# Jeff Goldblum's new show, Raines: Anyone gonna give it a try? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 15, 2007, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeff-goldblums-new-show-raines-anyone-gonna-give-it-a-try/396030 "2007-03-15T13:50:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2007, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeff-goldblums-new-show-raines-anyone-gonna-give-it-a-try/396030/41 "2007-03-17T03:32:18Z")
I figured out the killer at the same time Goldblum’s character did. However, I did not figure out his partner until the end, then again I also came into it about 10-15 minutes after it started so the most I saw with the partner was at the end. I liked it, it had it’s moments. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2007, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeff-goldblums-new-show-raines-anyone-gonna-give-it-a-try/396030/42 "2007-03-17T03:45:09Z")
I liked Raines a lot (I also had no idea the partner was dead until they revealed it) and I’d like to keep watching. But putting it on Fridays is just not cool. It’s easy to forget something is on on Fridays. It’s also why I’m disappointed The Wedding Bells is on Fridays as its regular time. I was expecting it to be dumb, but the TV was on during the preview episode (which I think was a Wednesday) and it was alright. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2007, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeff-goldblums-new-show-raines-anyone-gonna-give-it-a-try/396030/43 "2007-03-17T03:51:58Z")
I didn’t get the dead partner until the end either. I like the show because of what someone above said - subtlety. Just like Jeff Goldblum. It had a refreshing kind of lightness and a laid-back vibe in a way. Maybe it was just Goldblum. I also liked how they turned the cliche of the angry police captain boss on its head - he got introduced in the typcail big bad boss way, but then you almost immediately realize that he’s actually a pretty cool guy. That was nice. The show was full of nice little touches. Like Raine’s comment that he asked the husband about the prostitute to get the wife’s reaction - that was far more telling than the automatic lie the guy would obviously issue. Smart little things like that. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Purl\_McKnittington](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@Miss\_Purl\_McKnittington](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Purl_McKnittington)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2007, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeff-goldblums-new-show-raines-anyone-gonna-give-it-a-try/396030/44 "2007-03-17T05:53:02Z")
I just watched it on [NBC.com](http://NBC.com) ([here](http://www.nbc.com/Raines/), click on “Watch Episodes”), and I liked it a lot. More than “Tru Calling,” at least. Unfortunately, I read spoilers here about the partner, so I saw it coming, but the fact that there was no mention of why he left the force was pretty telling. It seems like some sort of exposition would have been natural if the partner wasn’t “haunting” Jeff Goldblum. There were several lines that had me laughing – the one about the dead desiring brains to the groundskeeper at the cemetery, the one about being able to see Sandy as a cheerleader, the conversations with his boss, and some others. I’ll probably watch it again. I hope the episodes don’t drop off in quality. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2007, 10:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeff-goldblums-new-show-raines-anyone-gonna-give-it-a-try/396030/45 "2007-03-17T10:23:00Z")
I fell asleep _again_! I really need TiVo. I miss all the 9:00 shows. This sounds really good (and looked really good for the first 10 minutes). Sigh… ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2007, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeff-goldblums-new-show-raines-anyone-gonna-give-it-a-try/396030/46 "2007-03-17T14:01:49Z")
Watched it, enjoyed it, didn’t see the reveal coming, will add it to the viewing list (at least for the time being). ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2007, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeff-goldblums-new-show-raines-anyone-gonna-give-it-a-try/396030/47 "2007-03-17T20:16:11Z")
[QUOTE=Kalhoun] I fell asleep _again_! I really need TiVo. I miss all the 9:00 shows. This sounds really good (and looked really good for the first 10 minutes). Sigh… [/QUOTE] **Kalhoun, Kalhoun, Kalhoun** , what are we going to do with you. You start this who ball rolling and then you don’t watch it (sigh). ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2007, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeff-goldblums-new-show-raines-anyone-gonna-give-it-a-try/396030/48 "2007-03-17T21:20:35Z")
I couldn’t decide whether I liked it or not. I went back and forth on the partner being dead - I think I was “not” when they confirmed that he was. It took him too long to figure some things out… Internal thought processes work slightly faster than dialogue, so when you make the thought process a conversation, it slows everything way down. (Cheerleader outfit, “catering” company, a large hunk of cash in small denominations = stripper or hooker. It took him another 15 minutes to get there because he had to discuss it with the victim.) But it was pretty ok. ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2007, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeff-goldblums-new-show-raines-anyone-gonna-give-it-a-try/396030/49 "2007-03-17T22:03:01Z")
I recorded it and watched it today. I liked it a lot, especially Goldblum’s throwaway to the cemetary worker at the end. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2007, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeff-goldblums-new-show-raines-anyone-gonna-give-it-a-try/396030/50 "2007-03-17T22:15:03Z")
[QUOTE=RikWriter] I liked it a lot, especially Goldblum’s throwaway to the cemetary worker at the end. [/QUOTE] That was cute, yeah, but surely a real cemetary worker would be used to the idea of people talking to the dead if anyone would be. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2007, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeff-goldblums-new-show-raines-anyone-gonna-give-it-a-try/396030/51 "2007-03-17T22:17:55Z")
[QUOTE=Miss Purl McKnittington] There were several lines that had me laughing – the one about the dead desiring brains to the groundskeeper at the cemetery. [/QUOTE] Who were you talking to? The dead. They hunger for human brains. The feasting will begin at sundown. BAHAHAHAHA I loved that. ---
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2007, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeff-goldblums-new-show-raines-anyone-gonna-give-it-a-try/396030/52 "2007-03-18T15:05:38Z")
