Parents' Guide to Lisa Williams: Life Among the Dead

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Common Sense Media Review

By Lucy Maher , based on child development research. How do we rate?

age 11+

Quirky medium will entrance believers.

Parents Need to Know

Why Age 11+?

Any Positive Content?

Parent and Kid Reviews

age 14+

Based on 4 parent reviews

age 12+

Based on 1 kid review

What's the Story?

In LISA WILLIAMS: LIFE AMONG THE DEAD, viewers follow a quirky English clairvoyant as she attempts to contact and speak to the dead. In each episode, Williams stops strangers on the street to get them to agree to an impromptu reading, a tactic that's often met with shock and surprise. Next come several segments in which Williams works with people who have traveled to her adopted hometown of Los Angeles for the express purpose of working with her to correspond with the dead.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say ( 4 ):
Kids say ( 1 ):

Williams is a quirky character, and viewers will either love her or hate her. She often gets agitated and emotional when speaking to the dead and can be so focused on her work that she takes on an almost haunted aura. In one episode, Williams relayed loving messages from an American serviceman killed in Iraq to his wife back home and helped a pair of sisters realize why their mother committed suicide. After a long day's work, Williams puts on her cap -- signaling to the spirits that she's off the clock -- and returns home to her husband, Kevin, and young son, Charlie.

Although things can get a little intense (and some kids might be freaked out by the idea of talking to spirits), there's nothing particularly harmful about the show, as long as parents are OK with the death- and psychic-centered content. Since some segments deal with potentially touchy subjects (suicide, for starters), save this one for older tweens and up.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about what happens to a person after they die. Is there such a thing as an afterlife? How do different faiths tackle the idea of the afterlife? What do you think happens? Is it possible for people to communicate from "beyond the grave"? Do you believe that Williams is really talking to spirits? Do you think her clients find peace after a reading?

TV Details

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