The Ferguson Syndrome
Encyclopedia
"The Ferguson Syndrome" is the first episode of the television series Miracles
. Its only airing in the U.S. was on January 27, 2003 on ABC
. It first aired on Canada's VisionTV on October 3, 2003.
Paul Callan is dispatched to investigate. The absence of decay in Sister Fulton's body can be a sign of her ascension to Sainthood, and Paul is there to investigate on behalf of the Catholic Church. He finds that this preservation is due to chemicals in the soil, going so far as to have another grave exhumed to prove this, before leaving for the Archdiocese. Paul confides in his mentor, Father "Poppi" Calero, that he has become disillusioned with disproving 'miracles', and is convinced to take time off to rediscover his faith.
During his time off, Paul has a dream of himself and a young boy on a train. As the train goes by, Paul notices a water tower with the words "God is Coming" spray-painted onto it. As the young boy tosses a baseball into a glove, the sound becomes louder until he looks up at Paul with his red eyes, tearing up with blood. The boy tells Paul, "I'm waiting for you".
Three months later, Paul is working in the desert to build homes for the poor when he is contacted by Poppi, asking him to Ferguson family on behalf of the Monsignor. On arriving, Paul encounters a child, Tommy, who he previously saw in a nightmare. Tommy suffers from Fanconi anemia
, a rare genetic blood disorder with no cure. However, Tommy is claimed to have cured a woman of cancer and another of blindness, although a local doctor indicates that both were undergoing treatment at the time.
Tommy's father arranges for Tommy to heal an infant with a weak heart. When doing so, he passes out. Paul figures out that Tommy's illness is not anemia, but is caused by healing others; they get better while he gets worse. Paul has a dream where Tommy is hit by a train.
Awakening to find Tommy's mother sneaking him out of the house, Paul follows their car and sees a water tower at the side of the road with the words "God is Coming" written on it. Distracted by this, Paul looks back in time to see he is about to ram the Ferguson's car into the path of an oncoming train. He swerves around the car, and Paul's car is hit by the train, leaving him in a state of near-death. Tommy gives his life to heal Paul, and Paul witnesses words forming out of his own blood: "God is now here". After Tommy's funeral, Paul learns that the case would not be investigated further, despite the evidence, and that Poppi had not contacted him to take the case. He is contacted by a mystery man who appeared at the accident site, who indicates that Paul's witnessing of the blood-words has only happened to six other people, all of whom saw "God is Nowhere". Paul is given the contact details for a group called "Sodalitas Quaerito".
Visiting the address given, Paul is greeted, and enters the building.
"The Ferguson Syndrome" was the first produced episode of Miracles
. The pilot was originally written by Michael Petroni
as a screenplay for Touchstone, but was later adapted into a teleplay for ABC
by Richard Hatem . Petroni and Hatem are credited as writers of the episode, as well as the creators of the series, despite Petroni having no further involvement with the series after the pilot. Some scenes of the pilot, such as the scene at the cemetery where Paul tells the priest that apricots have preserved all the corpses, was retained nearly verbatim from Petroni's original screenplay. Hatem liked the scene because it set up Paul Callan's back story, and explained why Paul was growing frustrated with his work by continuously disappointing people who truly believe in miracles from God.
The pilot episode was directed by Matt Reeves, who met Richard Hatem while they were in college together. Reeves previously co-created the television series Felicity with J.J. Abrams, one of the co-creators of ABC's successful drama series Lost
. Tamara Taylor
, who guest-starred in this episode as Dr. Linda Qualey, would later have a recurring role on Lost as Susan Lloyd. Maggie Grace
and Sam Anderson
, who both guest-starred in the episode "Mother's Daughter", would also go on to have regular roles on Lost. Filming of this episode overlapped with the last day of production on Felicity.
Reeves was immediately intrigued with the idea of doing a "horror show". Reeves first met Skeet Ulrich
in Filmore, California while filming the dream sequence where Paul tries to save Tommy from an oncoming train as blood rain downs from the sky. He described Ulrich as a "soulful guy" who really connected with the character of Paul Callan. He also recalled seeing Ulrich "shivering to death" after filming in the blood rain for four hours.
