Now that I’m paying for a Hulu video membership, I’ve got hundreds of choices at my fingertips. I had been watching L&O SVU, but after a few episodes felt the storylines were just too cut and dried. Since I watch a lot of police procedurals, that show felt very familiar even though I’d never seen it before. So I decided to give Medium a try, and like this one much better.
Admittedly, Season 1 of Medium has had its problems. After watching about 8 episodes (half of the 16-ep first season), I find that the show is very uneven and inconsistent. It has had some stellar episodes, and some excruciatingly bad ones (like the one featuring Allison’s half-brother). I like Allison, despite the fact that Patricia Arquette doesn’t strike me as a great actress, and the show is mostly fun to watch.
I love that Allison’s gift applies to both large and small issues: she’s not only able to tell what happened at a crime scene, but can also come up with instant baseball coach gift ideas for her daughter’s Little League team or whatever. I think that’s more realistic (as far as any show based on a psychic can be called realistic) than having Allison only be able to “see” important things.
Overall, I think the works better when the writers focus on Allison helping the DA’s office solve crimes. It lags when the focus shifts to the family life — though my opinion is based largely on the fact that I can’t stand the actor who plays her husband.
Looking forward to watching all 5 seasons of this in short order!
