Medium: Eulogy for an NBC Show

[weber_dubois22]

Nice try, NBC.

Those promos you made for next week's Medium finale subtly imply that after five years Medium is going off the air entirely. Of course, that's not true; Medium is really just moving to your competitor CBS after five years on NBC, having been banished from Leno-land because it supposedly doesn't generate enough 18-49 tweets or some such nonsense that totally disrespects an otherwise wonderful series.

If you've never watched Medium, the thing to know is that it's mostly about middle-class people living middle-of-the-road lives—oh, and the lead character happens to be a spiritual medium who communes with the dead.

Like Supernatural, Medium is a solid and innovative genre show that manages a wonderful balance between thrills, chills and gore, on one hand, and heartwarming family stuff on the other. It's not flashy, but it is a deeply creative enterprise and very rewarding for viewers.

So this is our thank-you blog post to and about Medium, and in an effort to be detailed and specific in our gratitude, we've made a list of what we appreciate about Medium.

Long story short, Medium should never have gotten semicanceled because no one talked about it! We can't change the past, but in hopes of providing Medium with a more secure future, here goes:



Dear Medium,

Thank you for the following highlights from your fine television program:

1. Everything Joe Dubois ever said or did. Joe is without question one of the outstanding husbands and fathers to ever grace television.
2. Jake Weber. *THUD*
3. All of the moments when the series dared to show Joe and Allison as a genuine and largely happy married couple. They just keep being together, loving each other and supporting each other and their daughters. The writers and actors have created a truly admirable portrait of modern marriage against a media landscape that doesn't otherwise necessarily admire fidelity and commitment.
4. The girls, Ariel (Sofia Vassilieva), Bridgette (Maria Lark) and now baby Marie (Madison and Miranda Carabello), who started finally started talking this season ("I am pea pod and I am in the vegetable family."). Love the sisters' rivalry and their inheritance of the family psychic business. For example, Marie cutting paper dolls out of the newspaper stock listings and naming them after soon-to-be-profitable companies. Too adorable!
5. Everything that ever happened with Ryan Hurst as Allison's brother Lucky, Arliss Howard as Texas Ranger Capt. Push, Anjelica Huston as Cynthia Keener, Kurtwood Smith as Agent Cooper and Mark Sheppard as Dr. Charles Walker.
6. Scanlon (David Cubitt) and Allison's platonic romance.
7. Allison and Devalos' (Miguel Sandoval) friendship and reflexive trust.
8. Anytime the dream turns out not to be Allison's.
9. Allison's ever-changing hair, her mom arms and her general cuteness.
10. That episode where the poor dead kid ends up packaged as a life-size doll. OK, maybe that's not a favorite memory, but it certainly was just plain memorable.
11. In the same memorable but not necessarily cherished vein, the arc with Devalos' dead daughter.
12. That time Allison went to go tell the girl that in 10 years she would meet a "good Samaritan" in the desert and that Samaritan was actually going to kill her. (Memory fails: Wasn't he supposed to have red shoelaces or red hair or some key physical trait?) That scene in a school hallway, as seemingly crazy Allison convinced the girl to listen and then take a leap of faith and trust her, well, that was simply remarkable.
13. Anytime Allison has a beer.
14. Allison as Little Red Riding Hood.
15. The 3-D episode.
16. The killer cartoon monkeys episode.
17. The "I Married a Mind Reader" retro TV show episode.
18. The iPod episode.
19. Almost every ghost possession episode, including Natasha Gregson Wagner in the asylum in the '50s and most recently Jeffrey Tambor, who needs a guest-star Emmy, stat. He absolutely nailed Patricia Arquette's Allison (although not literally, of course).
20. [Your suggestion goes here.]

Thanks for the memories, Medium; we'll see you on CBS in the fall.

Sincerely,
Your loyal fans

Don't forget to watch Medium's final NBC episode this Monday at 10 p.m. (The show reappears on CBS this fall with new episodes.) If you've never seen the show, you can always catch up on our corporate-cousin website, Fancast.

