The Unusuals

Having watched everything from LAW AND ORDER to NYPD BLUE, I have a pretty good idea by now how police procedural shows work. You get a sense of the personalities of the main characters while they solve a boatload of cases week after week, but since the shows are mostly about the cases and not about the characters, nuggets of information about the heroes' quirks, family lives and other intimate details are about as rare as actually finding a real cherry in a Hostess Cherry Fruit Pie. And then they're doled out maybe one or two every fifth or sixth episode.

Which is why THE UNUSUALS is so darn refreshing. Like a fighter who actually leads with his chin, this series wears its characters odd qualities on its sleeve. And what gets doled out just like those aforementioned cherries, are bits and pieces of a puzzle underneath all the weirdness: the real secrets these characters are hiding underneath the "WTF" moments.

I never watched a single episode of JOAN OF ARCADIA, but I was immediately intrigued with Amber Tamblyn, who plays Det. Casey Shraeger. What makes her "unusual": she's a trust- fund baby from a VERY wealthy blue-blood background, who has been working in Vice "on the stroll" for two years, when she's plucked off the streets from her hooker gig and teamed up with stoic Det. Jason Walsh, played by Jeremy Renner. (You may remember Renner as the heroic and doomed soldier from 28 WEEKS LATER.) Two of the things that make him "unusual": off-duty, he runs a hole-in-the-wall diner where he cooks and serves dishes you could never imagine yourself wanting to eat, and he has been covering for his corrupt partner, who suddenly ends up looking like a slab of beef in a slaughterhouse. Since said partner was also into hookers, hence his sudden, reluctant partnership with Shraeger.

In an inspired bit of casting, two of the most watchable "unusuals" seem to have the most conventional secrets in any cop show going this far over-the-top: Adam Goldberg (SAVING PRIVATE RYAN) and Harold Perrineau (LOST, OZ) play partnered Detectives Leo Banks and Eric Delahoy, respectively. Banks wears a bulletproof vest both on and off-duty (he's terrified that he will die at age 42), where Delahoy suddenly becomes a suicidal "super-cop", who isn't afraid to do anything that might get him killed (he has a brain tumor and has been given mere months to live, if he doesn't get the operation he's determined to avoid.)

Riding herd on these and several other off-beat personalities constantly clashing in the precinct is Sgt. Harvey Brown (OZ alum Terry Kinney), who has pulled Tamblyn's seemingly squeaky-clean character in for a very specific reason: to help him clean house. Not surprisingly enough, there are several cops in their shop who are on the take and worse, and he wants to expose and take them down before his superiors are motivated to do it for him. "Nothing is what it looks like," he warns her - or something to that effect.

If the show has any problems, which are definitely not with the strong ensemble cast, it's some of the cases piled on top of everything else to heighten the weirdness. No explanation is given as to why a perp is brought in wearing a hot dog suit, or why their caseloads include everything from a serial killer of neighborhood cats, to a dangerous gang that goes on a rampage which includes virtually every male member of the family, down to the youngest brother who is an honor student in high school (so why weren't the aunts, the mother and the grandmother in on it, too?)

The goings-on with the main characters would be more than enough to keep things interesting without any more embellishments, but in a blasted landscape littered with the corpses of shows long past their prime, being fed on by the fly-blown vultures of reality TV constructs, at least THE UNUSUALS is trying by daring to be...unusual. And it's for that reason I fear that this show will be over before it even gets the chance to find its feet and its potential audience.

But I really hope I'm wrong.

I kept seeing the word 'Comedy' used to describe this show. And yes, the initial previews splashes gave you comedic moments-- which would lead your average viewer to expect a kind of 'Night Court' type cop show.

But now, I'm watching it. And it's a Drama. . .that has some threads of 'Funny' here and there. And it flips back and forth across the spectrum. There's a little 'Hill Street', a little 'Cops' plus some other shows the rest of you can fish up-- yet it's STILL DIFFERENT.

I'll call this 'Uneasy Drama' with a small side of 'funny' in the little paper cup like you used to get in a diner-- there for just enough Sweet & Sour to make you pucker up.

