 100th episode

Executive producers Kim Moses and Ian Sander said asking Hewitt to direct was a "no-brainer" after her past success behind the camera.

"When the new season came, she of course wanted to direct again and, frankly, we insisted that she direct again because she did such a good job," Sander says. "When we started talking about the 100th episode and that we wanted it to be special ... it seemed like a natural to have her direct it."

In the episode, titled "Implosion" and written by series creator John Gray, Melinda must race against a ticking clock when a ghost tells her that a bomb has gotten into the wrong hands. Although this is now Hewitt's third time in the director's chair, she says she explored a lot of new territory in the action-intense episode. "There are some big explosions in the episode which are really fun. I had never done those before as a director or as an actor," Hewitt says. "I had no idea quite how explosive it was going to be on all angles."

See photos from Ghost Whisperer

The series' 100th episode is not only explosive because of a bomb, but because of the bomb's aftermath, namely a major character's death. The series' creative team is understandably tight-lipped about the character's identity.

"Just because it's a death, doesn't mean that it's the end of the character. I wouldn't necessarily count on that," Sander says. "We have actors that fortunately have a very good time on our show and we try to explain to them, the best way to recur is to die."

No matter if said character returns to Grandview or not, Hewitt says the death will have long-term repercussions. "The death means possible deaths for others," she says.

It is only fitting the episode deals with the death of a major character on a show that deals with mortality so openly week after week — an attribute to which the producers credit the series' success. "The concept of the show is a universal theme; everybody in the world would like one more chance to reconnect with somebody they love who has passed away," Moses says.