Seriously, which highlights of Medium's past five seasons stand out most for you? Post your favorite Medium moments in the comments, and we'll mention the best in Monday's spoiler chat.

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Comments

[weber_dubois22]

20. [Your suggestion goes here.]
In No Particular Order, whatsoever:

#1. Allison Dancing in red and black to Gloria Gaynor's "I will Survive" (2x02: "The Song Remains the Same").
#2. The flashbacks to the 1980s, Allison's youth before she accepted her gift (2x05: "Sweet Dreams", 3x15: "The Boy Next Door", & "4x02: "But for the Grace of God").
#3. Marie wondering "Somebody broke me? Who broke me?" before learning Allison was in car accident 3 weeks prior to her brith (5x10: "Then...And again").
#4. Allison's Apocalypic vision of the future where she is missing and her family is without food, so Joe ventures out into the ruined neighborhood in search of it (5x06: "Apocalypse...Now?").
#5. "Viva La Vida (Instrumental)" playing everytime Allison got the urge to take apart electronics to [unknownlingly] build a bomb (5x03: "A Person of Interest").
#6. Joe jamming to Kanye West's "Good Life" in his Crayon Dream (4
#7. Just about every second of 3x17: "Joe Day Afternoon".
#8. Joe and Ariel's ["never-really happened"] fight on the way back home from the illegal ski trip (5x10: "Then...And Again").
#9. Allison and the false "There's a man with a Gun [in the elevator]!" alarm (2x:06: "Dead Aim").
#10. Allison assults Todd's father, Dr. Gromada, under the belief he has harmed Ariel (2x12: "Doctor's Orders").
#11. Joe and Allison "snogging the rain" at the end of 2x22: "Twice Upon a Time".
#12. Allison dreaming of a young woman's suicide jump off a cliff in reverse (1x07: "Jump Start")
#13. Joe confesses to his co-worker that he is "Psychic" in order to save him from untimely demise via heart-attack (1x07: "Jump Start"[?]).
#14. The Entire episode of 3x12: "The One Behind the Wheel"; but particularly when Joe starts to cry upon realizing the woman speaking to him is his wife, not Sandra.
#15. Allison: "Funny thing is...I don't know what this project is. I know it has something to do with Mars. Beyond that... I know has something to do with space. I know what space means to you. I remember the night we met. You picked me up at that bar, you brought me back to your place, show me your telescope. You showed me your books on the cosmos You showed me your lunch box from the third grade with rockets and planets."
Joe: "And you thought, "What a Nerd"."
Allison: "And I thought... "I think I have to sleep with this man I think I might have to marry this man." And now it's me standing between you and your other love." --- (3x16: "Whatever Posessed you").
#16. Dr. Charles Walkers gruesome first appearance (1x15: "Penny for your Thoughts")
#17. Allison dreams Ariel is Carrie after she is humilated on stage at a dance (3x07: "Mommy's little Helper")

[weber_dubois22]

#18. That incredible music in "2x20: The Darkness is light enough" whenever Allison dreamed about the Blind woman (Molly Ringwald) being watched by unknown man.
#19. The two times Joe tells off the women perusing him for "Sexual relations" despite knowing he's happily married to Allison (Point in case: the old Collage buddy, Karen Jane/Herzfeld, from "2x08: "Too Close to Call" and Meghan Doyle in "Being Joey Carmichael" and/or "Drowned World").
#20. Marie inquires if Joe and Allison are getting a Divorce and if he will take her Flordia afterward (5x05: "A Taste of her own Medicine")
#21. Joe: "Adam, if I ever get the sense your sharing your alligeries with my daughter [Ariel], I'm calling your parents." (5x02: "Things to do in Phoenix when you're Dead")
#22. Bridgette: "Hey Ariel, did you ever notice that on the cereal box there's a picture of a kid, sitting at a table, eating cereal, and on that table there's a cereal box... and on that cereal box there's a picture of a kid sitting on a table eating cereal and on that table there's another cereal box and on that box... Do you think they go on forever? Do you think the cereal box' kids keep getting smaller and smaller until it's the size of a molecule?"
#23. Joe almost calls Allison "Profoundly Selfish", frustrated by her enthusiasm for being needed on the yet to be closed serial killer case, yet again. (2x01: "When Push comes to Shove [Part II]")
#24. Joe snaps at Allison for making light of her "Sleep Walking" problem (2x04: "Light Sleeper").
#25. Allison is outed as a Psychic by PD McCall (Neve Campbell) (3x21: "Heads Will Roll").
#26. Allison exhibits the behavioral patterns of a dead Serial Killer after his case is closed (2x11: "Method to his Madness")

