NEW YORK — Patricia Arquette has gotten accustomed to the comments from fans who don't seem to know that she's still on television.
"I definitely have people every day grab me on the street saying, 'When is your show coming back, why did they cancel it?' " said Arquette, who stars in "Medium," NBC's drama about a psychic who helps solve crimes while juggling the quotidian challenges of middle-class family life.
In fact, "Medium" returned to the air this month for its fifth season, which finds Arquette's character, Allison DuBois, back assisting the Phoenix district attorney's office, the fallout from her public exposure now largely subsided. The return of the series wasn't accompanied by the fanfare of other mid-season premieres like "American Idol" or "Lost." But the under-the-radar drama continues to draw a loyal fan base that gravitates to the program's cleverly packed mysteries and unsentimental depiction of a marriage.
In its first three episodes this year, "Medium" averaged 8.5 million viewers, making it NBC's sixth-most-watched scripted series of the season. The show has attracted 45% more viewers than NBC's earlier 10 p.m. Monday programming, which included "My Own Worst Enemy" and "Momma's Boys."
It's a solid performance for a drama that does not get a huge marketing boost or generate much chatter in the zeitgeist.
"I'm just grateful that we have a really dedicated, smart audience that's really connected to the show," Arquette said. "It's really kind of been the little engine that could."
Executive producer Glenn Gordon Caron ("Moonlighting") -- who created the show based on the life of a real medium named Allison DuBois -- is not sure of the reasons for the series' following. But he thinks viewers may be picking up on his "maniacal" passion for the program.
"My ego wants to think that in some way, people feel that and respond to that and go, 'OK, this is a show that people genuinely care deeply about,' " he said. "I think they sense that you're really trying to earn the 60 minutes that they give you."
Produced by CBS Paramount, "Medium" is one of a handful of scripted shows on NBC's schedule not made by its sister studio, a fact that Caron believes may account for its lower profile. Like other networks, NBC has increasingly come to rely on series produced in-house, an approach that helps boost revenue for its corporate parent.
