Patricia Arquette’s acclaimed performances in HBO’s “Boardwalk Empire,” Hulu’s “The Act,” and Apple’s “Severance” are widely acknowledged, but it was her portrayal of Allison DuBois in the supernatural procedural drama series “Medium” that first helped her make a mark in the world of television. Arquette’s Allison is a suburban mom who can talk to the dead, foresee tragedies, and witness the past in dreams. She uses her gifts to aid law enforcement while working with District Attorney Manuel Devalos (Miguel Sandoval), who is initially skeptical of her claims.
“Medium” was a hit for NBC when it debuted on Monday January 3, 2005, pulling in 16.1 million viewers and scoring big in the Nielsen ratings with a 6.3/16 in the 18-49 category. This was NBC’s best viewership haul and its top 18-49 rating for a Monday premiere since the debut of the forgotten ’90s sitcom “Someone Like Me” over a decade earlier. While “Someone Like Me” was canned before it saw out its first season, “Medium” went on to air for five seasons on NBC before it moved to CBS for two additional seasons, racking up 130 episodes in total.
Arquette’s performances in “Medium” (which was created by Glenn Gordon Caron, who had previously forced ABC to cast Bruce Willis in his show “Moonlighting” after seeing something special in the then-up-and-coming actor) earned her a lot of praise at the time. The Chicago native won a Primetime Emmy for outstanding lead actress in a drama series in 2005 and she went on to receive several other nominations for “Medium” over the years, including at the Golden Globes and the Saturn Awards.
Medium feels like a grittier version of Ghost Whisperer
In TVLine’s ranking of the best shows about ghosts, “Medium” sits right above “Ghost Whisperer,” the Jennifer Love Hewitt-led CBS show which also focuses on a woman who can communicate with the dead. On the surface, the two have a lot in common, and they will forever be linked in the minds of viewers: After “Medium” switched to CBS, it got the Friday 9PM slot right after “Ghost Whisperer.” However, the truth is that they were very different shows.
“Ghost Whisperer” was beloved for its sentimental approach to its supernatural subject matter. “Medium,” on the other hand, excelled due to its deft blend of the paranormal and the everyday. The gritty police cases are balanced well against Allison’s gifts, which are often met with disdain by those around her. The cases felt more inventive as the seasons progressed, though they never ventured too far into the fantastical.
Naturally, there was some competition between the two shows at the time. On fan forums, the general consensus was that “Medium” was more believable and better executed. “‘Medium’ is far more varied and generally a much more mature vision, which I prefer,” said one viewer on RPGnet, with another adding, “‘Medium,’ hands down. The plots are much more interesting and plausible, if you can use that word for a show about talking to ghosts.”
