by Amy Amatangelo

David Conrad wants fans of CBS’ “Ghost Whisperer” to know there’s no reason to panic.

Earlier this month, Conrad’s character Jim was murdered. But, in keeping with the series’ paranormal bent, Jim entered Sam’s (Kenneth Mitchell) deceased body. Now his beloved wife Melinda (Jennifer Love Hewitt) must help Sam (who is really Jim) through his amnesia.

“I’m not going anywhere,” Conrad said. “I am there most of the time.”

Executive producer P.K. Simonds promised that viewers will see Conrad, and not actor Kenneth Mitchell, who plays Sam, 99 percent of the time.

Conrad said the controversial story line finally gave him a chance to do something different.

“I think actually it’s an exciting development instead of going through the same kind of trope that we usually do, which is nice but somewhat predictable. Look, after three years, Love and I were like, ‘Oh, no, another kitchen scene.’ We kiss each other and its, ‘OK, honey, I’ll give you a back rub,’ end of show,” he said. “It’s kind of cool for us to walk out and do a scene that we’ve never done before, and I think that will reflect in the show.”

The Pittsburgh native said the story that will unfold over the rest of the season is akin to a prequel.

“I get to play the part we never got to play at all, which was, I meet this stranger who I am really attracted to. They get to date, flirt, fall back in love with each other, and that’s thrilling.”

Conrad has been preparing himself for his character’s demise since filming the pilot.

“I thought, you know what, at some point they are going to hand me a pink slip,” he said. “But I didn’t know it would be in such a creative and kind of cool way. I thought somehow I was going to become sort of ghostly, and I kind of looked forward to it, and I have to say I think Jim kind of looked forward to it. From the pilot, he was always fascinated by what’s on the other side.”

Simonds said the plot will finally allow the show to tap into the full complement of Conrad’s talent.

“David is an amazing actor, and one of the reasons that we were excited about doing this in the first place is that we knew we had an actor that could do a lot more than frankly we were asking him to do.”

Both Simonds and Conrad are aware that many fans haven’t yet made peace with the story line.

“You feel bad because you don’t want the audience to feel bad,” Simonds said. “You don’t set out to do that, ever. But at the same time, we knew where we were going with it, and we were sure for the fans who stuck around, it would be a worthwhile journey for them.”