Seeing the Dead: It's Quite a Life

By Kathy Blumenstock
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, March 2, 2008

Patricia Arquette's character sees disturbing visions of crimes, as dark images invade her sleep. This season, she confronts more ordinary challenges as well.

"She's dealing with the all-American nightmare," said Arquette, who plays psychic Allison Dubois on NBC's "Medium." "She's out of work, her husband's out of work, they have no savings -- it's what the working middle class is facing these days."

The series, in its fourth season, focuses on Allison's ability to quietly help police solve perplexing cases as her dreams pinpoint elusive evidence or foreshadow events. Bolstered by an understanding spouse (Jake Weber) and three young daughters, Allison's life straddles evil and contentment.

But this season she faces fallout from a newspaper article that reveals her work, prompting the police department to distance itself from her. Allison's frustration, coupled with her husband's recent job loss, fuels tension at home. She also is uneasy about joining forces with a jaded private eye (guest star Anjelica Huston), who harbors secrets of her own.

All the turmoil "is a way to keep things fresh," said show creator Glenn Gordon Caron. "I've always felt an obligation to keep all those involved in the show interested, and Patricia is game for almost anything."

The series was inspired by real-life medium Allison DuBois of Phoenix, who also is a consultant on the show. This season, which began in January, the show is scheduled to air original episodes through May.

Caron, who also created "Moonlighting," described "Medium" as "funny and gruesome and all about life," with an appeal that stems from viewers relating to "some piece of themselves."

Arquette, who won an Emmy in 2005 for her role, admitted the show's starkly graphic scenes "can really get to you."

"A lot of times I am not there when they film the torture or murder scenes, but of course I see them [on film] the next day," she said. "The only way [for Allison] to get through it is with the family dynamic. And she is so close to her family that when her marriage starts having difficulties, she's at a loss."

Arquette said her own nighttime visions are quite unlike her character's. "I am starting to have dreams," she said. "I feel I am coming to terms with things in my subconscious, and I have only good dreams."

MEDIUM

Mondays

10 p.m. NBC

ONLINE:"Medium" creator Glenn Gordon Caron will host a chat Monday at 1 p.m. at http://washingtonpost.com/discussions.

Super Natural

Patricia Arquette, who grew up in a commune, said she began to think more ecologically after a trip to India last fall.

"I came back realizing how much we consume and how much more we're making," she said. "In India, they live so much more environmentally."

Now, Arquette said, she's striving to be more Earth-friendly. "I'm trying to get rid of all my electric clocks, put my computer on a shut-off, [trying to] power down everything."

An admitted pack rat, Arquette said she spends her days off trying to clean her house. "I don't know how much paper a person can receive, but I'd like to cut down," she said.

-- Kathy Blumenstock

On DVD: Putting the 'Miss' in Mystery

The first three seasons of "Medium" are on DVD (Paramount, box set $133.99; each season also available separately). Other independent women shine in offbeat stories of suspense. Three of them are new on DVD from Acorn Media:

Blue Murder, Set 2 ($39.99): Detective Chief Inspector Janine Lewis (Caroline Quentin) copes with drive-by shootings and unsolved crimes while juggling single motherhood in this British TV series.

Suburban Shootout ($24.99): In this TV series, gangs of housewives from a posh London suburb tuck pistols into Tupperware and make blackmarket deals in a pub. Joyce Hazeldine (Amelia Bullmore) is caught in the darkly comic crossfire.

Housewife, 49 ($24.99): British performer Victoria Wood wrote and stars in this film about Nella Last, a World War II-era wife and mother whose fears about life's hardships, expressed in her diary, give way to a newly purposeful existence.