Medium (series)

This archive article is protected from further editing.

Medium
Title card for Medium
Also known as	A Paranormal(Brazil) Ghost and Crime(South Korea)
Genre	Supernatural Thriller Procedural Crime
Created by	Glenn Gordon Caron
Written by	Glenn Gordon Caron (head writer) René Echevarria Moira Kirland Melinda Hsu Robert Doherty Diane Ademu-John Javier Grillo-Marxuach Craig Sweeny
Directed by	Various
Starring	Patricia Arquette Jake Weber Sofia Vassilieva Maria Lark Miguel Sandoval David Cubitt See More Below
Narrated by	Patricia Arquette
Opening theme	Mychael Danna
Ending theme	Sean Callery
Composer(s)	Sean Callery
Country of origin	United States
Language(s)	English
No. of seasons	Seven
No. of episodes	130
Production
Executive producer(s)	Glenn Gordon Caron Kelsey Grammer Ronald L. Schwary René Echevarria Steve Stark
Running time	Approx. 45 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	NBC (2005-2009) Lifetime (2006-???) Sci-Fi (UK) CBS (2009-2011)
Picture format	480i (SDTV) 1080i (HDTV)
Original run	January 5, 2005 – January 21, 2011
External links
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

Medium is an American television drama series that premiered on NBC on January 3, 2005, ending its run on that network on June 1, 2009. The series then moved to CBS on September 25, 2009, airing its final episode overall on January 21, 2011.

Themed on supernatural gifts, its lead character, Allison DuBois (played by Patricia Arquette), is a medium employed as a consultant for the Phoenix, Arizona district attorney's office. Allison and her husband Joe (Jake Weber) are the parents of three daughters, all of whom inherited Allison's gift. The show was initially based on the experiences of medium Allison DuBois, who claims she has worked with law enforcement agencies across the country in criminal investigations.

Medium was created by Glenn Gordon Caron and was produced by his company Picturemaker Productions and Kelsey Grammer's Grammnet Productions in association with Paramount Television from 2005–06, CBS Paramount Television from 2006–09 (after the split of Viacom and CBS Corporation), and finally CBS Television Studios from 2009 until the series ended.

The series aired on NBC during its first five seasons before switching to CBS for the sixth and seventh seasons. The production division of CBS had assumed production of Medium in 2006 after absorbing the television arm of the Paramount Pictures film studio. Paramount's home entertainment arm still held DVD distribution rights in conjunction with CBS DVD.

On December 21, 2010, CBS announced that the show had been canceled after seven seasons. The series finale aired exactly a month later.

Summary

Allison DuBois (Patricia Arquette), a mother of three, has the gift of being able to talk to dead people, as well as foresee events and witness past events in her dreams. When she begins working for Phoenix District Attorney Manuel Devalos (Miguel Sandoval) as an intern, she has a dream related to a murder in Texas, the successful solving of which convinces Devalos and others working in the D.A.'s office – as well as herself and her husband Joe (Jake Weber) – that her gift is real.

One challenge is convincing Devalos — and other doubters in the criminal justice system — that her psychic abilities can give them the upper hand when it comes to solving crimes. Information comes to her in dreams or in cryptic visions that sometimes do not mean what they initially suggest. The other is convincing Joe that her nightmares are visions based in reality and that she's not simply neurotic.

In police investigations, Allison often accompanies Det. Lee Scanlon (David Cubitt), who initially did not believe in her gift. Allison sometimes bends the rules when she is determined to stop a crime about which she has had a vision. Additionally, Allison has helped and been helped by Captain Kenneth Push of the Texas Rangers (Arliss Howard), the first law-enforcement person to whom Allison revealed her gift, and Cynthia Keener (Anjelica Huston) of AmeriTips, a nationwide private detective agency. In season four, it was revealed that Cynthia had a missing daughter. Allison's dreams showed that Cynthia's daughter was dead. Cynthia made a choice to kill the murderer of her daughter and go to prison. Cynthia later appeared in season five to help Allison on a case. Also during this season, it was revealed that Lynn DiNovi (Tina DiJoseph), Lee's live-in lover and an assistant to the Mayor of Phoenix, had become pregnant with Lee's child. In the season five finale, Allison discovers that she has a tumor on her brainstem. To prevent the brutal murders of her family in the future, Allison risked her life as she postponed the critical surgery fearing it would prevent her from solving the case. During her operation the tumor was successfully removed, except for a small piece deeply embedded in her brainstem, Joe is told that Allison is in a coma and may not survive.