The Story here is about all these people in a small precinct who WANT to be Cops. But they ALL have secrets-- secrets that should close the Precinct door on them. Something in their past that they cannot let out. And despite all that, they go out and do the Job of keeping the streets safe.

For those of you who know-- the closest 'Uneasy' Drama I can think of was "Firefly". It has that same Mix of Unexpected Serious & Hilarious-- except you don't know which side of the slap you're gonna get at any minute. Yet the Network Marketed that show exactly the SAME WAY. Everyone thought it was gonna be a nonstop comedy-- and when it turned into something else, people didn't know what to do with it.

SO it is with "Unusuals". You could have a situation that starts looking Hilarious-- but then it turns Ugly-- and you feel uncomfortable because you were starting to chuckle. Or you could have the reverse.

For those of you looking for non-stop dark oily adrenaline-hyped emotional thunderstorms-- stick to 'The Shield' and 'Third Watch'

I just happen to like watching a Cop show where the cops are 'human' without the nonstop back-alley knuckle-punches and brutal spinal back-stabs. I like a Cop show that has police who aren't power-crazed motherless thugs who happen to have a Badge.

If you're only looking for Comedy with the canned 'Hahaha" in the background, then no-- this show is not for you.

But if you're looking for some human Cop drama that will entertain you and leave you with a good feeling. . .give this one a try.

The Writing is Good. And the Uncomfortable Spots-- are there on Purpose. Isn't that the point of Drama, anyway?

So here is another one of those outstanding network TV shows canceled WAY before its time (after only 10 episodes?!? Can you say "Firefly"?). Around four months before Jeremy Renner's big breakthrough role starring in Kathryn Bigelow's award-winning "The Hurt Locker," I happened to be surfing TV channels one night and land on an unconventional cop show, written and created for ABC by Noah Hawley, who would proceed to make "Fargo" and "Legion" (two more brilliant cable TV series). While a plot synopsis doesn't promise that much to write home about: Amber Tamblyn plays a rookie detective thrown in head first to partner up with the more seasoned (and also somewhat resentful) cop Renner, given how long and hard he's worked to make detective, and whereupon equal parts danger and hilarity ensue (See what I mean about a plot synopsis?), it's the eccentric cast of characters who prove to have such compelling personalities (like that of the supporting actors Harold Perrineau and Adam Goldberg). I don't know why I should've been surprised that a major TV network would would premier a new series in April and ax it by June, but this show had vanished by the month before "The Hurt Locker" with Jeremy Renner premiered in theaters at the end of July 2009. And of course, Harold Perrineau would go on to be on ABC's "Lost," as all of the talented cast landed on their feet. But just like the rest of corporate America (and just like Fox with Firefly) nobody at ABC would or did admit that they'd had an interesting series with excellent writing and acting that they'd totally screwed up-right before its star became a major Hollywood force. Well, at least real-life super-hero Jeremy Renner has gone on to have lasting success/last laughs!

This was a very enjoyable show with a great cast of actors & actresses that I love in other things as well. I know we are not lacking for cop shows out there, but this one had its own thing going on. It seemed like every character was very much a unique character with baggage and quirks on the plenty. We had the rich girl, bubble boy, cancer guy, goody good... Someone from every realm. It seems very weird but it complimented the same old cops and bad guy routine nicely. I even liked the random dispatcher with the strange announcements. I am sad to see this didn't have more episodes but it was still worth watching what I did. On a positive note the show did not end with a huge cliffhanger, so I was not to upset with not knowing what was going to happen. It also didn't really have a series or season closure either... Just kind of ran out of episodes.

this show had it going, i saw the first couple of them and it was amusing enough to make you want more and more....great cast And even greater Script, though it started out as your Average Joe detective show , and it turned out to be much much more than just cops doing their work ,it can be predictable but it sure as hell funny , ..after i was watching it on a regular basis i discovered that the show had been canceled...What a waste to a great potential :(, well i hope that CBS or ABC or what ever , could bring it back...it has good ratings, great potential and everything required to make a show of the year, i just don't get it , anyways i say, enjoy the 10episodes to the fullest as u can,you never know when they might release a thing that good ever again!! :D .