Raines' Reign

So I spent my Thursday night watching the new Jeff Goldblum show Raines. I thought it was amazing. At first glance, it feels a little Sixth Sense-ish with a dash of Ghost Whisperer. But it's much better than that.

Quirky actor Jeff Goldblum plays a police detective named Michael Raines who is able to talk to the dead victims. However, this is not like a cop version of Ghost Whisperer (whose success continues to confound me). He is able to "talk" to the victims. But seeing these victims is part of his own mental issues. He isn't really able to talk to them, they are a figment of his imagination and are unable to give him any information that he doesn't already know. And, as he learns more about them, they begin to evolve. For instance, in last night's pilot, he later found out that the victim was from Texas. From that point on, the character of the victim started speaking with a texan accent.

The show has a good pedigree with the producer being Graham Yost who previously helmed the underrated and quick cancelled cop drama Boomtown. The pilot itself was directed by Shawshank Redemption writer/director Frank Darabont. Here is an interview with Yost and Goldblum from the website comingsoon.com.

Goldblum seems to be one those you either hate him or love him type actors. My sister absolutely hates him. I honestly used to hate him as well. His one line as an pretentious partygoer talking on the phone with his guru in the film Annie Hall still makes me laugh. He says, "I forgot my mantra". Anytime J-Mac and I are at a party filled with pretentious people I say that line to her. Well, it makes me laugh anyway.

His style of acting where he talks in short sentances with long pauses but speaks each of those sentances really fast always makes me laugh. It has a weird rhythm that takes getting used to but once I saw him in The Lost World: Jurassic Park II I was hooked on him as an actor. The way he reads that line when they first arrive at that second island and everyone starts oohing and ahhing at the dinosaurs. He says "Oh, yeah. Oooh, ahhh, that's how it always starts. Then later there's running and screaming." Best line from any Jurassic Park film.

Top 5 Jeff Goldblum films
1. Invasion Of The Body Snatchers
2. The Fly
3. Deep Cover
4. The Tall Guy
5. Lush Life

So Raines is currently airing in ER's slot on Thursday night at 10 pm for the first two weeks. It will then move to its regular slot of 9 pm on Friday nights. Things aren't looking good for the show as NBC's original order of 13 episodes was shortened to 7 episodes three months before the show debuted but you never know. As a lead in for Law & Order, it could end up doing well.