In the sixth season premiere episode, Allison awoke from the coma and was suffering the consequences of postponing the surgery. Allison's psychic abilities slowly begin to resurface as a form of déjà vu. At the end of the episode, Allison is also slowly recovering her physical abilities.

Since the season six premiere, eldest daughter Ariel (Sofia Vassilieva) has taken the role of nurturing her siblings Bridgette (Maria Lark) and Marie (Carabello twins). Ariel also falls victim to a body possession, from which she recovers with Allison's help. After her surgery, Allison gets back to her normal routine working alongside Devalos and Lee, with possible side effects of her surgery affecting her dreams. Also, Lee proposes to Lynn. As the season progresses, Ariel's transformation from a young girl into a mature woman was shown in the episode "Time Keeps on Slippin'", where she solves a crime in the future. In the season finale, Allison receives a letter from her neurologist that she needs to be seen about her brain tumor. Meanwhile, Ariel also receives an acceptance letter from a university away from home. The episode begins when Joe awakens to Allison dead in their bed, having died from her tumor during the night. As the family mourns her death, Allison contacts Ariel from the other side, asking her to do one last thing for her before she passes on. However, Ariel decides to follow her own path. She turns to alcohol and leaves Phoenix without telling anyone. Suddenly, Allison awakens in her bed alive, the same morning Joe found her dead. At the end of the episode, Allison, Joe, Ariel, Devalos and his wife Lily, are seen celebrating Lynn and Lee's wedding, all toasting to their bright futures.

In the seventh and final season, a division is created between Allison and Joe because of their desired career paths. At work, Manuel wants to run for Mayor but fears the publicity of his daughter's suicide will be used against his family; however, Lily agrees to help him campaign. Allison wishes to go back to law school because she may lose her job if Manuel is elected. Meanwhile, Joe wants to obtain an MBA, but they cannot afford for both of them to attend school. Despite Allison's wishes, Joe enrolls in school, not knowing that Allison has done the same. In the episode, "Native Tongue" Allison cannot understand any word said to her, testing Joe's patience. At the end of the episode, the two reconcile, but Joe's unhappiness is still evident. Ariel leaves for college. Scanlon's brother's ghost comes to entice him into doing wrong.

Scanlon's actions nearly end his relationship with Allison. In the episode "Blood on the Tracks", Joe's mother Marjorie has been diagnosed with brain cancer. When Joe sees his mother in the hospital, she tells him she's been reassured by Allison, who had lied to her in season four's "Burn Baby Burn" about her chances of survival. That same night, Marjorie dies and Allison and the kids join Joe in Michigan, who is staying at Marjorie's home. In the middle of the night, Allison is visited by Marjorie's ghost who warns her of upcoming "darkness" in her life, but before she can elaborate, Joe enters the room and Marjorie disappears, leaving Allison in fear of the darkness to come.

In the series finale, Allison receives a phone call from Joe in the midst of a plane crash that leaves no survivors. The episode cuts to seven years later, at which time Allison is an attorney building a case against a Mexican drug dealer. Allison and Marie, now a teenager, live alone. Marie cannot forgive her father for never visiting them as a ghost, something that has plagued Allison all these years. Through her dreams, Allison sees that Joe never died, but washed up on the coast of Mexico with amnesia. A crooked cop had concealed Joe's past and was using him as an unsuspecting drug mule to transport narcotics. Against Devalos' orders, Allison strikes a deal with the drug dealer to learn Joe's location. The two are reunited, but at this point Allison wakes up in the present to see Joe's ghost. He informs her that his plane's engine failed after it departed Hawaii and that no one survived the crash. Joe sent Allison a dream of her life seven years in the future to show her that she could live an enriching, independent life. However, Allison's love for Joe overpowered the original vision and crafted an alternate reality in which she found Joe alive. Joe's ghost leaves as Allison cries, unable to accept her husband's death. The episode cuts to 41 years later, showcasing photos of the life that Allison has had. As Allison listens to a voice mail from her great-granddaughter, she slumps in her chair. In death, she is reunited with Joe, who has waited for her, and they kiss.