Matt Reeves credited Dennis Stuart Murphy, the producer of Miracles, for pushing the show beyond its limits. His "bring it on" attitude helped make the show cinematically superior by always wanting to make a task "tougher". One such example is the train crash, shot in pre-production, which was the first shot filmed of the pilot. Executives at one point during production suggested to the producers that the train crash should be removed, to resolve the show's budget issues. The producers refused, as the train crash was deemed too pivotal to the plot of the episode, as well as the mythology of the series.
Another scene (the audition scene for Scott Allan Campbell's character), where Tommy Ferguson's father Robert gives his take on his son's illness, was never filmed due to budgetary reasons. The scene was set in the Fergusons' basement, where it was explained that before Tommy fell ill, he and his father worked on a model train set, which was modeled after their town of Cottonwood, Arizona
. Observant viewers would have taken note of the water tower and train that were included in the model.
The scenes following the train crash were filmed very late at night, and were shot in a soundstage to allow for controlled rain. During filming, Ulrich remained in character by lying in a very comatose state. Richard Hatem recalled that "he just lay there, suffering". Almost immediately after, the last scene of the pilot was filmed at approximately 5:00 in the morning, where Paul watches Tommy playing outside. Matt Reeves says that while Ulrich is giving a "soulful look", part of his expression is fatigue and exhaustion after a long night of filming. The church in which Tommy's funeral is held had previously been used in an episode of The WB's Charmed
, and was later used in the 2005 Fox
drama Point Pleasant
.
Miracles (TV series)
Miracles is an American drama television program starring Skeet Ulrich and Angus Macfadyen. Created by Richard Hatem and Michael Petroni, the series has sometimes been dubbed a "spiritual version of The X-Files" by its creators...
. Its only airing in the U.S. was on January 27, 2003 on ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
. It first aired on Canada's VisionTV on October 3, 2003.
Synopsis
The series begins at the grave of one Sister Alice Fulton (1834–1861). Workers are exhuming the bodies there in the cemetery, preparing them to be moved before the end of the year. After an accident, Alice's coffin spills open in front of a trapped worker, revealing the corpse of a woman whose eyes are as white as snow, and whose body has simply not decayed one day since her death over 140 years ago.Paul Callan is dispatched to investigate. The absence of decay in Sister Fulton's body can be a sign of her ascension to Sainthood, and Paul is there to investigate on behalf of the Catholic Church. He finds that this preservation is due to chemicals in the soil, going so far as to have another grave exhumed to prove this, before leaving for the Archdiocese. Paul confides in his mentor, Father "Poppi" Calero, that he has become disillusioned with disproving 'miracles', and is convinced to take time off to rediscover his faith.
During his time off, Paul has a dream of himself and a young boy on a train. As the train goes by, Paul notices a water tower with the words "God is Coming" spray-painted onto it. As the young boy tosses a baseball into a glove, the sound becomes louder until he looks up at Paul with his red eyes, tearing up with blood. The boy tells Paul, "I'm waiting for you".
Three months later, Paul is working in the desert to build homes for the poor when he is contacted by Poppi, asking him to Ferguson family on behalf of the Monsignor. On arriving, Paul encounters a child, Tommy, who he previously saw in a nightmare. Tommy suffers from Fanconi anemia
Fanconi anemia
Fanconi anemia is a genetic disease with an incidence of 1 per 350,000 births, with a higher frequency in Ashkenazi Jews and Afrikaners in South Africa.FA is the result of a genetic defect in a cluster of proteins responsible for DNA repair...
, a rare genetic blood disorder with no cure. However, Tommy is claimed to have cured a woman of cancer and another of blindness, although a local doctor indicates that both were undergoing treatment at the time.
Tommy's father arranges for Tommy to heal an infant with a weak heart. When doing so, he passes out. Paul figures out that Tommy's illness is not anemia, but is caused by healing others; they get better while he gets worse. Paul has a dream where Tommy is hit by a train.
