raines

I'm reminded of the great American poet Dave Mustaine who said, "Hindsight is always 20/20, but looking back it's still a bit fuzzy." You may recall that before it became Knights of Prosperity, that show was called Let's Rob Mick Jagger. And before that, it was reported to be I Want To Rob Jeff Goldblum. Unfortunately, that didn't work out because Goldblum already had a gig set up at NBC called Raines. It's about a detective that sees dead people. I like to think of it as The Ghost Whisperer minus the boobs.

Adam mentioned a couple weeks ago that Raines would be starting in March. That's still the plan, but Cynopsis is reporting that they have cut the episode order from 13 to 7, which is never a good sign. Maybe things would have been better for Goldblum had he jumped ship to get robbed over at ABC. On the other hand, given the state of the rest of the ABC midseason shows, I wouldn't bet on that one either.

Bob already mentioned this new detective drama to y'all back in October, but we didn't know exactly when the show would air. Now we know Raines, starring Jeff Goldblum, will debut on NBC in March. The series will air on Fridays at 9 pm, booting Las Vegas out of that timeslot.

I'm a bit tired of all this supernatural nonsense like Medium and Ghost Whisperer, but Raines does have a slight twist, in that Goldblum's detective only imagines the ghosts he's seeing, and they help him solve the murder cases. Huh, a human who confabs with imaginary creatures only he can see? Isn't that essentially Calvin and Hobbes? And wouldn't that be cool if Calvin actually grew up to become a homicide detective and Hobbes helped him solve all his cases? And wouldn't it be even cooler if I could learn to stay on topic instead of digressing into talking about comic strips that have absolutely nothing to do with the show I'm writing about? Yes, in a perfect world that would be grand.

I've mentioned this before, but I see last night that yet another person-who-talks-to-the-dead show premiered, this one on Lifetime. To quote the shorthand so popular in IMs these days, WTF??

It's called Lisa Williams: Life Among The Dead. It's not a drama, it's real (I guess). She's a real medium who talks to the dead.

Sigh.

Former Thief star Malik Yoba will return to TV on the new Jeff Goldblum drama for NBC, Raines. He'll play the former partner of Goldblum's detective character.

Oh, what's this one about? It's about a guy who solves crimes by...speaking to the dead! What an original concept!

Seriously, what's up with that? Medium isn't enough? And Ghost Whisperer? And doesn't the guy on The Dead Zone see people who are dead? Heck, even the blonde on Cold Case sees a "ghost" of the victim at the end of every episode.

I don't remember Columbo or Banacek or Barnaby Jones having to talk to the dead to solve crimes.

Well, at least one of my television-related prayers has come true. NBC announced that it has picked up 20 Good Years for the 2006-2007 season. It stars Jeffrey Tambor (Arrested Development) and John Lithgow (3rd Rock from the Sun) as two aging men who have some sort of epiphany and decide to live it up as they age. I think those two actors will make a terrific on-screen pair.

Bob has mentioned a list of some of the shows NBC has picked up already.