Family

All of Allison's daughters appear to have inherited her gift. Ariel and Bridgette have visions or dreams, which usually occur when their mother is searching for answers to her own dreams. In the third season, Marie also begins to exhibit paranormal abilities. She has been shown viewing a premium TV channel that the family does not subscribe to, reading the mind of her optometrist to pass her eye exam, and unknowingly using paper dolls to predict the future of her father's company. In the fifth season, Marie has her first psychic dream, where she sees herself on stage with stage fright during a school play. In earlier seasons, Bridgette appears not to be bothered by her abilities, but during the fourth season she has moments of frustration when trying to understand her visions or communicate them to her parents. Ariel has a harder time coping with her developing gifts.

The second season episode, "Sweet Child O'Mine", reveals that Allison and Joe lost their first child, a boy they planned to name Bryan. Around the anniversary of his loss each year, Allison has dreams of a life where Bryan had grown up as a part of the family, though often in these dreams he dies in front of her.

Allison's younger half-brother, Michael (nicknamed "Lucky"), has the family gift, too, but does not like to acknowledge it. Initially, Allison believed the gift had skipped a generation and her mother had had no psychic abilities. However, she later discovers that her mother had always possessed the gift but had repressed it.

In the season six finale, Ariel expresses the same feelings that Allison and Allison's mother once did and tries to deny her psychic abilities with alcohol.

Cast and Crew

Cast

Actor/Actress	Character	Role	Notes	Duration
Patricia Arquette	Allison DuBois	The Medium	Protagonist	Season 1 - present
Jake Weber	Joe DuBois	Allison's husband	Engineer
Miguel Sandoval	Manuel Devalos	Allison's boss	District Attorney of Phoenix
Sofia Vassilieva	Ariel DuBois	Oldest DuBois daughter
Maria Lark	Bridgette DuBois	Middle DuBois daughter
Madison and Miranda Carabello	Marie DuBois	Youngest DuBois daughter		Season 1 - present (recurring)
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)
Ryan Hurst	Michael "Lucky" Benoit	Allison's half-brother		Season 1 - 3 (recurring)
Arliss Howard	Kenneth Push	Captain of the Texas Rangers		Season 1 - 3 (recurring)
Holliston Coleman	Hannah	Ariel's best friend		Season 1 - (recurring)
Bruce Gray	Mr. Dubois	Joe's father	Ghost	Season 1 - (recurring)
Kathy Baker	Marjorie DuBois	Joe's mother		Season 1 - (recurring)
Kurtwood Smith	Edward Cooper	FBI Agent (deceased)	Ghost	Season 3 - (recurring)
John Prosky	Tom Van Dyke	Former District Attorney (deceased)	Manuel's Rival	Season 3 & 4 (recurring)
Anjelica Huston	Cynthia Keener	Allison's employer	AmeriTips investigator	Season 4 & 5 (recurring)
Annamarie Kenoyer	Ashley Whitaker	Ariel's Friend		Season 5 - ??? (recurring)

Crew

Executive Producers:

• Glenn Gordon Caron
• Kelsey Grammer
• Ronald L. Schwary
• René Echevarria
• Steve Stark

Principal Writers:

• Glenn Gordon Caron (head writer)
• René Echevarria
• Moira Kirland
• Melinda Hsu
• Robert Doherty
• Diane Ademu-John
• Javier Grillo-Marxuach
• Craig Sweeny

Principal Directors:

• Glenn Gordon Caron
• Vincent Misiano
• Aaron Lipstadt
• Duane Clark
• Arliss Howard
• Peter Werner
• Ronald L. Schwary
• Arlene Sanford

Notable guest stars

David Arquette Richmond Arquette Rosanna Arquette Allyce Beasley Morena Baccarin Neve Campbell David Carradine Steven Culp Blythe Danner Gretchen Egolf Oded Fehr Miguel Ferrer Noel Fisher Willie Garson

Rebecca Gayheart Balthazar Getty Peri Gilpin Adam Goldberg Kelsey Grammer Michael Gross Gregory Itzin Thomas Jane Wallace Langham Chad Lowe David Morse Marianne Muellerleile Conor O'Farrell Cassandra Peterson

James Van Der Beek Tracy Pollan Kelly Preston Jason Priestley Molly Ringwald Jessy Schram

Mark Sheppard Eric Stoltz Jeffrey Tambor Nancy Travis Rumer Willis Kay Panabaker Johnny Pacar Kyle Gallner Natalie Zea Derek Magyar

Seasonal ratings/broadcast history

Seasonal rankings (based on average total viewers per episode) of Medium.

