Medium

You may groan at the premise -- a young woman helps the police solve crimes through use of her psychic intuition -- but it's brought off with so much storytelling skill and so few voguish gimmicks that it might as well be the first show of its kind. [3 Jan 2005]

NBC's arresting Medium, debuting Monday, exploits a creepy premise for a few good shocks. What's more surprising is that the drama excels at tongue-in-cheek humor. [2 Jan 2005]

Within the context of an overly familiar, murder-saturated genre, talented "Medium" creator Glenn Gordon Caron ("Moonlighting") manages to find some emotionally rich variations on the formula, assisted by Patricia Arquette's appealing performance as a suburban, crime-solving mom who sees dead people. [3 Jan 2005]

Parts of tonight's episode and next week's also focus on the Dubois offspring and their own burgeoning psychic abilities, yet another growth opportunity for a show that keeps finding a way to survive in an ever-tougher world.

There's a good cast at work here - but after previewing two episodes, "Medium" seems anything but well-done. [3 Jan 2005]

The balancing act of working mom and psychic for hire, trying to be normal when you're not, is more interesting than the crime-solving. But how long can that be sustained? It's possible, in fact, that Medium would have worked better as a movie than as a series. [3 Jan 2005]

It never rises above the mediocre level, although it certainly sinks below it occasionally. [3 Jan 2005]