Inconsistent ‘CSI’ lookalike, ‘Medium,’ a long shot for NBC

TV is the great equalizer. If you don’t believe that, look at how they treat their elite.

Glenn Gordon Caron earned multiple Emmy nominations for his creation “Moonlighting” in the mid-1980s, as the screwball comedy set in a detective office brought Cybill Shepherd and Bruce Willis national attention.

Then Caron had the audacity to make largely forgettable feature films. His 1999 return to TV, “Now & Again,” created quite a buzz, but it was canceled after one season.

Now Caron is back with a new drama, “Medium,” which debuts at 10 tonight. It has drawn the singular honor of airing opposite CBS’ ratings powerhouse “CSI: Miami.” Talk about one foot in the grave.

Inspired by a real-life story, “Medium” focuses on Allison Dubois, played by Patricia Arquette, who is also crossing over from movies. Allison is a mother of three, a law student, and an intern in the district attorney’s office. She also, by the way, sees dead people.

Allison – “I’m either psychic or psycho,” she jokes – can talk with dead people, see the future in her dreams and read people’s thoughts. To set her mind at ease, her husband Joe, played by Jake Weber, faxes off some of the scenarios she recalls to the appropriate law-enforcement agencies. To her amazement, the Texas Rangers come calling, and soon she has found a new calling in life, as she becomes a crime-solving consultant to her former district-attorney boss, played by Miguel Sandoval.

“Medium” and “CSI: Miami” have one big similarity, in that the dead give up their secrets to the living. However, while the “CSI” clone is an ensemble, “Medium” rests squarely on the talented Arquette’s slender shoulders and crackling dialogue. But, unfortunately, the drama’s name best describes its consistency. Its chances for survival are medium, at best.

Dale McGarrigle can be reached at 990-8028 and dmcgarrigle@

bangordailynews.net.