When it was announced that GW was being canceled now a decade ago, there was great disappointment, if not anger, expressed by its fans. Even the cast complained that the series did not get the chance for closure, although the final episode actually did provide that, with no narrative thread developed to lead into a Season 6, as had been done previously.
But what is amazing is that it did last through 5 seasons and 107 episodes. The premise of a spirit seer guiding the dead to the light simply did not offer the opportunity for a whole lot original plot lines, especially when they had to feature the star of the show as the major figure getting 90% of the screen time. Scant attention was paid to the rest of the cast, as reflected in the tangential nature of her husband throughout.
One consequence of this is that scripts inevitably had to start repeating themselves. This episode is an early example. "Let's manipulate the emotions of the audience by featuring a child's untimely death." It worked for S1 E2 and E5; and continued to be used throughout the series. Children get hit by trains, burn to death, drown, die in lawn mower accidents, have congenital heart defects, leukemia, bee stings, and leave behind broken families, who Melinda must restore to wholeness in order for the child to pass on.
As this is one of the earlier examples, it is more successful, as the repetition of plots is not yet obvious. By S4 it has become commonplace.
But what is amazing is that it did last through 5 seasons and 107 episodes. The premise of a spirit seer guiding the dead to the light simply did not offer the opportunity for a whole lot original plot lines, especially when they had to feature the star of the show as the major figure getting 90% of the screen time. Scant attention was paid to the rest of the cast, as reflected in the tangential nature of her husband throughout.
One consequence of this is that scripts inevitably had to start repeating themselves. This episode is an early example. "Let's manipulate the emotions of the audience by featuring a child's untimely death." It worked for S1 E2 and E5; and continued to be used throughout the series. Children get hit by trains, burn to death, drown, die in lawn mower accidents, have congenital heart defects, leukemia, bee stings, and leave behind broken families, who Melinda must restore to wholeness in order for the child to pass on.
As this is one of the earlier examples, it is more successful, as the repetition of plots is not yet obvious. By S4 it has become commonplace.