Medium Is Big!! And Good!!
Despite launching against CBS ratings pillar CSI: Miami, Monday’s premiere of Glenn Gordon Caron’s Medium was NBC’s highest-rated drama debut since the arrival of Ed way back in 2000.
A number of reviews we surveyed early in the week painted the pilot as a weak thing, but I liked the pilot pretty much as much as I liked the pilot script – which is to say I liked it quite a bit.
(The most off-putting element, to my eyes, was the show’s X-Files-y title sequence, which seems out of step with the show’s otherwise straightforward tone.)
The Los Angeles Times noted “Arquette's spiky, sparring scenes with [the skeptical sheriff character] are the show's best, not surprising given that the pride of creator Glenn Gordon Caron's résumé is spiky, sparring Moonlighting." It’s a valid point, but what the Times forgot to mention is the sheriff (Arliss Howard) pretty much spars with Arquette for the whole pilot. And I liked the way Arquette’s character dealt with her colleagues in the district attorney’s office as well.
Other critics, meanwhile, took issue with Arquette’s performance. I thought it compelling! (It’s possible much of the media was thrown by the authentic Southwestern accent Arquette adopted for the role.)
But what matters Herc’s opinion? Here’s what AICN readers who saw the pilot had to say:
“The show is good. I dug the pilot, I'll stick with it. Arquette's performance is nicely grounded, I like that her home life is normal and she is trying to come to terms with her power that apparently she has had all along she just tries to hide it. The Texas Ranger was cool, too bad he probably won't be a recurring character.” - “Jack Burton”
“I liked it.... I didn't love it though. I'll probably watch it as long as they keep it on Monday nights. I think Patricia Arquette is a believable lead, but some of the dialogue was kind of stiff. She actually said "effin" which made me laugh in a moment where she was supposed to be upset. I'll watch the next few eps to see where they are heading with this series. I will say it's the best thing NBC has had to offer recently, with Hawaii being a boring, unwatchable mess and Father of the Pride being basically unfunny.” – “baj24”
“Actually good. I liked it. It has a 6th sense feel to it, which is what they were going for.” – “topdeck”
“I liked it. It was entertaining. What are these critics complaining about?” – “Russman”
If you want to see what the fuss is about, NBC just decided to repeat the pilot Thursday night in the ER timeslot (before the ratings came out, NBC was going to show the second episode).