Nellie Andreeva

Prognosis looks very good for CBS’ supernatural procedural Medium to return for a seventh season. There had been some renewal chatter over the past couple of days and, while the network has not made its final decision yet, signs point to a second season of Medium on CBS following the show’s infamous dismissal by NBC a year ago. (That’s when then-NBC topper Ben Silverman  called the crime drama starring Patricia Arquette “an aging franchise, without a single fan letter, with no passion”). It certainly didn’t hurt that the Medium jumped 29% in 18-49 on Friday vs. last week and ranked as CBS’ top program of the night with a 1.8 demo rating and 7.1 million viewers overall. It also doesn’t hurt that CBS owns Medium and in 2005 inked a rich off-network deal with Lifetime that licenses the series for $1.3 million an episode. CBS reportedly is looking to keep some scripted presence on Friday, probably mixed with newsmagazine or unscripted programming. Conventional wisdom would have similarly-themed Ghost Whisperer and Medium staying on together, which is certainly a possibility. While down sharply from last year, Ghost Whisperer still provides a solid 8 PM anchor for the night. Economically, it is not as lucrative as Medium as it is only 50% owned by CBS and it sold for $700,000 an episode to Syfy, We and Ion. (It does very well internationally though, and CBS may opt to keep a show that could end up on a rival network, ABC)

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