‘THE Unusuals” is nothing if not, well, unusual — in a usual sort of way.
On the one hand, it’s a standard cop procedural — wherein a squad of NYPD detectives solves a crime each week.
On the other hand, it’s a throwback to the great tradition of “Barney Miller,” with some snappy and funny dialogue and a “Miller”-ish cast of characters including the cute black guy and the somewhat odd Hispanic guy.
But, if you are lucky enough to have three hands, you could say, “on the other, other hand,” it has this whole “Jesus-take-the-wheel” thing in the storyline that’s all the rage these days.
I mean, really, how many cop/lawyer shows are going to have these spiritual aspects that really aren’t spiritual so much as attention-getting?
Don’t answer that.
Anyway, here we have the old set-up with the rookie detective, Casey Shraeger (Amber Tamblyn), being assigned a grizzled new partner, Jason Walsh (Jeremy Renner), whose own partner has just been killed.
When the show starts, Casey is working vice, which is a reason to see her dressed in hooker duds and catch a glimpse of her in a red demi-bra.
First case: Casey and Jason must, with the help of their squad, solve the murder of Walsh’s partner. Natch.
The rest of the squad would be Sgt. Harvey Brown (Terry Kinney); Det. Leo Banks (Harold Perrineau); Det. Henry Cole (Josh Close); Det. Eric Delahoy (Adam Goldberg); Det. Allison Beaumont (Monique Gabriela Curnen); and Det. Eddie Alvarez (Kai Lennox), who always refers to himself as “Eddie Alvarez,” never “I” or “me.”
The series — a replacement of sorts for “Life On Mars” as the strange, spiritually-infused cop show — definitely has its moments, and they aren’t as few and far between as I’d imagined.
For one thing, everyone seems to have a secret. For example, Casey’s is that she doesn’t want anyone to know she’s a rich, private school girl.
Det. Delahoy doesn’t want anyone to know that he has a brain tumor and that he’s turned bullet-proof.
Even the dead guy had secrets, which he kept in his locker — not things someone would normally keep in his NYDP locker, but, hey, this is TV.
There are some hilarious scenes — particularly when two cops pretend a copier is a new kind of lie detector, and when Walsh throws a Sikh gentleman (Waris Ahluwalia) out of his diner. (Yes, Walsh owns a diner.)
I had to search out Ahulwalia’s name after he says: “But I want to eat the potatoes.” He cracked me up. The guy is great.
Do I love the show? Not really.
Do I like it? Sure.
Will I give it another shot? You bet.