March 26, 2002

"LIVING WITH THE DEAD" SYNOPSIS

LIVING WITH THE DEAD, a new four-hour mini-series starring Ted Danson ("Becker"), Mary Steenburgen ("About Sarah"), Queen Latifah ("Mama Flora's Family"), Michael Moriarty ("Children of the Dust"), Diane Ladd ("Rambling Rose") and Jack Palance ("Sarah, Plain and Tall: Winter's End"), will be broadcast Sunday, April 28 and Tuesday, April 30 (9:00-11:00 PM, ET/PT, each night) on the CBS Television Network.

The drama, inspired by the life and work of famed medium James Van Praagh, is the story of a man who comes to terms with his ability to speak to the dead and is then asked to help solve a series of murders by communicating with the victims who are on the other side.

Night One

In 1963, when he was just a young boy, James Van Praagh (Ted Danson) saw people that no one else could see. The visions that came to him at home, at school, almost everywhere, were crystal clear and those he saw, people who had passed over to the other side, often had messages for him to deliver to the living. But, every time he attempted to talk about what he saw and heard, he got into trouble. Finally, his mother, Regina (Diane Ladd), asked him to pray that his visions would go away.

Now, as an adult, James tries to avoid anything having to do with the supernatural but he is beginning to see dead people again. After his mother dies, he sees her in a supermarket and also sees a young boy who drops a carton of eggs in front of him. The combination of his mother's death, his failing plumbing and electrical supply business and the sightings have James on edge, but he is comforted by Midge (Queen Latifah), a Web site designer he hired to help save his company. Midge often talks about messages from her psychic, Adrian (Michael Moriarty), and invites James to attend a séance at Adrian's home. He agrees to attend with her and also, after a vision, pleads with her to stop smoking.

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At the séance, Adrian immediately sees spirits around James and tells him about a dream James had about his mother's impending death. He also tells James that his mother is afraid of death, a fact that she had revealed to James as she lay in the hospital. Not wanting Adrian to continue, James bolts from the room. Midge convinces him to talk with Adrian again, and Adrian explains his gift to James and tells him how to manage it. Later, at home, James is visited by the young boy he first saw in the supermarket who carries a bird's nest. James senses that the child needs help, but when the boy tries to speak to him, dirt spews from his mouth into the nest.

James' car is broken into and he goes to the police department to report the theft. There, he sees the deceased husband of an older woman and tries to give her a message from the dead man. Her son, who accompanies his parent, is dubious, but the woman believes what James is telling her, and the dead man ultimately reveals that a police informant murdered her husband. The woman convinces Detective Karen Condrin (Mary Steenburgen) to meet with James and, although she initially doubts that what he's saying is true, she visits the informant and finds evidence connecting him to the crime -- exactly where James said it would be. When the newspapers report the case, James' father, Allan (Jack Palance), is mortified as he has never wanted to acknowledge that James had visions.

James is visited by the young boy again and discusses him with Karen. Using a Ouiji board given to him by Midge, he learns the name of the child, Dennis Branson (Neil Denis), and Karen finds a missing persons file with a photo of the child. The next time the boy appears -- this time in James' car -- he again carries a bird's nest and shows James that he is on Birds Nest Lane. James follows the road until he comes to a sign for an egg hatchery and recognizes the hatchery name from the incident in the supermarket. James drives deep into a forest and finds himself at the Turtleback Preserve, a place he had visited on a grade school trip where he met a boy named Eddie Katz (James Kirk). While in the woods, James is confronted by six boys, all of whom rise up from the ground with their wrists tied together.

He takes Karen back to the site where they find the evidence needed to conduct an investigation. Many boys' bodies are found, including that of Dennis Branson's. It is determined that all of them were knocked out, tied up and buried alive. The boys visit James again in his car, and he realizes that they are telling him that whoever killed them is still out there and will do it again.

When James confides in Midge, she sadly tells him that she is dying of cancer from smoking the cigarettes he had long ago intuited would kill her.

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Night Two

The investigation continues and reveals that one boy's body was buried 30 years earlier. When a leg brace is found, James remembers meeting Eddie -- who wore a brace -- long ago and now realizes that he was already dead. James visits with Eddie in the forest where Eddie asked James to be his friend. Eddie doesn't know what happened to him, but James intuits that Eddie was accidentally killed in a hunting accident.

Karen learns that when Eddie disappeared, his mother, Molly (Donna White), had a breakdown and then recovered. James and Karen visit her at her restaurant and she tells them about her guilt over not having found Eddie. James tries to reassure her, tells her Eddie is fine and that he loves her. Molly also tells James and Karen that she thought that Eddie might still be alive as she received flowers from him, twice a year, for more than 30 years.

Meanwhile, another boy, a 13-year-old named Andy, is seen getting into a car and is later reported missing. He is locked up in a windowless room and fed by an unknown person. And, James' friend Midge is getting worse as her disease progresses.

As the investigation continues, Karen tells James that whoever killed the six boys knew where Eddie was buried and that they form a circle of death around him. But it looks as though the circle is getting bigger as one of the boys is buried behind the first group. She also thinks she has found the brother of the man who killed Eddie and the other boys and asks James to see what he can intuit about the murders from him. But, when James confronts him in a restaurant, the man has a heart attack.

The captive boy, Andy, realizes that he is being drugged by his abductor and tries desperately to escape. He is almost free when his captor appears and restrains him again.

James decides to withdraw from the case after the restaurant confrontation because he believes he almost killed the man he challenged. Midge, on her deathbed, asks James to keep letting the boys visit him. And Karen, who now thinks someone other than the man who killed Eddie was responsible for the subsequent murders, wants him to speak to the boys one last time to see if they can provide the identity of the person who killed them.

When he agrees, he senses Andy, now bound and gagged and in the trunk of a moving car, and puts himself in Andy's place. He sees the boys watching over him with shovels and Dennis reveals a picture of him and his mother. James' mother also appears, and he tells Karen that mothers seem to be involved. Karen knows the connection: All the missing boys had lost their mothers. James then intuits that Andy is the next victim and that they must get to the preserve immediately.

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Karen doesn't know what to believe but trusts James one last time. However, when they arrive at the preserve, there is no one at Eddie's grave. James then realizes his mistake and with Karen's help heads towards the place where he thinks Andy can be found. As James frantically searches for Andy, Karen follows a car she sees leaving the scene in hopes that the murderer will finally be revealed.

RATING: To Be Announced

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Press Contacts: Susan J. Marks  323/575-2118     susan.marks@tvc.cbs.com
                        Barbara Abseck  212/975-4637  beabseck@cbs.com

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