Awakening to find Tommy's mother sneaking him out of the house, Paul follows their car and sees a water tower at the side of the road with the words "God is Coming" written on it. Distracted by this, Paul looks back in time to see he is about to ram the Ferguson's car into the path of an oncoming train. He swerves around the car, and Paul's car is hit by the train, leaving him in a state of near-death. Tommy gives his life to heal Paul, and Paul witnesses words forming out of his own blood: "God is now here". After Tommy's funeral, Paul learns that the case would not be investigated further, despite the evidence, and that Poppi had not contacted him to take the case. He is contacted by a mystery man who appeared at the accident site, who indicates that Paul's witnessing of the blood-words has only happened to six other people, all of whom saw "God is Nowhere". Paul is given the contact details for a group called "Sodalitas Quaerito".
Visiting the address given, Paul is greeted, and enters the building.
Production
Miracles (TV series)
Miracles is an American drama television program starring Skeet Ulrich and Angus Macfadyen. Created by Richard Hatem and Michael Petroni, the series has sometimes been dubbed a "spiritual version of The X-Files" by its creators...
. The pilot was originally written by Michael Petroni
Michael Petroni
Michael Petroni is an Australian film writer and director.Petroni worked in the early 1990s as a comedy writer and performer on Australian television, and appeared as "Psycho Bob", an American serial killer character, in The Big Gig and DAAS Kapital .In 1994, he moved to Los Angeles to study...
as a screenplay for Touchstone, but was later adapted into a teleplay for ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
by Richard Hatem . Petroni and Hatem are credited as writers of the episode, as well as the creators of the series, despite Petroni having no further involvement with the series after the pilot. Some scenes of the pilot, such as the scene at the cemetery where Paul tells the priest that apricots have preserved all the corpses, was retained nearly verbatim from Petroni's original screenplay. Hatem liked the scene because it set up Paul Callan's back story, and explained why Paul was growing frustrated with his work by continuously disappointing people who truly believe in miracles from God.
The pilot episode was directed by Matt Reeves, who met Richard Hatem while they were in college together. Reeves previously co-created the television series Felicity with J.J. Abrams, one of the co-creators of ABC's successful drama series Lost
Lost (TV series)
Lost is an American television series that originally aired on ABC from September 22, 2004 to May 23, 2010, consisting of six seasons. Lost is a drama series that follows the survivors of the crash of a commercial passenger jet flying between Sydney and Los Angeles, on a mysterious tropical island...
. Tamara Taylor
Tamara Taylor
Tamara Taylor is a Canadian television actress.Born in Toronto to a black Canadian father and a Scottish Canadian mother, her most famous role is that of Dr. Camille Saroyan, head of the Forensic Division, on the forensic crime drama Bones...
, who guest-starred in this episode as Dr. Linda Qualey, would later have a recurring role on Lost as Susan Lloyd. Maggie Grace
Maggie Grace
Margaret Grace Denig , best known as Maggie Grace, is an American actress. Originally from Worthington, Ohio, she dropped out of high school to move to Los Angeles with her mother after her parents' divorce. While struggling financially, she landed her first role as the title character in the...
and Sam Anderson
Sam Anderson
Sam Anderson is an American actor.-Early life:Anderson was born in Wahpeton, North Dakota. He is a graduate of the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks. During the 1970s, Sam taught drama at Antelope Valley College in Lancaster, California.-Career:Anderson is perhaps best known for his roles...
, who both guest-starred in the episode "Mother's Daughter", would also go on to have regular roles on Lost. Filming of this episode overlapped with the last day of production on Felicity.
Reeves was immediately intrigued with the idea of doing a "horror show". Reeves first met Skeet Ulrich
Skeet Ulrich
Bryan Ray Trout , best known as Skeet Ulrich, is an American actor best known for starring in the CBS drama Jericho as Jake Green and for portraying Billy Loomis in Scream...
in Filmore, California while filming the dream sequence where Paul tries to save Tommy from an oncoming train as blood rain downs from the sky. He described Ulrich as a "soulful guy" who really connected with the character of Paul Callan. He also recalled seeing Ulrich "shivering to death" after filming in the blood rain for four hours.