[dani-ellie.livejournal.com]

*dies laughing at 22*

The sad thing is, I remember thinking pretty much the same thing when I was about Bridgette's age, only it was a book with a picture of a kid reading a book, and so on. ;)

I love that there's so much attention paid to even the throwaway conversations the kids have with each other. There was something Ariel did to Bridgette once (maybe telling her really fast how to spell something and then getting frustrated when Bridgette couldn't keep up?) and I remember thinking, "I have had that EXACT SAME CONVERSATION with my sister!"

[weber_dubois22]

They were aruging over how to spell "Wedding" (Bridgette spelled it like "Weeding"). I think everybody has had that conversation with their sibbling on who spelled what right or wrong. I know I did :P.

[crazyboltonlass.livejournal.com]

Love them all, especially #15. Will have to think further on mine, I did reply to the article though.

I love pretty much any time the psychics read Joe's mind. Allison and the party; Ariel and Maths and sleepy Bridge in 3x16!

[memorysdaughter.livejournal.com]

I can't put my thoughts in numbered points, but "Medium" has been a show that I've loved since the beginning. I don't care where it has to go, as long as it remains on the air. It's a show about a family, who deal with family problems, and they happen to just be a little different.

No thanks, NBC!
CBS, big props for picking up our show! I should have known - the network that brought us "The Price is Right" and all three CSI's - you're awesome.

[rositamia.livejournal.com]

I love how the show portrays the relationship of each of the character's with everyone else. I especially love that Allison and Joe get mad at each other, argue like grown-ups, get tired of each other and the kids, and still manage to *love* each other through all that. They fight, they make love, they do the dishes, they get groceries, they have money problems. Just like real people.

I especially love how Joe really tries to understand Allison's dreams. I can see how hard he struggles with it some times. Particularly at the beginning. He's getting more acclimated as they go along. And I like how they're showing that each of the girls has Allison's gifts as well. I like how slowly they're revealing how each girl's gifts manifest.

I love how they play with the dreams in each episode, how each dream can be interpreted one way, but then, further in the episode, there's an "a-ha" moment when the paradigm shifts, and the dream means something different than you originally thought. I like how each dream builds on the last, gradually showing the big picture.

I love the kids; they seem very real. Bridget and Ariel arguing, Ariel pushing her boundaries and learning to drive, Marie being such a cutie pie, Bridget teasing Marie, and them all telling on each other to their parents. I like seeing how chaotic their mornings are because that really resonates with me. Children always bring chaos, especially in the morning when you're trying to get them out the door.

I love how they've developed Scanlon and his relationship with his girlfriend. I enjoyed the way they showed that he could be very human and be a jerk, and figure out how to get through being so scared of a grown-up relationship. He's going to be such a great daddy. Eventually. And I like his girl. She's a good match for him.

I like Manny. Pardon me; District Attorney Duvalos. Allison and he have such a close relationship that it still catches my attention every time Allison calls him that.

I enjoy watching each episode. I always wanna see how the dreams impact each investigation. And the guest stars are always stellar. They enjoy being on the show and always bring their A-game.

I cannot begin to express how very glad I am that I can continue to watch the DuBois family. I would truly miss them.