TVSquad

The Internet has been all atwitter since Dominic Monaghan, aka the dearly departed Charlie Pace on Lost, showed up in a new ABC promo. In it, Dominic/Charlie is playing Foosball with current and upcoming ABC stars, including Patrick Dempsey from Grey's Anatomy and Courteney Cox from the upcoming Cougar Town. Jason Hughes theorizes that this could very well mean that Monaghan is returning to Lost next season.

This of course, is not out of the realm of possibility: death, after all, rarely means goodbye on Lost. On the other hand, it's not unheard of for stars who have exited the island to find themselves on other ABC shows (see: Harold Perrineau on The Unusuals). So which is it? Well, that crafty cad Michael Ausiello thinks he has the answer. See what spoilers ABC execs shared with him after the jump.

Harold Perrineau is worried. He's worried that viewers won't give his new show, The Unusuals, a chance. He has a valid concern: The Unusuals, which just premiered, is on Wednesday nights at 10, on ABC; otherwise known as the post-Lost timeslot (of doom).

ABC is showing faith in The Unusuals. After all, it's not stuck in the Friday night graveyard or anything. The post-Lost slot is tricky though; shows generally don't do well there. It could be that the minds of everybody who watches Lost are so blown, they can't even stick around for another hour of television. Whatever it is, the quirky cop show Life On Mars recently died a sad death there. Will this quirky cop show do better? Harold Perrineau certainly hopes so.

Warning: Spoilers ahead. We talk about plot points in the recently aired pilot, some spoilers for upcoming episodes, as well as the fate of Michael, Perrineau's character on Lost.

(S01E01) ABC's quirky new crime procedural is not the brilliant blend of drama and absurd comedy the network might want it to be, but it does have a few good things going for it. First, there's the great cast. It's hard to pick a favorite among these talented TV vets, but series star Amber Tamblyn is genuine and beleiveable as Casey Shraeger, a detective working to weed out corruption in a kooky NYPD homicide unit, one of her first grown-up roles. Jeremy Renner, adding some Nathan Fillion-esque goofiness to his all-around good guy persona, is a good fit for Detective Jason Walsh, Tamblyn's possibly duplicitous partner.

I'm convinced that Lost's Harold Perrineau can do almost anything, even turn a one-note character like Detective Leo Banks, who's obsessed with the idea that he'll die at the age of 42, into something special. Perrineau didn't exactly get the best material here, but he and partner Adam Goldberg, playing a nervous depressive who is actually dying, managed to elevate their short scenes together.

With the exception of promo clips and my own personal high expectations, I haven't seen a ton of material about the new show The Unusuals. It will make its debut on April 8, 10 PM ET/PT. In this day of so many shows canceled way too early before they can get a steady audience, I'm hoping this one makes it.

Why, might you ask? After all, most of my posts are about the reality television genre. But I'm a cop show buff at heart. I expect a lot out of my cop shows. Some I watch just because -- you know, the Law and Order franchise kind of dealings. Some I watch for the amazing storytelling. The Wire comes to mind as not just a cop show, but stellar storytelling. I don't expect either the straight crime drama, nor the intensity of The Wire.

Ah, Season Four. You were so good to us, even though you were slightly shorted by that pesky writers strike. Lost wasn't as impacted as a lot of other shows because the creators had already gotten the okay to do three shorter seasons before any of this happened. Sure they lost a little bit of time, but not enough to have really impacted the show.

And Season Four gave us such pivotal moments. The introduction of the freighties, including some really good and interesting characters. The return of Michael. The identities of the Oceanic Six. An in-depth examination of what happened to them after the island in more flash forwards. The man in the cabin. Ben moves the island. And the identity of the man in the casket. So much happened in fourteen short episodes, but still that's not enough. To fill out the set, we've got two full discs of extras.

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.

I am about to write something that I normally don't do when it comes to the way networks program their primetime schedules. It's something that will shake your foundations, rock the world, turn Republicans into Democrats (and vice-versa) and make Amy Winehouse finally get sober. Ready? ABC is being smart with its programming schedule.

There, it's done. Now to sit back and wait for the accolades.

Seriously, after years of relying on only a handful of shows to carry the schedule throughout the year, ABC has been filling out their schedules with a number of backup shows to fill those gaps that always appear when a fall premiere tanks. Granted, some of these mid-season replacements also tank, but at least the network is letting them try. Because of that we have been lucky to enjoy shows like Samantha Who? and Eli Stone. This time around, ABC has five new series - all scripted - that will be premiering during the 2008-09 season. You'll find a brief explanation of each after the jump.

