Article From The London Free Press

[Trotter]

Thanks to Jim for sending me this.....

From The London Free Press - November 26, 2006

Medium still a good fit

Sun, November 26, 2006
The psychic cop drama is back on NBC and CTV after a brief hiatus.

By BILL BRIOUX, SUN MEDIA


Marshall McLuhan once observed, "the medium is the message."
Not sure what the famed Canadian media prof would have made of Medium, the NBC psychic cop drama just back from a brief hiatus. (Medium airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. on NBC; CTV picked up the series last Wednesday at 8 p.m., sliding it into the slot vacated by hiatus-bound Lost).
McLuhan might have suggested to NBC and other networks that since the medium is the message, moving a show around and yanking it off your schedule for several months just might send t he wrong message to viewers.
Why did NBC sit Medium? The plan was to allow rookie shows like Kidnapped, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip and Friday Night Lights to find their footing. As those shows quickly slipped, NBC went to Plan B -- bring back Medium.
For those who've already forgotten, Patricia Arquette stars as Allison DuBois, a young wife and mother who sees dead people. (The character is based on a real police psychic with the same name.) She takes her psychic abilities to the local district attorney's office, where she works part-time as a researcher helping DA Manuel Devalos (Miguel Sandoval) and detective Lee Scanlon (Canadian David Cubitt) solve violent and often mysterious crimes.
The third-year drama returned this month with a two-hour episode featuring Arquette's real-life hubby, actor Thomas Clay. He played a ghost and ex-flame of DuBois who decides to hang around her house. Naturally, this spooks her otherwise very understanding hubby, Joe (Jake Weber).
Executive producer Glenn Gordon Caron (Moonlighting) raved about Clay's guest star stint. "He is simply electric in the role. The chemistry between Thomas and Patricia is palpable."
What are the chances of Clay appearing in future episodes? Pretty good, you'd have to think. It's not like they can kill his character off or anything.
The episode, which was written by Caron, also featured a new wrinkle: animation (from Van Partible, the cartoon head behind Johnny Bravo). Seems DuBois' adorable daughter, Bridgette (played by Maria Lark, one of three very natural child stars on the series), has psychic dreams just like mom -- except hers are in cartoon form.
This showy move seems calculated to attract younger viewers. Caron called it the perfect reintroduction of the series.
"If you are a diehard Medium fan," he said, "you are in for a unique and thrilling experience."
It's not the first time Medium has experimented with the medium. A 3-D Ghost Vision episode aired last season.
Beyond all the new razzmatazz, the series always stood out as one of the quietest shows on television. The domestic scenes between Allison and Joe ("Honey -- did you have a bad dream?") seem intimate, realistic and relatable. The show dares to explore the mundane, whether in the kitchen or the bedroom.
Despite that low-key approach, Medium got off to a fast start, with Arquette earning a best-actress Emmy award 16 episodes into the series.
Then a little show called Ghost Whisperer -- starring sexy Jennifer Love Hewitt as a similar psychic ghostbuster -- started to grab all the ink.
The battle of the ghost shows resulted in Medium starting this season on the sidelines. Why? It doesn't take a psychic to figure it out. Medium, which airs on NBC, is not an NBC production. It is produced by Paramount Television, a division of CBS -- the network that airs Ghost Whisperer .
When push comes to shove, why should NBC prop up a CBS show? Joe Pantoliano just levelled the same charge at CBS, which dumped his upcoming midseason series Waterfront before it premiered.
Pantoliano says Waterfront -- about a corrupt Baltimore mayor -- was cancelled because it was a Warner Bros. show. CBS gave its November midseason berth to Stanley Tucci's new drama 3 lbs, suggests Pantoliano, because it is produced by Paramount/CBS.
Why does this matter? If the show is a hit, the network and studio both participate in massive profits.
Networks won't always yank other network-produced shows. Fox is just fine with keeping NBC- produced House on its schedule. A hit like that is always welcome, no matter who produced it.
Medium isn't quite at a House level and that kept it off screens or two months this fall.
Hopefully, Arquette and company will get a chance to rebuild their audience -- a ghost of a chance, at least.

[andrew r]

I didn't know that about GW and Medium. Thanks for the info Jim and for posting it Dave

[SarahLove]

Thanks for sharing the news guys....

[Looking4Love]

I like both shows, and it's Thomas Jane, not Thomas Clay.

[Looking4Love]

And thanks for sharing, btw !

[John Lennon]

GW seems getting bigger attention than Medium

[Trotter]

I'm glad you enjoyed reading it.....