Medium (TV series)
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| Medium | |
|---|---|
| Format | Drama |
| Created by | Glenn Gordon Caron |
| Starring | see below |
| Country of origin |  United States |
| No. of seasons | 4 |
| No. of episodes | 76 (List of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Running time | approx. 45 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | NBC |
| Picture format | 480i (SDTV), 1080i (HDTV) |
| Original run | January 3, 2005 – present |
| External links | |
| Official website | |
| IMDb profile | |
| TV.com summary | |
Medium is an American drama television series which premiered on NBC on January 3, 2005. The series is about Allison DuBois (Patricia Arquette) who acts as a research medium for the Phoenix, Arizona, district attorney's office. The show is based on experiences from self-proclaimed spiritual medium Allison DuBois, who has claimed to have worked with law enforcement agencies across the country in criminal investigations.
Medium is created by Glenn Gordon Caron and produced by Picturemaker Productions and Grammnet Productions in association with CBS Paramount Television.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
Allison DuBois (Patricia Arquette) is a strong-willed mother of three, a devoted wife, and law student who begins to suspect that she can talk to dead people, see the future in her dreams, and read people's thoughts. Fearing for her mental health, she turns for support to her husband Joe (Jake Weber), an aerospace engineer, who slowly comes to believe that what his wife is telling him just might be true, upon discovering that some of her dreams match the details of a murder in Texas.
The real challenge is convincing her boss, D.A. Devalos (Miguel Sandoval) — and the other doubters in the criminal justice system — that her psychic abilities can give them the upper hand when it comes to solving violent and horrifying crimes, whose mysteries often reside with those who lie beyond the grave. Information on certain people or crimes come to her in dreams or visions in cryptic forms, and never really mean what they seem to.
All of her daughters appear to have inherited their mother's gift, with Ariel (Sofia Vassilieva) and Bridgette (Maria Lark) also having visions or dreams, which usually occur when their mother is in a bind in searching for answers to her own dreams. In Season 3, Allison's youngest daughter, Marie (Madison and Miranda Carabello), is also shown to be paranormally inclined. Currently, she has only been shown to watch a premium TV channel that the family does not subscribe to, as well as reading the mind of her optometrist in order to pass her sight test. Bridgette never appears to be bothered by her abilities, while Ariel usually has a harder time trying to cope with a gift she knows very little about.
Allison's younger half brother, Michael "Lucky", has the family gift too, but doesn't like to acknowledge it much, since it always seems to bring him trouble.
Allison is often accompanied by Det. Lee Scanlon (David Cubitt), who initially did not believe that she had a "gift". Allison often bends the rules of the law when she is determined to stop a crime about which she's had a vision from happening. Allison has also helped and been helped by Captain Kenneth Push of the Texas Rangers (Arliss Howard), who is the first law-enforcement person to whom Allison revealed her gift.
[edit] Cast and crew
[edit] Cast
| Actor/Actress | Character | Role | Notes | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Patricia Arquette | Allison DuBois | Medium assisting the District Attorney of Phoenix, private attorneys, police & investigators | Protagonist | Season 1 - present |
| Jake Weber | Joe DuBois | Aerospace Engineer | Allison's husband | |
| Miguel Sandoval | Manuel Devalos | former District Attorney of Phoenix, now defense attorney | Allison's boss | |
| Sofia Vassilieva | Ariel DuBois | — | Eldest DuBois daughter | |
| Maria Lark | Bridgette DuBois | — | Middle DuBois daughter | |
| David Cubitt | Lee Scanlon | Detective | Allison's coworker | Season 1 (recurring), Season 2 - present |
| Tina DiJoseph | Lynn DiNovi | Mayor's Liaison, later Deputy Mayor | Lee's girlfriend | Season 1 - present (recurring) |
| Madison Carabello | Marie DuBois | — | Youngest DuBois daughter | Season 1 - present (recurring) |
| Miranda Carabello | ||||
| Ryan Hurst | Michael "Lucky" Benoit | — | Allison's half-brother | Season 1 - 3 (recurring) |
| Arliss Howard | Kenneth Push | Captain of Texas Rangers | — | Season 1 - 3 (recurring) |
| Bruce Gray | Mr. Dubois | Joe's father | Ghost appearing in dreams | Season 1 - present (recurring) |
| Kathy Baker | Mrs. Dubois | Joe's mother | — | Season 1 - present (recurring) |
| Anjelica Huston | Cynthia Keener | AmeriTips investigator | Allison's employer | Season 4 (recurring) |
[edit] Crew
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Principal Writers:
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Principal Directors:
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[edit] Notable guest stars
[edit] Episodes
[edit] Reception
[edit] Ratings
Despite a strong second-season finish in the ratings, and Arquette's Emmy win, Medium was missing from NBC's Fall 2006 schedule. The series was slated to return in early 2007, however on October 13, 2006, it was announced that production would resume immediately for a third season start-up on November 15, 2006, replacing the time slot vacated by Kidnapped.[1] Its move to the Wednesday time slot opposite CBS' CSI: NY and ABC's Lost lead to some ratings erosion, in comparison to the ratings success of the first two seasons, with year-end ratings for the third season dipping into single-digit millions of viewers.[2][3] Despite the ratings decline on Wednesdays, the series was seen by the network as a reliable self-starter, building on its then lead-in Crossing Jordan.[4] The ratings decline put the series on the bubble for renewal, but the series showed signs of life when NBC requested six additional scripts on April 19, 2007.[3]
Renewal for a fourth season of Medium was announced on May 7, 2007, with an undetermined premier date and number of episodes.[5][6] It was the seventh series to be renewed by the network, behind solid performers Heroes and Law & Order: SVU.[4] One week later, the network announced that Medium would move to the Sundays at 9 p.m. time slot upon its return in January 2008.[7] News on the series' return did not come until December 6, 2007 when NBC announced that the fourth season would begin on January 7 in its original time slot, Mondays at 10 p.m. EST,[8] despite the WGA Strike of 2007, which forced the show to cease production, allowing for only nine segments/episodes to be filmed.[9] This seems to be a pattern for NBC, scheduling mid-season shows in time periods where they were previously successful: Law & Order returning to Wednesdays at 10 and The Apprentice back on Thursdays at 9:00 p.m.[10]
NBC made an early announcement regarding its 2008-09 season and with the ratings improvement Medium demonstrated in its fourth season after returning to Mondays, it was one of the first series to be renewed in an announcement released by the studio on April 2, 2008.[11] As of the press release, Medium will air Sundays at 9 p.m. EST beginning in early 2009.