The star of CBS's drama Joan of Arcadia is coming back to television.
Amber Tamblyn, pictured right with Ugly Betty's America Ferrara, has just signed to star in ABC's pilot The Unusuals. The show, a one-hour dramedy, is set in a Manhattan and will feature Tamblyn as a police officer whose choice of profession has made her the black sheep of her wealthy family. Tamblyn will play Casey Shraeger, a newly transferred homicide detective who learns that her fellow officers have quirks and secrets.

TV Squad reported last week that Lost's Harold Perrineau will be joining The Unusuals as well. The former castaway plays a detective who never takes off his bullet proof vest because he's terrified of being shot. Perrineau and Tamblyn are joined by Monique Curnen whose credits include The Dark Knight and Adam Goldberg from HBO's Entourage.

You can see Amber Tamblyn in theatres soon; she's back for a second installment of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.

This season of Lost was my second favorite season ever, so it was difficult to come up with criticisms. A shortened season meant that there wasn't room for a weak episode. Nikki, Paulo, and Bai Ling stayed away. A few things are bothering me now that this chapter is finished, though. Some characters got a raw deal, and some twists failed to shock. It wasn't all time travel and brilliant action scenes.

Jack's appendicitis - Apart from bringing Jack and Kate closer together, I don't understand why this storyline was necessary. The flash-forwards ensured that Jack would survive his low-tech surgery, so there wasn't any tension there. It seemed like the only point of Jack's illness was to completely kill the Juliet-Jack relationship. Jack and Juliet's chemistry never worked for me. They shared two forgettable kisses, and then Jack basically blew her off after she saved his life. Still, Juliet deserved a better break-up, from both Jack and the writers.

Just last week, Harold Perrineau was wondering why his character was killed off on Lost, wishing the producers hadn't blown Michael up with the freighter. He wasn't out of work for long. Harold Perrineau has just been cast on a new ABC comedy/drama called The Unusuals. The pilot, which could be a mid-season replacement on ABC, is an hour set in a New York City police precinct.

Harold will play Detective Leo Banks, an agitated cop who's so afraid of being shot or attacked that he's never without his Kevlar bullet-proof vest. (Does he wear it in the john?) Sounds potentially funny. The writer of The Unusuals is Bones' Noah Hawley and the executive producer is Peter Tolan (Rescue Me, The Larry Sanders Show), so there will be an emphasis on humor. Maybe not full-out Barney Miller, but still funny.

(S04E11) One of the few flashbacks of the season showed us John Locke's predestined connection to the island. Locke encountered some familiar faces before the crash, and each meeting guided him to his current situation. While Jack's mind is set on rescuing everyone on the island, Locke's focus in on saving the island itself. This episode put everyone, including the freighter folk, in place to carry out their plans. I'm already stoked for the finale.

(S04E08) We're going into a five-week Lost hiatus, and I'm extremely thankful that this wasn't the season finale. "Meet Kevin Johnson" wasn't a bad episode, but I couldn't have waited until 2009 for a follow-up. This episode did have its moments. We learned more about the island's connection to its inhabitants, Michael's time on the mainland, and there was (at least) one death. That should keep us busy for the next month or so, right?

(S04E05) I love Desmond-centric episodes. I never fully understand them, but I love them. Confusing as they are, I believe that they are the key to understanding the island and its unique properties. This was the one of the few Lost episodes this season that didn't flash forward to the future of the Oceanic Six. We didn't get a shocking twist at the end, but we got a lot of new information to consider. It's a relief to know that this season's storytelling won't follow a strict formula. There are so many mysteries, relationships, and settings to explore now; variety is most welcome.

(S04E04) "Eggtown" gave us more answers and another shocking ending; I could really get used to this. This week, we got a closer look at Team Locke's life at the Barracks, caught a glimpse of Kate's future off the island, and got to catch up with the survivors on the beach--remember them? Not many shows could mix topics like blackmail, grenades, and motherhood into one episode, but Lost pulled it off.

Thursday's Lost panel at Comic-Con had some of its thunder stolen by an earlier announcement at the Television Critics Association press tour - Harold Perrineau would be rejoining the cast. Harold put in a surprise appearance at Thursday's panel, but knew about as much as those of us in the audience did as to why Michael would be returning and when. Co-executive producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse did reveal that Michael is back for good - not in a flashback, not as a "guest star." No word on "flash forwards" or whether or not Michael would be on the island or in some other locale, but it wouldn't be Lost without its secrets.

Lindelof and Cuse were so reticent to let any real scoops out of the bag that each brought a bell on stage to hit if either started getting too generous with the spoilers. Unfortunately for us, they kept themselves in check. We learned some generic information, which I'll sum up after the jump to avoid offending the spoiler-sensitive amongst us.