TVSquad

There's been plenty of talk the past week about a former cast member of Lost who might not be coming back to the island for the ABC show's last season. By process of elimination and a little detective work, some thought that the person who didn't want to come back to the show was Harold Perrineau, who played Michael. He left the show once, came back later, and then was killed off in a boat explosion. After that he didn't have many nice things to say about the producers or the show.

But you can forget about all that talk, because Perrineau says that he would love to come back to the show for the last season but he hasn't been asked yet. As for all that stuff about not liking his time on the show or holding a grudge against the producers, he says he loved his time on the show, loves the cast, and there are no hard feelings.

Remember when The Unusuals premiered? At first it looked like one of those shows that didn't get gangbuster ratings or critical acclaim, but you sensed that it would be a show ABC would get behind and renew for a second season. Well, that renewal went to Castle. But a lot of people are really going to miss this show.

What did you think of the series finale?

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.

I watched the first ten minutes of this episode last night and that's it, so I'm not sure what the 42 in the episode title refers to. I know that it has something to do with weird happenings/coincidences that happen to Harold Perrineau's character. Can I also assume it's a reference to Douglas Adam's The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy?

Fox Mulder's apartment number was 42, if I remember correctly ...

So, are you into The Unusuals? Or are you avoiding this show because you're still ticked that ABC canceled Pushing Daisies, Dirty Sexy Money, and/or Life on Mars? Discuss last night's bonus episode or the show, in general, starting ... now! (Note: there's another new episode tonight in its regular time slot.)

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.

You knew that Harold Perrineau's comments were going to cause a bit of controversy. You also knew that he would have to clarify some of the comments a few days later. Here is that clarification.

The Lost star admits to Entertainment Weekly that "I should probably think more before I say things," referring to comments he made that he was irritated with how producers deal with black characters on the hit ABC show and the fact that Michael couldn't be redeemed and have a happy ending with son Walt. He explains that he was just making an observation as a black man and that he wasn't angry at how the story played out, he was just disappointed. He loved working with the cast and crew and wouldn't be surprised if he came back to the show in the future. He also lists his three favorite and least favorite moments on the show.

My prediction? We haven't seen the last of Michael. He'll be back on the show some way, somehow.

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.