'Medium': Keepin' it real

Watching last night’s particularly riveting episode of Medium, in which Patricia Arquette’s Allison Dubois gets Gloria Gaynor’s ”I Will Survive” stuck in her head, one scene in particular got lodged in my noggin — and it made me realize there’s no show on network TV that better depicts the details of modern family life.

As Allison’s family heads out of the house for a weekend trip to Salt Lake City, her husband Joe (Jake Weber) frantically rushes through their cluttered house to close the shades and check the windows. On its own, not a particularly Big Moment, but to me, a perfect example of the way NBC’s supernatural procedural acknowledges the inherent drama in watching working parents grapple with three kids, hectic careers, and their own romantic relationship.

That theme is carried into the series’ wardrobe and sets, too. Allison is one of the few middle-class characters on network TV who takes a bottled water with her in the car, and doesn’t sport sexy, designer pantsuits; in fact, she and Jake sleep in — gasp! — dumpy T-shirts. And I especially love the way Allison and Jake are constantly squeezing in their conversations as they make breakfast for the kids or brush their teeth before bed.

Are there any other shows on TV that reflect what you see happening in your own homes — even if they sometimes feature conversations with the dead? Shout back, PopWatch style!

addCredit(“Medium: Gale Adler/NBC”)