“Medium” falls into that category of shows that are half-procedural, half-character drama. Another way of putting it: half of the episode is what keeps it on the air (in this case, Allison Dubois solving hideous, teaser-friendly murders via her dreams), and the other half is why we actually like it (in this case, the drama of Joe Dubois’ job struggles and the children’s issues at school).
Other purveyors of shows that bait the general public and critics in equal measure include David E. Kelley (“The Practice”) and Barbara Hall (“Judging Amy” and “Joan of Arcadia”), but I like “Medium” creator Glenn Gordon Caron the best of this trio. His other shows include “Now and Again” and “Moonlighting.” I should rent the “Moonlighting” DVDs one of these days and see how that show (half detective series, half romance) compares to my vague memories of it.
“Medium” will air its final NBC episode at 9 p.m. Central on Monday before switching over to CBS in the fall. Allison (Patricia Arquette) has now solved five seasons’ worth of murders in her sleep, which should make the pavement-pounding “Law & Order” boys jealous, and theoretically it should also make me very tired of this premise.
Every case is a slight variation of this: Allison sees a murder in her first dream, then gets more (but often misleading) information in a couple more dreams, then has one last dream where it all comes together. Between dreams, District Attorney Devalos and Detective Scanlon act as the Scullys to Allison’s Mulder, rejecting her information because it doesn’t fit with their investigative findings. Husband Joe (Jake Weber) is skeptical but supportive. This behavior is odd because Allison is proven right at the end of every single episode, yet they still doubt her. As with Scully’s selective denseness on “The X-Files,” this is an element of “Medium” the producers hope we don’t look too closely at.
But anyway, that’s not why I like the show. I like it because Caron has a feel for people and how they move through their daily lives. “Moonlighting” was about single folks, on “Now and Again” he got interested in family dynamics, and on “Medium” he gets into the daily doings of family life unlike any other current show that I know of. This season, product designer Joe had to lay off most of his staff due to the bad economy. Last season, when Joe was jobless for a while, the Dubois budget got tight enough that they were paying bills on credit cards.
High drama? Actually, yes, because “Medium” was one of the first shows — a nod also goes to “Friday Night Lights,” “The Simpsons” and “The Office” — to really tackle this bad economy (expect more shows to follow, because it’s too big of an issue to be ignored). And it’s done realistically enough that we can tell Hollywood isn’t oblivious to what’s going on in America (with the emergence of reality TV, teleplay writers are painfully aware of what it’s like to lose jobs).
Allison and Joe are a completely believable wife and husband, and when their daughters are on screen, it’s hard not to be entertained. Ariel is the sensitive teenager; Bridgette is the goofy middle daughter (and the one whose antics — such as sitting in Dad’s SUV, releasing the parking break and causing an accident — make for water-cooler talk among middle-aged women). There’s also little Marie, who doesn’t talk much.
All three have a touch of their mom’s power, and of course their powers manifest in psychologically painful ways that pave the way to more traditional social commentaries. For example, Ariel is seeing dead people at school, so she starts popping her friends’ pills.
It’s because of the kids that “Medium” could go several more seasons on CBS. For Allison, her powers are becoming old hat, but for teenagers, everything is larger than life — it doesn’t even have to be supernatural.
Any other closet “Medium” fans out there? Or is the entire fan base (besides me) women ages 35-55?