Saying Goodbye to Medium and Life Unexpected
In all the midst of the mid season television schedule changes and new show debuts, two shows quietly ended their runs this week. On Tuesday the CW's "Life Unexpected" ended after only two 13 episode seasons. On Friday "Medium" ended after seven seasons and a network change from NBC to CBS two seasons ago. These were two very different, yet similiar shows. "Life Unexpected" was about a teenage foster girl who is reunited with her real parents and "Medium" was about a psychic who helps the police catch criminals. However, in the end both shows were about love and family. These were not the most popular shows, as evident by their cancellations, but they contained some of the most real depictions of family life on television in recent memory.
On "Medium" Alison and Joe Dubois, played by Patricia Arquette and Jake Weber felt like a real couple to me. They laughed together, they fought with each other, they cried togther, they talked to each other in bed each night before going to sleep, and they raised a family together. During the course of the show, the audience literally watched their three girls grow up. I actually watched the show more for their family interactions than I did for the mystery plots each week. In the end of the show, not even death could keep Joe and Alison apart. That is how strong their love was. I can sincerely say I will miss the Dubois family.
In the short time "Life Unexpected" was on the air, it depicted a family that one could say is the total opposite of the one portrayed on "Medium" because the characters are not really a family until the end of the show. The story centered on a teenager, Lux Cassidy, played by Britt Robertson, who is reunited with her birth parents. The show was basically about Lux and her struggle to feel like she belonged. It was also about how, just by finding them, Lux was able to bring her parents Baze and Kate back to gether. They were two people who clearly belonged togther, but who had gone their separate ways after high school when Kate had gotten pregnant and given Lux away. Stuck in the middle of this situation was Kate's fiance and then husband Ryan. There was a lot of drama and angst that went on in between, but in the end, Kate, Baze, and Lux, and yes, even Ryan became part of a modern unconventional family. As both "Medium and "Life Unexpected" portrayed not all families are the same. Families are created by the people who love you and will be there for you no matter what. These two sets of families are now part of television history.
