Raines Reigns with Respectable Numbers. Do Goldblum and NBC Have a Hit?

As LAPD detective Michael Raines, Jeff Goldblum reluctantly accepts the weird detour his thought process has taken every since the traumatic loss of his longtime cop partner, Charlie (Malik Yoba). Whether he is conversing with perceived ghosts, figments of the imagination or paranoid delusions is not clear at first; nevertheless the back and forth conversations he has with the "beings" brim with the sotto voce wry wit so often associated with Goldblum's other memorable characters from films such as Independence Day (1996), Jurassic Park (1993), and The Big Chill (1983).

While the other-worldly exchanges between Raines and his imagination offer great fun for the audience, as well as heart and depth to the story line, there's plenty of old school, L.A. Confidential cops and robbers atmosphere to play against. As Newsday comments, "It's all so L.A. noirish that you almost expect Sam Spade or Jake Gittes to show up and slap some dame around. Raines has a splendid imagination and talent, which make him unique among his brethren. One day, the image - or specifically, the figment - of a murdered woman appears to him. She doesn't say much, though her presence is testament that something is gnawing at his subconscious. The clues don't add up. As he learns more about her, she morphs before his very eyes, changing (at one point) into a cigarette-toting vamp while a sax wails in the background. Raines stops himself: "It's not right - all of a sudden, you've turned into Kathleen Turner from 'Body Heat.'" Indeed, the ghostly victim as foil must have had more costume changes than Celine Dion in Vegas.

Granted a lead character in bad need of mental meds is no longer ground-breaking, nonetheless, it is still an engaging device when done well. Perhaps in real life we all have our share of leading characters who, like Monk, House and Raines, are a pinch unstable, (okay, more than a pinch). These wobbly characters, however, are also the most memorable and sometimes the most talented folks around.