“Raines” is not your ordinary police detective. He is neurotic, paranoid, internal and, oh yes, he thinks he sees and talks to dead murder victims.
Emmy Award-winning executive producer-writer Graham Yost (“Band of Brothers,” “From the Earth to the Moon,” “Boomtown”) and star Jeff Goldblum (“The Lost World: Jurassic Park,” “Independence Day,” “The Fly”) combine forces in “Raines,” an inventive police drama that blends traditional noir storytelling with humor and intrigue.
Eccentric LAPD Detective Michael Raines (Goldblum) uses his unique imagination to focus on every murder case in such a way that the murder victims actually begin to take shape in front of him. At first, he thinks he’s losing his mind, but he then uses the constantly evolving hallucinations — which are figments of his imagination and not ghosts — to help him discover the victims’ killers. Raines struggles to accept this peculiar gift — or burden — and reconcile it with his daily life.
Also prominent in Raines’ life are his understanding boss, Captain Daniel Lewis (Matt Craven, “From the Earth to the Moon”); an antagonistic uniformed officer, Remi Boyer (Dov Davidoff, “Third Watch”); Boyer’s long-suffering partner, Officer Michelle Lance (Linda Park, “Star Trek: Enterprise”); sharp-tongued civilian employee, Carolyn Crumley (Nicole Sullivan, “MADtv”); his former partner, Charlie Lincoln (Malik Yoba, “Thief”); and therapist, Samantha Kohl (Madeleine Stowe, “The Last of the Mohicans,” “We Were Soldiers”).
“Raines” premieres tonight at 10/9C on NBC.
Does it even count as sci-fi if his “powers” are that he’s crazy? 🙂
Yeah….. “Crazy SF” 🙂
The question that the series will eventually leave the viewer wondering is “Are these hallucinations or does he really have the ability to see and talk to the dead?” or… “Is he just a whacko?”
Either way, this “gift” becomes very useful in solving murder cases…which, if not scifi, is at least a rater on the bizarro meter.
Tune into our show #101 as we will be talking a little about Raines and its relationship to BSG in the TV Talk segment.
So let me get this straight… It’s about a person who sees murder victims and they help him solve his case. Doesn’t NBC already have a show just like that?
I dunno, man, the ads were pretty explicit that he wasn’t actually seeing dead people. I guess they could decide to muddle that over time. But then you’ve just got Medium, so what’s the point? Or Ghost Whisperer, but apparently we get Jeff Goldblume instead of JLH.
Meh.
I watched the pilot tonight. Because Jeff was in it and he is a damn fine actor to watch practice his craft, I found it entertaining enough to sit through the whole thing.
The storyline was rather predictable, Linda Park didn’t get enough screen time, but it is only the pilot so I understand the need to get Jeff out there for most of it; and caught on immediately that his ex-partner who he spends alot of time confiding in, was really already dead – so that came as no surprise at the end.
I’ll hang with it for a while to see if it improves. I’ve done that with “The Dresden Files” and am glad that I did because each week it gets a little better. I’m hoping the same happens for “Raines” because I like Goldblum and really enjoy watching Linda Park.
I agree with Sam, Goldblum is a great actor. In my mind he pretty much carried the piolt episode, although his former partner with the cane was awsome in his supporting role. Lets hope this show doesn’t get the axe.
Jeff Goldblum is just plain fun to watch. I see potential in the show- hope it sticks around. Love his former partner- that is a great dynamic! Let’s give this show some legs.