Medium - season 6

Medium has an afterlife after all, booted to the curb by NBC, CBS picked it up and paired it with Ghost Whisperer on Friday nights in the 9 p.m. EDT timeslot.

The first episode was a bit of a ride.  I didn't quite catch whether the opening dream was just a nightmare of Joe's or how close he actually came to pulling the plug.  The future flashes were an interesting device.  I liked how they gave the villain some justice even though at the time they couldn't prove that she actually did kill her husband.  I hope that Joe's employment situation will work out for a while. 

Season after season, Medium continues to be one of the most consistent and engaging dramas on TV, IMO. Kudos to CBS for rescuing it from the NBC scrap heap of failed dramas (NBC's most recent casualty, BTW, is Trauma which took a nasty, fourth place drubbing in its premiere last night.) Meanwhile, the season 6 Medium premiere on Friday won the hour for CBS.

 How bad is it that it didn't register that the villain was Natalie Zea when she was on the television, but instantly knew it was her when I saw her butt as she was crawling across the kitchen floor?

I just saw tonight's episode.  It was another good one, though they had us guessing throughout just what the danger was.  The scene at the end was priceless - just beautiful.

My tivo didn't record the first episode because I forgot to change networks so we will have to huddle around the computer to watch it. Can we watch the later episodes first and not be completely lost or should we watch the season premiere first?

I'm a bit confused with the Joe/Allison dynamic so far this season.   I don't remember Joe ever being irritated/agitated at his wife even with some of her wilder dreams and moments.   One of the big points of the first several seasons was how supportive they both were even under the most trying situations with very few raised voices and never any anger directed at each other.   Maybe it was the coma, maybe the stress of the job hunt, but it seems Joe is always doubting Allison's decisions based on her dreams and has been downright angry at her for most of S6.  Very few of the bedtime romps (hinted at regularly in the past) and the almost accepted craziness that routinely goes on.

The first episode mainly shows her recovery, so you should be able to watch the others without seeing that and take it from there.  If you can still grab the first online, or via OnDemand, I'd recommend doing so in roder to see things progress from the start.

Switched to DISH at the end of last season. During the crossover lost a lot of VCRs (remember those...). So now have no place to physically hook up the VCRs, labels have dropped off, etc.

The only things I cared about were Heroes, which I got on DVD and Medium, which I haven't purchased. Anybody care to fill me in briefly on the last month or so before it switched networks?

I think it might be best to check some of the online summaries.  TV.com has some short descriptions here which might help.  Every week when I go to change channels to watch it I still change to NBC before realizing that it is on CBS.

I'm so glad to hear I'm not the only person who's doing that.... I frequently turn on the set at 8:00 Central on Friday nights and go "Wha-- Pre-empted again!? ... Oh, wait." I wonder how many episodes it's going to take for me to get in the habit of looking for it on CBS.

Massive GMC product placement in this last episode, but if it keeps the show on the air, I keep live with it.  Having a daughter who has gone through learning how to drive and such, I could relate to a lot of what happened in the episode. 

Just saw the first new episode in a while.  It was quite a dark episode.  I was quite surprised how it ultimately ended.

Friday night's episode was a change of pace. The episode was pretty much a standalone episode with Alison dreaming near her wedding day and not quite knowing how things work yet.  It could have been placed in just about any season.

Yes, Neil, it was a "change of pace" episode, but I thought it was entertaining. The makeup effects were pretty stellar IMO. Joe and Allison looked convincingly "young". Granted, neither actor is all that old to begin with, but I just thought the youth effects were very believable.

Even though the episode is a standalone, it did serve up a bit of pertinent backstory information regarding Allison and Joe - - specifically, that Joe learned of Allison's "gift" before they married, so he knew what he was signing on for. A seemingly minor point, but I think it helps to explain the dynamics (and some of the patterns) of their modern-day relationship.

I hope CBS gives Medium another season, since I think it legitimately has more story to tell. On average, it's been number one in its timeslot all season. The only problem with that is that is since it airs on Friday night, the audience is significantly smaller than on any other night of the week (with the possible exception of Saturday). I think if the showrunners can keep production costs down (and they should already be fairly reasonable since it's a smallish cast with only a few key sets), and since CBS produces the program, I hope they greenlight a seventh season.

I also thought it was entertaining and I liked seeing Allison with long hair again.  As far as Joe learning about her gift, he just got a glimpse here.  I remember in the first episode (and it is alluded to in this one) that she had been keeping the dead people and dreams away through drink. So, it makes sense that when she wasn't drinking that somehow she would get some dreams.  Still, you have to wonder what she did the rest of her pregnancy and subsequent ones.  Of course it could be that it was not until she really started to accept them in the premiere episode and started working with law enforcement that they really started coming in full force.  Her gift really wasn't to full capacity until she was ready to use it.

I hope CBS keeps it going. Unfortunately, the odds don't look that good - as predicted by http://tvbythenumbers.com/category/renewcancel-cbs-shows

I've been following that TVbytheNumbers index with some interest, too. Like I say, the best thing Medium has going for it (re: another season) is that the program is produced by CBS. I am not sure how well the show plays internationally (if at all) but, a seventh season for syndication purposes and DVD season sets may also weigh into the decision. Lastly, the fact that Les Moonves and Glen Gordon Caron are personal friends (Moonves championed Medium to CBS when NBC dumped it and in a very public way told NBC they made a big mistake) Moonves may want to keep it on the schedule for another year. I think it will all boil down to economics. Right now, CBS has three (first-run) scripted dramas airing on Friday night. They are the only network doing that. Granted, they win the night handily in most cases, but with the success of Undercover Boss, they could use that as a tentpole on Friday and surround it with other reality fare. I don't know how successful they'd be, but there's no question they can save money in the short term.