Medium: Eulogy for an NBC Show

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