User Reviews

My rating: 5 out of 10 (it was so-so)

This particular episode of Studio One is a performance of the short opera "The Medium" which was popular in the late 1940's. If you find a copy of it either on DVD or on the internet you'll notice that the quality of the picture that has survived is quite poor, but that's to be expected because live broadcasts at this time were filmed using kinescope recording (video wasn't invented yet). But don't let that scare you away from watching because this is some of the earliest television ever produced and is therefore historically significant.

And you shouldn't let my rating scare you away, either.

Now, don't misunderstand my low rating; it has nothing to do with the fact that this is an opera. I'm sure many people would stay as far away from this episode as possible if they knew what it was, but I was a music major in college and I have a great appreciation for classical music, including opera. So, my rating is not because I hate opera or something like that. No, it's simply that I don't happen to be crazy about this PARTICULAR opera. Some may find the music beautiful but it just doesn't appeal to me so much (and neither does a lot of other 20th century classical). I apologize to any fans of "The Medium" who might be annoyed with me on this…as with all music, it's just a matter of personal preference that's hard to explain.

However, I probably would have given this episode a 6 if it hadn't been for one other thing: I had no clue what was going on because I couldn't understand the words, even though they were sung in English. I know, I know…English-speakers can't understand the majority of opera lyrics, anyway, because most of them are written in foreign languages. However, I just wasn't in the mood to sit back and concentrate on the music like I would in a concert hall. When I watch a TV show what I want is a good story. So, eventually the only thing I could do is scour the internet for a copy of the text to the opera and follow along. I suspect that I'm not the only one who found this frustrating. I think a lot of people, even back in 1948, would be turned off if they watched a TV program and had no idea what the story was about, which is too bad because it turns out that it's not a bad little story. Dark, mysterious, creepy, tragic…some good stuff.

Anyway, having said all that, I encourage you to watch it. The performers were all very competent, and it may well be that you'll really find the music to your liking. One man's 5 out of 10 is another man's 10 out of 10.

Another crew of B actors and writers try to make a scary movie, but make one that is pretty funny instead; unintentionally, of course. Everyone knows that mediums are full of baloney and that there is no such thing as the afterlife (unless you are a believer in various religious practices). And even then, it is a very long shot that you are right. This episode regresses from the stronger S1 E2 installment, ":Let Me Do the Talking", which was steeped far more in reality than this Three Stooges precursor. I am looking forward to better episodes, as two of the first three were a bit disappointing.

I've recently rented quite a few DVDs from Netflix featuring early teleplays from the early days of television. However, I was taken aback by this particular episode because it's from 1948--now THAT'S early and I had no idea they any shows that old any more. Not surprisingly, the Kinescope recording is pretty rough--but what do you expect considering its age!

"The Medium" certainly was not what I expecting. Instead of spoken dialog, it was all sung--and no, these were NOT songs but actual sung dialog. This sort of thing worked wonderfully with "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg", but here the sing-song dialog was pretty tough to endure--particularly because some of the singing was very high-pitched and uncomfortable to hear. As a result, it is irritating and just about impossible to watch. Really, I didn't care after a bit about the story--I just wanted the awful singing to stop!! It's sad, really, as I usually love these old live plays. Plus, I really can respect all the hard work it took to present this in such a rapid manner. It's just the case where they had a rare failure.