Television series
Long Island Medium
Long Island Medium follows Theresa Caputo, a self-proclaimed psychic who claims to communicate with the deceased for grieving clients. It's intimate, unfiltered reality television that treats spiritual connection as genuine work rather than spectacle. For viewers drawn to the paranormal, grief narratives, or simply the force of Caputo's conviction, it offers something genuinely moving—or fascinatingly absurd, depending on your willingness to suspend disbelief.
Should you watch it?
Watch it if you enjoy reality television built around warm, personal reunions and a host who clearly loves her work, and you don't mind taking the premise of a medium at face value for an hour at a time.
Skip it if you want reality TV with a plot, stakes or a clear narrative arc; each episode is a loose run of readings, and the format can feel repetitive if you're not invested in the people.
What it asks of you: Each episode runs about forty-two minutes and moves in a gentle, conversational rhythm, with long stretches of listening, so it asks for patience rather than close concentration.
Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.
If you liked this
Afterlife2019
Ricky Gervais plays a man processing unthinkable loss through anger and grief. It's darkly funny but never mocks suffering. The show understands why people turn to spirituality when conventional coping fails, even as it's skeptical of easy answers.
But Gervais's atheism is sometimes heavy-handed, and the tone whipsaws between comedy and tragedy in ways that don't always land.
Six Feet Under2001
The gold standard for television about death, grief, and how people process it. Anchored by extraordinary performances and writing that treats death as both the show's central fact and its least important element. Every character is trying to live with loss.
But It's intensely dark and occasionally depressing. Some episodes are difficult not in a cathartic way but in a 'why did I watch that' way.
The Sopranos1999
A psychiatrist-patient relationship becomes the show's spine, and it's endlessly fascinated in how people process trauma and search for meaning. The show respects both characters' perspectives without endorsing either. Unmatched writing and performance.
But The first season feels like a crime drama, and it takes patience to understand what it's actually about. Some viewers never adjust to the pace.
Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Long Island Medium
The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
F for Fake1973
Both are essentially about the architecture of belief and whether authenticity matters more than the emotional transaction itself.
Orson Welles' essay-film about fraud, deception, and what we want to believe. It's playful and dazzling, but fundamentally interested in the same question as Long Island Medium: when someone tells you something comforting, how much does it matter if it's true?
But It's experimental and deliberately confusing. Welles is constantly lying to you on purpose, which some viewers find more frustrating than profound.
More like this (6)
Conversations with Friends2022
A BBC adaptation of Sally Rooney about connection, self-deception, and what we're really looking for in other people. It's quiet and observational in a way that mirrors how medium readings work—someone reflecting back what you already know about yourself.
But Almost nothing happens in a plot sense. If you need propulsion, this will feel like watching paint dry.
Fleabag2016
A woman searching for love and meaning breaks the fourth wall and crashes through her own life. It understands loneliness and self-deception with extraordinary warmth. Both seasons are about yearning and connection, spiritual and otherwise.
But The first season is rough around the edges, and some of the humor is harder to land than the show thinks it is.
Midnight Mass2021
Mike Flanagan's miniseries takes religious faith and grief seriously without endorsing either. A small town is transformed by a charismatic priest, and the show explores how spiritual connection can feel miraculous and delusional simultaneously.
But It's slower and more literary than typical horror; plot can feel secondary to mood and philosophy. The final act is polarizing.
Dead to Me2019
Two women process grief and secrets through a darkly comic friendship. It's genuinely funny while respecting that both characters are broken by loss. Great performances and an honest look at how people actually heal (messily, with setbacks).
But The mystery element sometimes undercuts the character work, and later seasons prioritize plot over what made the show special.
The OA2016
Like Caputo's readings, The OA is fundamentally about the act of witnessing and being witnessed. Both work as pure belief—the show doesn't explain its phenomena any more than Caputo explains how she does what she does.
A blind woman reappears with her sight restored and claims to have traveled interdimensional realities. The show refuses to confirm or deny her story, instead asking what it means to believe in someone. Visually stunning and genuinely strange.
But The mythology is deliberately unclear and increasingly baroque. It was cancelled on a cliffhanger, so you will not get closure. Some find it brilliantly enigmatic; others find it infuriating.
American Woman2018
It's about people searching for answers when there are none, and the psychological cost of not knowing. It explains why someone would turn to a medium: not because they necessarily believe, but because the alternative—permanent uncertainty—is unbearable.
A documentary about the unsolved 1979 disappearance of Etan Patz, and how the case consumed New York. It captures the desperation of grief and how easily people convince themselves of false certainties. Devastating and clarifying about what loss does to the mind.
But It's about a murdered child and offers no resolution. Heavy, difficult, and profoundly sad without being cathartic.
