Fans of Medium will see a new dimension of Patricia Arquette this Monday.
That's when the supernatural drama -- timed, not coincidentally, during the November sweeps period when networks pull out the stops to attract viewers -- unveils a much-hyped experimental episode packed with spine-tingling 3-D sequences.
In a conference call with journalists, creator Glenn Gordon Caron confirms finishing touches are still being put on the episode, airing on NBC and CTV. Already millions of 3-D glasses have been distributed in North America.
"There is a learning curve, but now that people have seen it, I'm really excited about it," he says, adding they'll likely do another 3-D episode next season.
"It's quite thrilling."
Just as thrilling for Caron is that, in addition to the 3-D scenes -- the effect is used to enhance the murderous visions Arquette's psychic soccer mom, Allison DuBois, experiences -- the episode will be introduced by Rod Serling, the late overseer of The Twilight Zone.
Caron received permission from Serling's estate and his wife, Carol, to use the black-and-white footage of the producer, who died in 1975.
"It's very flattering to be allowed to do this, to use his image and take advantage of the extraordinary legacy that he has."
All of which, Caron and NBC hope, will bring more viewers to their show. "I'm always trying to do things that challenge me and coincidentally, NBC was saying, 'Let's find things that are promotable.' That's probably the most honest answer."
In the past, Caron says he's resisted such stunts as casting well-known actors in guest roles because "the show is based on the life of a real person so anything you do that reminds them they're watching an artifice works against you."
He got the idea for the 3-D episode during a conversation with Paul Reubens -- a.k.a. Pee Wee Herman -- at a party at Arquette's house.
Reubens, a pop culture aficionado, brought up Caron's attempt at mounting a 3-D episode of his '80s series Moonlighting. (Sitcoms 3rd Rock from the Sun and The Drew Carey Show are the only two other shows to utilize three-dimensional effects to goose ratings.)
While the 3-D Moonlighting never came to fruition, the memory sparked Caron's imagination.
"I thought that Medium would actually be a better fit for it because the show is really about Allison's state of mind ... You will see what she's seeing."
Two startling sequences that "jump out," so to speak, in Caron's mind involve "a butcher's cleaver thrown across a kitchen ... And there's a moment later on in the show where a woman's being buried alive and her hand reaches out and comes out into your living room, which is pretty creepy."
Potential drawbacks? "Jake Weber (who plays Arquette's husband) has made a couple of nose jokes."
While sweeps stunts are usually a sign of faltering ratings, Medium is actually one of NBC's top performers, averaging about 12 million viewers weekly.
Yet Caron says he feels its true ratings potential remains untapped and he's willing to find innovative ways to promote it. Case in point -- last week's episode in which Arquette and Weber's characters went to Memoirs of a Geisha.
The scene was then followed by an extended commercial for the film, which opens next month.
In exchange for the product placement, Sony, which produced Geisha, took out ads for Medium in publications ranging from TV Guide to USA Today. "Medium is a show still sort of in the business of acquiring viewers," Caron says. "There are still people out there I'd like to sample the show."
