- Network: NBC
- Series Premiere Date: Mar 15, 2007
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Critic Reviews
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"Raines" not only deserves an audience - with any luck at all, it deserves a renewal, and a firm spot on NBC's fall schedule.
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Yes, the premise may be decidedly derivative, but it's all in the witty execution.
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While this all sounds fresh, don't think for a minute you're going to be seeing anything that hasn't been re-packaged before.
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Intriguing and involving, if sometimes odd for oddness' sake alone, Raines is a novel twist on one of TV's oldest formats: the single, super-intuitive detective.
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Goldblum’s thoughtful, enjoyable presence is — rather than the one saving grace of an otherwise tiresome procedural — the centerpiece of a generally well-crafted drama, one that’s sprinkled with loving nods to Raymond Chandler and “Double Indemnity.”
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Working together, Goldblum and Craven create some of the most honest scenes in the genre.
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"Raines" is both thoroughly conventional and thoroughly unconventional; in fact, it often revels in its conventionality.
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An immensely enjoyable premiere.
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Goldblum... gives the character of Raines a solid and gratifying humanity, enough to lift "just another" cop opera into a considerably more rarefied realm.
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As close-ended procedurals go, "Raines" certainly offers an intriguing hook, but I'm not sure it's one with much staying power.
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This is a series for people with a reasonably high TV IQ, but not a particularly challenging formula.
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The show... doesn't seem to be aiming for anything higher than a comfortable middle ground, bypassing a chance to watch Goldblum send up our preconceived idea of Goldblum.
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One thing's for sure: Raines is weird.
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All of this might seem silly if it weren't for Mr. Goldblum.
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An average, unoriginal series.
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Goldblum has a commanding presence that may overcome the ho-hum storylines and overdone talking-ghost motif.
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It's a hallucinatory riff on an old noir tradition (is Raines being played for a sap by his own daydreams?), but the gimmick doesn't click. [19 Mar 2007, p.39]
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"Raines" is one of those shows that are enjoyable time wasters if you don't know what else is available.
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The hallucination conceit is strange but not necessarily horrible.... The problem with “Raines” is that it tries too hard to be too many things at once.
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Nothing really wrong with Raines, but not much reason to watch, either.
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The show seems to take forever to get anywhere.
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[It] makes Los Angeles look as dreary and sluggish as Goldblum's performance. [16 Mar 2007, p.65]
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The script -- like the direction and acting -- is only half on.
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Raines' conversations with the dead... aren't exactly riveting.
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The hallucinatory gimmick can only do so much for the same old stories.
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All this talent can't make the premise - a police detective talks to murder victims - work.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 59 out of 65
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Mixed: 1 out of 65
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Negative: 5 out of 65
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SusanL.Mar 1, 2008"I see dead people." Crime victims, that is. Nobody does smart flakiness like Jeff Goldblum. I hope they bring it back.
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RoryO.Nov 27, 2007
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pamh.Aug 26, 2007awesome show - intriguing - something unique! please please please renew it!