Introducing Allison’s Mom
Can this be true?
Former Frasier star Peri Gilpin will play Patricia Arquette’s mother in an upcoming episode of Medium. (Source)
During my set visit (you know, that event that happened months ago but I keep trotting out to impress you every so often), Medium creator and executive producer Glenn Gordon Caron was asked if we would be seeing Allison’s mother any time soon. We already met Joe’s mother (Kathy Baker) and the ghost of his dead father (Bruce Gray), as well as Allison’s grandmother (Ellen Geer.)
Glenn Gordon Caron: We’ve been toying for a while with literalizing Allison’s mother. It’s an interesting thing when you imagine a character. Carlton the doorman [from the 70’s TV series Rhoda] was so much better imagined than he was seen. Every time you take a character that has been mentioned and you literalize him, you hope that the writing you provide the actor and the actor you cast is as beguiling as the idea. We’ve all now spent two, two and a half years with Allison Dubois so if you bring in her mother, boy, she better be a pistol. And we have the added challenge because Patricia Arquette is such an extraordinary actress (we’ve been blessed with an extraordinary cast), when we cast the show you have to reach to other extraordinary actors or everything starts to fall apart. So those are decisions that we don’t make blithely, a lot of thought goes into them.
Caron added that he and Executive Producer Rene Echevarria have been batting around “Allison’s Mother of It All” since the show first started but have not quite found the perfect story. Or make that “had” not. I guess now they have. And Peri Gilpin is, apparently, a pistol.
How do you feel about Peri Gilpin as Allison’s mom?
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9 opinions for Introducing Allison’s Mom
Jenn Bo
Feb 16, 2007 at 8:32 am
Probably a good pistol, but makes for a very young mother of Ms Dubois. In real life, Peri is 7 years older thena Patricia. Do you think they’ll “age” Peri for the part? Or maybe, that’s part of the pistol. In such good shape the mom can really needle/guilt Allison about taking better care of herself.
Betty
Feb 16, 2007 at 11:49 am
I was thinking she would be too young, but I beleive the ep will be just a flash back to when Allison was a teen or young girl. I don’t believe they have ever said if her mother was currently alive or dead.
I believe when we saw her grandmother, it was only a flash back - I believe her grandmother is dead. I don’t recall a mention of her father.
Just an interesting note: Bruce Gray who plays Joe’s deceased father is the same actor who starred in “Traders” the Canadian series that made David Cubitt a household name across Canada. He played Adam Cunningham, one of the heads of Garner and Ross, the investment banking firm that Jack Larkin (David Cubitt) worked for. Really good show by the way - the first season DVD is available, unfortunately, the rest of the seasons have not been released yet. I wonder if that is conincidence or if David suggested him to the producers.
Holly
Feb 16, 2007 at 1:06 pm
Humm…I don’t really know anything about Peri Gilpin, so I can’t really say what I think about her. I do, however, think it will be a nice dynamic, having Allison’s mom on the show. Even if it’s just flashbacks, we’ll get to see more of Allison’s past, which I always enjioy. Looking forward to it.
nansee
Feb 17, 2007 at 12:19 am
I like the name Peri for some reason. It’s cute. I read somewhere that she’s named after a cartoon charater (a squirrel?) I havn’t seen her in a while. I’m assuming there’s a connection between David Cubitt and Bruce Gray. For God sake, they were on _Traders_ together forever.
JCW
Feb 17, 2007 at 4:31 am
I wonder if they’ll make her as big a bitch on the show as she reportedly is in real life?
Sheila
Feb 17, 2007 at 11:29 am
Good points about the age thing and how they might deal with it. Should be fun!
JCW: I had not heard that! Who knew?
P.S. I finally out where I had seen Bruce Grey before. He played John Corbett’s dad in My Big Fat Greek Wedding. I haven’t seen Traders but I KNEW he looked familiar.
Dawn
Feb 18, 2007 at 6:38 pm
Betty’s right about the age thing. This ep will flash back to when Allison was 17, so maybe not too much of a stretch for Peri Gilpin. She is a really good actress and it should be interesting to see what kind of character they write for her.
JCW
Feb 19, 2007 at 11:32 am
Sheila, If memory serves, I got my info on Mommie Dearest from your Psychic Smackdown post. I believe it was regarding the mother’s behaviour at the funeral of a friend of Allison’s that led me to my opinon of her. The sister of the deceased friend seemd none too pleased with Allison or her mother. You should go back and review so you can compare that portrait of the woman vs. the one they will portray on the show!
JCW
Feb 19, 2007 at 11:34 am
Or perhaps it was a link from one of your book reviews? At any rate, I like Peri Gilpin, and think she may well be old enough for the role - after all, she is probably in Peri-menopause by now.
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