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According to Ausiello, Patricia Arquette asked for some time off, which resulted in a special story line. Jeffrey Tambor will be taking her place for the episode! Somehow, Allison DuBois hands her ability to be a medium to his character, which means that Patricia Arquette gets to skip most of the filming.
So, since we’ll probably see quite a bit of Jeffrey Tambor in this episode, I thought you might want to know more about him. According to IMDB, he’s George Bluth, Sr. from Arrested Development. (By the way, a movie is planned for 2010. Should be fun.) He’s also the guy from…well, name something. He’s probably been in it! For fans of Sofia Vassilieva, his most important role is that of Mr. Salomone, the slightly stuffy manager at The Plaza. For people who have somehow missed Eloise at the Plaza or Eloise at Christmastime, perhaps Hank Kingsley from The Larry Sanders Show will ring a bell. Still don’t recognize him? Listen to his voice. Doesn’t he sound an awful lot like:
- Mayor Augustus Maywho from How the Grinch Stole Christmas
- King Neptune from the SpongeBob SquarePants Movie
- Santa from Pooh’s Super Sleuth Christmas Movie
Yes, Jeffrey Tambor is one hard working and talented actor and, although I’ll miss seeing Patricia Arquette in most of the episode, I look forward to seeing what he does with his character on Medium sometime in May 2009.
Image: Pacific Coast News
He was also in the Threes Company spin off, The Ropers! Played their next door neighbor.
Sounds like it will be an interesting episode.
I don’t like this idea. It sounds like they could easily be heading into jumping-the-shark territory. I can understand Patricia Arquette needing to take a little time off, but surely they could have come up with a better way around it. Just shoot the show without her for a few days, but not this. The heart of the show is the family, and without Allison there, there is no family. And unless the concept of Tambor’s character being is handled correctly, it will be a big jump-the-shark moment in my mind. The only way they could conceivably handle it without going overboard is if Tambor just shows up at the DA’s office and says “I can see dead people too.” If they try to write it so that Allison “passes” her gift on to him, then it’s over. They can ask us to believe all they want they that she has this gift and can do these things, but if they ask us to believe in this kind of crap, then they’ve officially done it.
And what’s the show without Allison in it? Hopefully, it won’t be completely devoid of the family, but will merely be Dubois-lite, and we’ll still get to see them throughout the show, though not as much. I would hate watching Medium and not seeing Patricia Arquette and Jake Weber in it. That’s NOT Medium.
I like Tambor, but I hate this idea. I’ll reserve judgment on the episode until I’ve seen it, but I don’t like the concept.
Dawn, I think they can handle it creatively and do it well if they bring their “A” game to the table when they are putting it together.
Frequently shows that have been on as long as Medium will often give their secondary characters a chance to shine in later years and show-off those characters for most of an episode. Perhaps that is the way they will handle this ep by showing more Scanlon and Devalos throughout the episode and this new Medium who comes to town or suddenly finds himself with this gift. Maybe it will turn out to be a dream! Allison gets fed up one day and daydreams about passing her “gift” to someone else for a while.
Murder She Wrote and Magnum PI both had episodes where the main characters either weren’t seen at all or only in the first few minutes of the show, or by voice over only. Not sure if there were contract disputes at the time or illness or just the main characters needing some time off.
Not having Patricia on ‘Medium’ is like not having peanuts in peanut butter.
I am so happy that cbs picked up medium I just started watching it this year and fell in love witht he show. Then it was final season I was like oh no. But then I read cbs was picking it up and I was so happy. NBC lost CBS gain
I just wondered is Patricia is ill, or had an accident.
I love the show and am so happy CBS picked it up.
In the last show she was on a cane and having trouble with her right hand.
I hope she is well.
K
Hi Karen,
Her character, Allison, had health problems that involved trouble walking and problems with her hand. Patricia is such a good actress that she made it look very real!