Dushku’s drama-thriller series ’Tru Calling’ returns

Judith S. Gillies, Washington Post

March 24, 2004 FOX24

Dead people talk to Tru Davies, a morgue attendant on the midnight shift. Usually, they turn to her and plead, "Help me!"

The next morning, Tru wakes up with the ability to relive the day and prevent a death that only she knows will happen.

"Tru Calling" is seen Thursdays on Fox. It premiered in October and will have eight new episodes beginning Thursday.

Eliza Dushku ("Buffy the Vampire Slayer") stars as Tru. Jason Priestley ("Beverly Hills 90210") will be joining the cast for the new episodes of the drama/thriller.

"Her back story is that she wants to be a med student but the internship fell through, so she’s working in the morgue," said Jon Harmon Feldman, creator and executive producer of the series. "Was it fate that brought her there? Is she blessed or burdened to hear the words of the dead?"

Tru is balancing the life she’s trying to live as an ordinary young woman with the extraordinary life she’s leading because of her ability to prevent tragedies, Feldman said. Her life is further complicated by her relationships with her brother, who frequently is in financial and other trouble, and her sister, who struggles with drug addiction.

As a child, Tru had witnessed her mother’s murder and was unable to prevent it, Feldman said, "so is Tru’s ability linked to her mom and her mom’s death? Where did she get this ability?

"This is her calling and she has an obligation to answer the call. She may not always want to help, but there always is a reason someone is asking for her help — and it may not be the reason she thinks."

When: 11 p.m. Thursday.

Network: KMSP, Ch. 9.