Jeff Goldblum as "Raines"
This past Thursday night, NBC premiered a new series starting Jeff Goldblum, entitled “Raines”. Michael Raines is a police detective with an overactive imagination. According to the story line, Raines sees dead people.
Now it is not like the boy in the movie, “The Sixth Sense”. These people do not talk to Raines and tell him how they were killed and where to find the evidence. They are not really ghosts. They are just figments of the character’s mind. They are imaginary friends who go away once the crime is solved.
One that does not go away is his former partner, played by Malik Yoba. The two men were shot, but Raines survived. Now he has little talks with the former partner who insults him but encourages him without saying much of anything.
This is a weak premise for a quirky detective show that networks have been looking for since the success of "Monk". “Raines” may find its way to the USA Network once NBC is done trying it out (Universal owns both NBC and USA). The sad thing is that we may have already seen the best the show has to offer.
Goldblum is likely the only actor in Hollywood who could play this character and pull it off without embarrassing himself or anyone else. Goldblum has been playing quirky characters throughout his career, starting in the seventies with small parts in popular movies like “Death Wish”, “Nashville” and “Annie Hall”, to starring parts in films like “The Fly” and “Jurassic Park”.
Backing up to 1980, Goldblum made a big splash in his first television series, “Tenspeed and Brown Shoe”. This was a short-lived detective show that was also quirky. He played a former attorney who loved solving mysteries. Ben Vereen was an ex-con who latches onto the intelligent, but absent-minded Goldblum. Together, they go into partnership.
The show got off to a fast start for ABC, but the network gave up on it quickly. After getting good notices in a couple of TV films, and getting some strong supporting roles (“The Right Stuff”, etc.) in major films, his career slowly took off.
Now 54, but not looking it, the Pennsylvania native is hoping “Raines” will be a nice starring vehicle to showcase his talents. Although the pilot episode was fun, I am not certain it will work on a weekly basis. Network television will be better if it can find a home for this tremendous talent. They better not wait another twenty-five years to find it.
Now it is not like the boy in the movie, “The Sixth Sense”. These people do not talk to Raines and tell him how they were killed and where to find the evidence. They are not really ghosts. They are just figments of the character’s mind. They are imaginary friends who go away once the crime is solved.
One that does not go away is his former partner, played by Malik Yoba. The two men were shot, but Raines survived. Now he has little talks with the former partner who insults him but encourages him without saying much of anything.
This is a weak premise for a quirky detective show that networks have been looking for since the success of "Monk". “Raines” may find its way to the USA Network once NBC is done trying it out (Universal owns both NBC and USA). The sad thing is that we may have already seen the best the show has to offer.
Goldblum is likely the only actor in Hollywood who could play this character and pull it off without embarrassing himself or anyone else. Goldblum has been playing quirky characters throughout his career, starting in the seventies with small parts in popular movies like “Death Wish”, “Nashville” and “Annie Hall”, to starring parts in films like “The Fly” and “Jurassic Park”.
Backing up to 1980, Goldblum made a big splash in his first television series, “Tenspeed and Brown Shoe”. This was a short-lived detective show that was also quirky. He played a former attorney who loved solving mysteries. Ben Vereen was an ex-con who latches onto the intelligent, but absent-minded Goldblum. Together, they go into partnership.
The show got off to a fast start for ABC, but the network gave up on it quickly. After getting good notices in a couple of TV films, and getting some strong supporting roles (“The Right Stuff”, etc.) in major films, his career slowly took off.
Now 54, but not looking it, the Pennsylvania native is hoping “Raines” will be a nice starring vehicle to showcase his talents. Although the pilot episode was fun, I am not certain it will work on a weekly basis. Network television will be better if it can find a home for this tremendous talent. They better not wait another twenty-five years to find it.
Labels: Entertainment, People
posted by Alexander Dimm | 9:05 PM
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