[edit] Seasonal ratings/NBC broadcast history
Seasonal rankings (based on average total viewers per episode) of Medium on NBC.
Note: Each U.S. network television season starts in late September and ends in late May, which coincides with the completion of May sweeps. Times mentioned in this section are in North American Eastern Time.
| Season | Time slot | Season premiere | Season finale | TV season | Season rank |
Viewers (in millions) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Monday 10:00 pm | January 3, 2005 | May 23, 2005 | 2004-2005 | #19 | 13.9 [12] |
| 2 | September 19, 2005 | May 22, 2006 | 2005-2006 | #35 | 11.2 [13] | |
| 3 | Wednesday 10:00 pm | November 15, 2006 | May 16, 2007 | 2006-2007 | #61 | 8.5 [2] |
| 4 | Monday 10:00 pm | January 7, 2008 | May 12, 2008 | 2007-2008 | #41 | 10.4[14] |
| 5 | Sunday 9:00 pm ¤ | January 2009 ¤ | — | 2008-2009 | — | — |
¤ indicates information that is subject to change
The series began an off-network syndication run on the cable network Lifetime on March 26, 2006.
[edit] Awards
| Year | Group | Award | Result | Recipient(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | BMI Film & TV Awards | BMI TV Music Award | Won | Mychael Danna, Jeff Beal |
| Emmy Award | Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series | Won | Patricia Arquette | |
| Imagen Foundation Awards | Best Actor - Television | Nominated | Miguel Sandoval | |
| Satellite Award | Outstanding Actress in a Series, Drama | Nominated | Patricia Arquette | |
| Outstanding Actor in a Series, Drama | Nominated | Jake Weber | ||
| 2006 | ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards | ASCAP Award - Top TV Series | Won | Sean Callery |
| Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films | Saturn Award - Best Actress in a Television Program | Nominated | Patricia Arquette | |
| Golden Globes | Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Drama | Nominated | Patricia Arquette | |
| Motion Picture Sound Editors | Golden Reel Award - Best Sound Editing in Television Short Form - Music | Won | Robert Cotnoir (music editor) For "The Song Remains the Same" | |
| Screen Actors Guild | Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series | Nominated | Patricia Arquette | |
| Young Artist Awards | Best Performance in a TV Series (Drama) - Supporting Young Actress | Won | Sofia Vassilieva | |
| Best Performance in a TV Series (Comedy or Drama) - Young Actress Age Ten or Younger | Nominated | Maria Lark | ||
| 2007 | ALMA Awards | Outstanding Supporting Actor - Television Series, Mini-Series or Television Movie | Nominated | Miguel Sandoval |
| Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films | Saturn Award - Best Actress in a Television Program | Nominated | Patricia Arquette | |
| Emmy Award | Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series | Nominated | Patricia Arquette | |
| Golden Globes | Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Drama | Nominated | Patricia Arquette | |
| Screen Actors Guild | Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series | Nominated | Patricia Arquette | |
| 2008 | Golden Globes | Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Drama | Nominated | Patricia Arquette |
[edit] DVD releases
[edit] References
- ^ Medium and 3 lb. Set November Premiers. Zap2It.com. Retrieved on 2008-03-09.
- ^ a b "2006-07 primetime wrap", Hollywood Reporter, May 25, 2007.
- ^ a b A Good Omen for Medium - No pickup yet, but NBC asks for more scripts. Zap2It.com. Retrieved on 2008-03-09.
- ^ a b NBC Foresees Medium Renewal - Show gets fourth season in 2007-08. Zap2It.com. Retrieved on 2008-03-09.
- ^ Medium: NBC Renews Patricia Arquette Series. TVSeriesFinale.com. Retrieved on 2007-05-07.
- ^ Prime-time Premonition: NBC Brings Back Medium. TVGuide.com. Retrieved on 2007-05-07.
- ^ NBC Has Flair for the Dramatic. Zap2It.com. Retrieved on 2008-03-09.
- ^ NBC Slots 'Medium,' Firms Up Schedule. Zap2It.com. Retrieved on 2008-03-09.
- ^ Strike Chart. TVGuide.com. Retrieved on 2007-11-09.
- ^ NBC ROLLS OUT A FULL SLATE OF ORIGINAL PROGRAMMING FOR THE FIRST QUARTER OF 2008. thefutoncritic.com. Retrieved on 2007-12-06.
- ^ NBC Fall Lineup 08/09. TVGuide.com. Retrieved on 2008-04-02.
- ^ "2004-05 Primetime Wrap", Hollywood Reporter, May 27, 2005.
- ^ "2005-06 Primetime Wrap", Hollywood Reporter, May 26, 2006.
- ^ Season Program Rankings. ABC Medianet (2008-05-28). Retrieved on 2008-06-02.