Matt Reeves credited Dennis Stuart Murphy, the producer of Miracles, for pushing the show beyond its limits. His "bring it on" attitude helped make the show cinematically superior by always wanting to make a task "tougher". One such example is the train crash, shot in pre-production, which was the first shot filmed of the pilot. Executives at one point during production suggested to the producers that the train crash should be removed, to resolve the show's budget issues. The producers refused, as the train crash was deemed too pivotal to the plot of the episode, as well as the mythology of the series.
Another scene (the audition scene for Scott Allan Campbell's character), where Tommy Ferguson's father Robert gives his take on his son's illness, was never filmed due to budgetary reasons. The scene was set in the Fergusons' basement, where it was explained that before Tommy fell ill, he and his father worked on a model train set, which was modeled after their town of Cottonwood, Arizona
Cottonwood, Arizona
Cottonwood is a city in Yavapai County, Arizona, United States. According to 2006 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the city is 11,171.-Geography:Cottonwood is located at ....
. Observant viewers would have taken note of the water tower and train that were included in the model.
The scenes following the train crash were filmed very late at night, and were shot in a soundstage to allow for controlled rain. During filming, Ulrich remained in character by lying in a very comatose state. Richard Hatem recalled that "he just lay there, suffering". Almost immediately after, the last scene of the pilot was filmed at approximately 5:00 in the morning, where Paul watches Tommy playing outside. Matt Reeves says that while Ulrich is giving a "soulful look", part of his expression is fatigue and exhaustion after a long night of filming. The church in which Tommy's funeral is held had previously been used in an episode of The WB's Charmed
Charmed
Charmed is an American television series that originally aired from October 7, 1998, until May 21, 2006, on the now defunct The WB Television Network. The series was created in 1998 by writer Constance M...
, and was later used in the 2005 Fox
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
drama Point Pleasant
Point Pleasant (TV series)
Point Pleasant is a television series that first aired on the Fox Network in January 2005. It was cancelled in March 2005 due to poor ratings....
.
Cast
- Main Cast
- Skeet UlrichSkeet UlrichBryan Ray Trout , best known as Skeet Ulrich, is an American actor best known for starring in the CBS drama Jericho as Jake Green and for portraying Billy Loomis in Scream...
as Paul Callan - Angus MacfadyenAngus MacfadyenAngus Macfadyen is a Scottish actor.Angus Macfadyen was born in Glasgow and was brought up partly in Africa, France, the Philippines and Singapore. His father was a doctor in the World Health Organisation. He was once engaged to actress Catherine Zeta-Jones.Angus attended the University of...
as Alva Keel - Marisa RamirezMarisa RamirezMarisa Carolina Ramirez is an American actress.-Early life:Ramirez attended an all-girls' school in Alhambra, California at the Ramona Convent Secondary School. Her career began at age 13 when she was brought to the attention of a major L.A...
as Evelyn Santos
- Skeet Ulrich
- Guest Cast
- Jacob SmithJacob Smith (actor)Jonathan Jacob Charles William Smith is an American actor. He is perhaps best known for his role in the film Cheaper by the Dozen and its 2005 sequel.-Life and career:...
as Tommy Ferguson - Tamara TaylorTamara TaylorTamara Taylor is a Canadian television actress.Born in Toronto to a black Canadian father and a Scottish Canadian mother, her most famous role is that of Dr. Camille Saroyan, head of the Forensic Division, on the forensic crime drama Bones...
as Dr. Linda Qualey - Sybil Temchen as Kate Armstrong
- Phyllis Lyons as Oliva Ferguson
- Scott Allan Campbell as Robert Ferguson
- Hector ElizondoHector ElizondoHéctor Elizondo is an American actor. Elizondo's first major role was that of "God" in the play Steambath, for which he won an Obie Award...
as Father "Poppi" Calero
- Jacob Smith
External links
- "The Ferguson Syndrome" at TV.comTV.comTV.com is a website owned by CBS Interactive. The site covers television and focuses on English-language shows made or broadcast in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and Japan...
- "The Ferguson Syndrome" at the Internet Movie DatabaseInternet Movie DatabaseInternet Movie Database is an online database of information related to movies, television shows, actors, production crew personnel, video games and fictional characters featured in visual entertainment media. It is one of the most popular online entertainment destinations, with over 100 million...