I also liked his partner appearing as he was walking away just long enough to say “Jerk” and Raines’ “Yeah, I know”. I’ve added it to my watch list; I want to see what they do with it. I’m one of those people who finds it helpful to talk things out loud, so I could sympathize with Raines when did things like throw the guy out of the bathroom so he could “talk to” the victim. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2007, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeff-goldblums-new-show-raines-anyone-gonna-give-it-a-try/396030/53 "2007-03-18T21:40:17Z")
[QUOTE=Wile E] I figured out the killer at the same time Goldblum’s character did. However, I did not figure out his partner until the end, then again I also came into it about 10-15 minutes after it started so the most I saw with the partner was at the end. I liked it, it had it’s moments. [/QUOTE] The partner being dead…they didn’t think that through. It could have been cool device, but they should have saved the revelation for a later show. But then, with him seeing his dead partner all the time, why did he talk to the partner about imagining seeing the victim alive?? As if this was something new and not something that was _already happening with he and his dead partner_?? They lose points for that. But overall, I don’t think it was bad show. It has potential. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2007, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeff-goldblums-new-show-raines-anyone-gonna-give-it-a-try/396030/54 "2007-03-18T22:38:42Z")
[QUOTE=spooje] The partner being dead…they didn’t think that through. It could have been cool device, but they should have saved the revelation for a later show. But then, with him seeing his dead partner all the time, why did he talk to the partner about imagining seeing the victim alive?? As if this was something new and not something that was _already happening with he and his dead partner_?? They lose points for that. But overall, I don’t think it was bad show. It has potential. [/QUOTE] Actually, they addressed that in some detail. Goldblum specifically said that the ‘first time’ was different - he sees his partner, but he’d never seen a victim. I think he assumed that he was nuts for seeing his partner, but since it was the only person he’d ever seen, and they had been close, and there was a lot of trauma involved in the whole thing, that it was just a manifestation of all that. But seeing a victim he didn’t even know? Different story. Now he’s progressed from being traumatized over the death of a partner and ‘coping’ with it by visualizing him to seeing dead people casually in the course of his job. ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2007, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeff-goldblums-new-show-raines-anyone-gonna-give-it-a-try/396030/55 "2007-03-18T23:23:52Z")
I’ve had a crush on Jeff Goldblum ever since I first saw him in Robert Altman’s _Nashville_. But I didn’t expect to like this show. Somehow the premise sounded like “The Ghost Whisperer” meets “Psych.” Much to my surprise, I did like it. Gonna keep watching. Age has been good to Jeff Goldblum. He’s still a big turn-on for me. I go for gawky geeky guys. Sometimes I wish “Wired” magazine had a nude centerfold. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2007, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeff-goldblums-new-show-raines-anyone-gonna-give-it-a-try/396030/56 "2007-03-19T16:37:19Z")
[QUOTE=Rube E. Tewesday] If only they had come up with some excuse for her to wear the cheerleader outfit… [/QUOTE] They did, but it passed by so quickly, you must have missed it. I finally watched last night, when I saw this thread get to two pages. Good sign. I liked it. Raines crying in the car sealed the deal. How often do we see that in a cop show? I like being able to see his thought process. It’s more interesting than bouncing ideas off a partner, and it lets me get involved. I don’t like cop shows where the reveal is all at the end and you have to go back and try to figure out how they got there. Not sure about his hair though. I miss those dark thick curls – they sort of balanced his face. He has a lot of face. ---
**Author:** ![Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f0a364/32.png) [@Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rube_E.Tewesday)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2007, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeff-goldblums-new-show-raines-anyone-gonna-give-it-a-try/396030/57 "2007-03-19T17:09:43Z")
[QUOTE=AuntiePam] They did, but it passed by so quickly, you must have missed it. . [/QUOTE] I know that the victim wore the outfit, I was talking about Linda (Hoshi) Park, who was mentioned in the post I was responding to. Unless I actually did miss Linda Park in the outfit, in which case :smack: :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2007, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeff-goldblums-new-show-raines-anyone-gonna-give-it-a-try/396030/58 "2007-03-19T17:24:42Z")
I liked it a great deal. I appreciated that they handled the manifestation of his thought processes with subtlety and integrity. That is, she both changed as his thinking changed, and she did not give any information to him that he did not get on his own. Jeff Goldblum is from Pittsburgh, as am I, so I have some affinity for him, but he blew a bit of that with his attitude in his pseudodocumentary, “Pittsburgh.” (He also has the same birthday as me and we share the same first name.) I don’t think it’s correct to describe him as having a mental illness, although that may just be some hair splitting on my part. Perhaps one could see his need to actually invoke the manifestation of the dead person (e.g. running up to the rooftop, kicking the person out of the bathroom) in order to hash out his thoughts as something of an impairment. Definitely not the same as _Monk_ or _Psych_, both of which are also favorites of mine. ---
**Author:** ![olmrfu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e68b1a/32.png) [@olmrfu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/olmrfu)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2007, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeff-goldblums-new-show-raines-anyone-gonna-give-it-a-try/396030/59 "2007-03-19T17:35:32Z")
It was better than I’d feared, but I doubt I’ll look for it again. I’m so tired of the gimmick of the victim’s ghost in the room with the detective. They do that on Crossing Jordan, often in CSI explanations, in McBride, plus of course all the angel and ghost shows. Where is Perry Mason, someone grounded in the non-astral plane? ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2007, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeff-goldblums-new-show-raines-anyone-gonna-give-it-a-try/396030/60 "2007-03-19T17:36:04Z")
[QUOTE=Rube E. Tewesday] Unless I actually did miss Linda Park in the outfit, in which case :smack: :smack: [/QUOTE] Nope, the :smack: goes to me for not reading more carefully! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeff-goldblums-new-show-raines-anyone-gonna-give-it-a-try/396030.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeff-goldblums-new-show-raines-anyone-gonna-give-it-a-try/396030.md?page=4)