Note: Each U.S. network television season generally starts in late September and ends in late May (except for the fifth season), which coincides with the completion of May sweeps. Times mentioned in this section are in Eastern Time.

Season	Network	Time slot	Season premiere	Season finale	Episode count	TV season	Season rank	Viewers (in millions)
1	NBC	Monday 10:00 pm	January 3, 2005	May 23, 2005	16	2004–2005	#19	13.9
2			September 19, 2005	May 22, 2006	22	2005–2006	#31	11.2
3		Wednesday 10:00 pm	November 15, 2006	May 16, 2007	22	2006–2007	#51	8.3
4		Monday 10:00 pm	January 7, 2008	May 12, 2008	16	2007–2008	#41	10.47
5			February 2, 2009	June 1, 2009	19	2008–2009	#61	8.45
6	CBS	Friday 9:00 pm	September 25, 2009	May 21, 2010	22	2009–2010	#53	7.79
7		Friday 8:00 pm	September 24, 2010	January 21, 2011	13	2010–2011	#57	7.8

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
	Young Artist Awards	Best Performance in a TV Series (Comedy or Drama) – Young Actress Age Ten or Younger	Won	Maria Lark
2008	BMI Film & TV Awards	BMI TV Music Award	Won	Mychael Danna
	Golden Globes	Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series – Drama	Nominated	Patricia Arquette
	Emmy Award	Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series	Nominated	Anjelica Huston
	TV Land Awards	Favorite Character From the Other Side	Nominated	Patricia Arquette
2010	Screen Actors Guild	Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series	Nominated	Patricia Arquette

DVD releases

CBS DVD (distributed by Paramount) has released the first 4 seasons of Medium on DVD in Regions 1, 2 & 4. Season 5 was released in Region 1 on October 6, 2009. CBS DVD (distributed by Paramount) has released all 7 seasons of Medium on DVD in Regions 1, 2 & 4.

Season	Ep #	Discs	Release dates				Bonus material (Region 1)
			Region 1	Region 2 (UK)	Region 2 (GER)	Region 4
1	16	5	June 13, 2006	August 14, 2006	November 2, 2006	September 7, 2006	Extended version of the "Pilot", cast and crew commentaries on select episodes, deleted scenes on select episodes, The Making of Medium, The Story of Medium, Interpreting Allison DeBois, gag reel, TV spots.
2	22	6	October 3, 2006	July 9, 2007	September 6, 2007	June 6, 2007	Deleted scenes, cast and crew commentaries on select episodes, The Story of Medium Season 2, Medium in Another Dimension, A Day in the Life of the Dubois Daughters, The Museum of Television & Radio Q&A with Cast and Creative Team, gag reel.
3	22	6	October 16, 2007	July 7, 2008	November 6, 2008	July 9, 2008	Cast and crew commentaries on select episodes, Drawing on Dreams, Directing with David Arquette, Acting Is My "Racquet", The Story of Medium Season 3, gag reel, The Making of Medium Season 3.
4	16	4	September 9, 2008	June 15, 2009	September 3, 2009	June 3, 2009	Deleted scenes with commentary by Glenn Gordon Caron and Larry Teng, "Joe's Crayon Dream", "Introducing Cynthia Keener", "The Making of Medium Season 4", Gag reel
5	19	5	October 6, 2009	August 30, 2010	July 30, 2010	July 1, 2010	Script to Screen "Apocalypse...Now?", Curious Maria, The Making of Medium Season 5, Jake & Patricia Q & A
6	22	6	October 5, 2010	July 25, 2011	July 7, 2011	July 21, 2011	The Mind Behind Medium, The 100th Episode of Medium: A Celebration, Zombies on the Loose: The Making of 'Bite Me', The Music of Medium, Non-Fat Double Medium
7	13	4	June 21, 2011	July 16, 2012	July 5, 2012	July 18, 2012	The Making of Medium: Season 7, Memories of Medium, Medium: Shadows and Light, Meet Detective Lee Scanlon, Medium Around the World, Bloopers/Gag reel

Trivia

• The series began a syndication run on the cable network Lifetime on March 26, 2006.

External links

• CBS Official Medium website (defunct)
• NBC Official Medium website (defunct)
• CTV Official Medium website (defunct)
• NBC orders more Medium
• LATimes
• Medium Allmovie
• Medium Internet Movie Database
• Medium TV.com