TVSquad

The Unusuals looks like one of those funny little shows that could either be a complete bust or a major mid-season breakout -- especially given the cast and crew. The ABC ensemble dramedy stars:

1. Amber Tamblyn. I've loved her since she played Emily on General Hospital, and she has that something-different quality that will surely rocket her to super-stardom ... in an indie-film sort of way. She broke into the mainstream consciousness with Joan of Arcadia, the talk-to-God series that ran from 2003 to 2005. I was so disappointed when Tamblyn's I-see-dead-people series Babylon Fields wasn't picked up last year, but The Unusuals sounds even better.

2. Harold Perrineau. We know him as Michael on Lost, and the actor was disappointed that his character wouldn't have a happy ending with son Walt. But he's on to bigger and better things with his role in The Unusuals. It was also announced today that he's joining the cast of (and exec producing) the feature film The Killing Jar, an indie thriller also starring Michael Madsen and Danny Trejo. It was time for Perrineau to leave the island.

3. Adam Goldberg. I'm half-way through season three of Entourage, where Goldberg plays the kid who desperately wants to helm Vince's Columbian drug film Medellin. But to me, Goldberg will always be Doug on Relativity.

4. Jeremy Renner. If you have a chance to see the indie film The Hurt Locker, the breakout darling of the film fest circuit in which Renner stars, you must see it. That's all I'm saying.

5. Terry Kinney. He came into my consciousness with Canterbury's Law the moody legal drama starring Julianna Margulies that debuted and was canceled earlier this year. That's probably a good thing in Kinney's case, as he'll have more of a chance to show his stuff in The Unusuals.

The behind-the-scenes crew is another reason why Ths Unusuals shows promise: Bob DeLaurentis has just been added as a showrunner (a.k.a. the person who "runs the show"), alongside creator Noah Hawley (a producer on Bones). DeLaurentis served as exec producer on Fox's The O.C. and NBC's Providence.

ABC sent out a press release last week, and it sounds like this won't be your typical cop show. Think NYPD Blue meets The Office.

Things revolve around Tamblyn's character, NYPD detective Casey Shraeger. When she's unexpectedly transferred to the homicide division, she lands smack in the middle of a group of interesting folks who are by turns: nursing a brain tumor, terrified of dying, deeply religious, and lusting after a fellow cop. The show's scheduled for a 2009 release.

What do you think? Does The Unusuals sound like something you'll check out?