On Nov. 21, veiwers of the television series Medium in the US will get to see an episode with 3D footage. The show will have anaglyphic (red-blue glasses) footage involving dreams, psychics, and more.

Medium stars Patricia Arquette and is based upon the producer’s take on the life of a real person, albeit the show evidently ramps up the supernaturalish aspects of her claims of psychic ability. While based upon some real events, the show should most definately be considered fiction.

Accroding to Macleans.CA, the technology for this particular 3D broadcast comes from the folks at Sensio, best known for a high-grade home 3D projection system.

The show’s home page doesn’t really go into the technology of the 3D which on the surface looks like more traditional anaglyph than anything else, although I suspect they may have played with the colors a bit to get anachrome-like renditions (or at least they should have), more of the hype. Read notes here. I haven’t seen the specific glasses being sent out so I can’t say what particular anaglyphic mix they will be using (I would hope they are using an advanced anaglyphic formula instead of the pulfrich false-stereo system used by some television programs in the past).

There is more on the backstory to the episode and why it is going 3D on the Patricia Arquette webpages with a note from producer Glenn Gordon Caron that he originally wanted to do a 3D episode of his old original series Moonlighting and has been thinking along those lines ever since:

Medium executive producer Glenn Gordon Caron said that he began exploring the possibilities of 3D television over a decade ago when working on hit series Moonlighting. [Cannestasia Storyboard] "When Medium became successful I realised that in many ways it was an even better vehicle for 3D. Additionally, technology seems to have finally caught up with me. Directors Jim Cameron, Robert Rodriguez and a host of other innovators have pushed the medium, you’ll pardon the pun, into the 21st century," he said.

While there is a great deal of movement along the lines of 3D entertainment lately that may finally push it into mainstream availability and acceptance, the Medium program is being considered by most to be yet another in a long line of gimmick events to boost ratings, a psuedo special event instead of something integral to the plot or even more than a flash in the dark so to speak that will not be remembered longer than the season. We’ll have to see though. If the content of the episode is good and the 3D effect actually enhances the experience it may be back.

Jerome Holst at TV Acres has an excellent overview of recent experiments in 3D television for the mass audience . . . Attack of the Killer 3-D Glasses . . . that is well worth the read as it is very well researched and has an historical perspective that is well above most discussions related to 3D television and popular entertainment. Holst knows his subject and doesn’t repeat massive erroneous suppositions as fact as some of the other articles have been doing. Holst has made a list and comments upon a number of such ratings sweeps month endeavors. Accroding to Holst, some of the past forays into 3D of various type for popular television include:

• 1950s – In the early 1950s, ABC was granted permission by the Federal Communications Commission to explore the feasibility of 3-D TV. On April 29, 1953 the network ran a trial live broadcast of the series SPACE PATROL in Los Angeles at the National Association of Radio and Television Broadcasters 31st Annual gathering. The ABC affiliate station KECA-TV aired the show but it appeared as only a blur unless viewers had a pair of special Polaroid lenses. (Three-Dimensional television attempts to give the same depth of viewing as the human eye).
• The first "non experimental" 3-D TV broadcast was over SelecTV, a Los Angeles pay TV system in December 19, 1980. The program consisted of the 3-D feature film Miss Sadie Thompson (1953), starring Rita Hayworth, and Spooks (1953), a 3-D short starring the Three Stooges (Moe, Larry & Shemp).
• MOONLIGHTING: "In God We Strongly Suspect" (February 1986). At the top of the show during a teaser for that night’s program, characters Maddie Hayes (Cybill Shepherd) and David Addison (Bruce Willis) confess that the show was supposed to have 3-D elements in it, but because the post office never delivered the required 3-D glasses, the expected show was canceled. Note: Glenn Gordon Caron, the creator/writer on ‘Moonlighting’ had wanted to actually do a 3-D episode, but the technology didn’t exist to produce a satisfactory project. Years later, Caron created the NBC series MEDIUM and finally had a chance to produce his 3-D event – wherein "Allison encounters the work of one artist, disturbing, 3-dimensional images emerge that lead her to believe that the man behind these alarming canvasses may have a deadly secret."
• MARRIED WITH CHILDREN – The eighth season episode "Assault and Batteries" (May 8, 1994) was part of a FOX 3-D "FOX-o-rama" special. The end credits featured Al and Peg wearing 3-D glasses and looking at the names scrolling by on a screen. Peg said "I don’t get it." Peggy’s picture is actually seen on the box for her 3-D glasses.
• THIRD ROCK FROM THE SUN – 1996 season 2 finale. The dream sequences for this episode were filmed in 3D. Anchor Bay Entertainment and Carsey-Werner later released the "Behind the Scenes – 3D Episodes" which included bloopers, a never-before-seen ending, a free pair of 3D glasses and a 4 minute, 35 second feature which shows some of the film techniques used in making the 3D episodes as well as commentary from creator Bonnie Turner and the cast.
• HOME IMPROVEMENT – "The Feminine Mistake" (May 6, 1997) Tool Time gets the go-ahead to create a special 3-D effects show, featuring in-your-face antics from Tim, Al and Heidi. Portions of this episode were filmed in 3-D. The ABC project evolved into nine shows: FAMILY MATTERS, COACH, THE DREW CAREY SHOW (TDCS was the first "three" camera 3D TV production in history), SABRINA THE TEENAGE WITCH, STEP BY STEP, HOME IMPROVEMENT, ELLEN, SPIN CITY, and AMERICA’S FUNNIEST HOME VIDEOS.
• RUGRATS "Dust Bunnies" (September 27, 1997) This episode was part of a special week of 3-D programming called "Nogglevision" which was also featured on such shows as Kablam!, Hey Arnold, Alex Mack & Shelby Woo. Sponsored by Nick and Kraft Foods, this special event introduced, for the first time, "Chroma-DepthTM" (by Chromatek), the only technology compatible for print, TV and online. The shows could be viewed successfully without the "Noggle-Goggles."
• SHARK WEEK (Summer 2000) LensCrafters distributed 6.4 million Pulfrich glasses produced by America Paper Optics with a special patented 3D viewing system for an in-depth broadcast of Discovery Channel’s Shark Week in 3D.

Read the entire article for more in depth discussion of the topic.

While we won’t be able to see the Medium episode here, I look forward to hearing how well it goes . . . whether it will be a breakthrough or just another notch in the gimmick belt . . . hoping for the former, but rather used to the latter.

Also of interest . . . The Illustrated 3D Movie List . . . happy viewing.