Adam Goldberg

TV Review: ABC’s Quirky ‘The Unusuals’ Off to Promising Start

BrianTT — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 11:15:34 -0600

Television Rating: 3.5/5.0

CHICAGO – After the failure of the underrated “Life on Mars,” ABC brings another bizarre cop show to the same timeslot called “The Unusuals”. Like the program it’s replacing, this is an intriguing premiere, a show with serious potential that just needs a bit of tinkering behind-the-scenes to become appointment television.

ABC has thrown several new shows up against the wall to see what sticks, including “Castle,” “Better Off Ted,” “In the Motherhood,” “Cupid,” “Surviving Suburbia,” and, now, “The Unusuals”. With “Castle” treading water and still needing improvement and the other new entries disappointing, “The Unusuals” is the clear frontrunner of the bunch.

The Unusuals
Photo credit: Bob D’Amico/ABC

An odd mixture of zany comedy and grounded drama, a blend that still needs a little more time in the TV writing Cuisinart, “The Unusuals” is not your average NYC cop show. The personality disorder of this show might be an interesting hook but it’s what’s currently holding it back after one episode.

The Unusuals
Photo credit: Patrick Harbron/ABC

The true, emotional drama that this talented ensemble interjects into the comic insanity needs to be emphasized if the show really wants to stand out. Right now, the comedy feels forced but the drama is surprisingly effective.

An arguably-miscast Amber Tamblyn (“The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants”) stars as Detective Casey Schraeger, who is bumped up from vice to homicide before the credits even roll. A homicide detective has been murdered and Casey finds herself both promoted and trying to figure out who’s responsible for the job vacancy she’s going to fill.

Casey is partnered with the victim’s former teammate, Detective Jason Walsh (Jeremy Renner), a quiet man with some clear secrets of his own. The two try to close the case while dealing with both an obnoxious and headline-grabbing fellow Detective named Eddie Alvarez (Kai Lennox) and their boss (Terry Kinney).

Like any good cop show, the “A case” is usually balanced out by a less-serious “B case”. The subplot in episode one introduces audiences to the suicidal Eric Delahoy (Adam Goldberg) and overly cautious Leo Banks (Harold Perrineau) as they chase down a cat killer. The squad is rounded out by the religious Detective Henry Cole (Josh Close) and his partner Alison Beaumont (Monique Gabriela Curnen).

The Unusuals
Photo credit: Patrick Harbron/ABC

The main strength of “The Unusuals” is easy to identify - Renner. This great character actor who has rocked in films like “Dahmer,” “28 Weeks Later,” and “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford” is simply spectacular here. He effectively delivers one of the best cop eulogies I’ve seen in a long time and is the kind of actor who can play multiple levels at the same time - selling both a believable cop and something a little darker. He would have been a great fit on “NYPD Blue”. With his upcoming role in the buzzed “The Hurt Locker,” 2009 could be the year this excellent actor becomes a star.

Luckily, Renner is not alone. Perrineau (“Lost”) and Goldberg (“Entourage,” “Saving Private Ryan”) both make an impact with just one episode and Kinney has been a great supporting actor for years on shows like “Oz” and as a major force on the Chicago theater scene.

Renner, Kinney, Perrineau, and Goldberg will be more than enough for most audiences to come back for week two but “The Unusuals” still needs some work. Tamblyn seems a little lost in episode one and there’s a scene with her socialite parents that is just horrible. They feel like cartoon characters. It’s not that Tamblyn is bad enough to drag the show down, but she just doesn’t make much of an impact in the premiere.

What’s more troublesome is the tone juggling. A dispatcher regularly shouts out weird NYC crimes in progress and a man dressed like a hot dog makes a quip from the holding cell. This material feels forced and overdone. Even the title of “The Unusuals” advertises the “quirky” nature of the show, but it’s the dramatic undertones that work significantly better.

Ultimately, the jury is still out on “The Unusuals” but it passes the only test of a series premiere that matters - Does it make you want to watch the second episode? With a couple of fascinating twists in the final act and some of the excellent performances from the bulk of the show the answers is a definite “yes”.

Check out this cool “Starter Kit” to see what “The Unusuals” is all about:

‘The Unusuals,’ which airs on ABC, stars Jeremy Renner, Amber Tamblyn, Harold Perrineau, Adam Goldberg, Josh Close, Monique Gabriela Curnen, Terry Kinney, and Kai Lennox. The show was created by Noah Hawley. The series premieres on Wednesday, April 8th, 2009 at 9PM CST.

By BRIAN TALLERICO
Content Director
HollywoodChicago.com
brian@hollywoodchicago.com

Video: Sneak Peek of ABC’s ‘The Unusuals’ With Harold Perrineau, Adam Goldberg

BrianTT — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 08:48:57 -0600

CHICAGO – ABC’s news series “The Unusuals” debuts next Wednesday, April 8th, 2009, but we have a sneak peek of the show starring Amber Tamblyn (“Joan of Arcadia”), Jeremy Renner (the upcoming “The Hurt Locker”), Harold Perrineau (“Lost”), Monique Gabriela Curnen, Josh Close, Kai Lennox, Eddia Alvarez, Terry Kinney, and Adam Goldberg. We have a clip called “Starter Kit” for you below. Check out the premiere on April 8th at 9pm CST.

Official Synopsis:

Like a modern-day “M*A*S*H,” “The Unusuals” explores both the grounded drama and comic insanity of the world of New York City police detectives, where every cop has a secret. It also helps to have a twisted sense of humor, since every day could be your last.

Detective Casey Shraeger (Amber Tamblyn) has just been transferred to the NYPD’s Homicide unit from Vice and is instantly thrown into a setting of bullets and bodies. As she begins her new assignment, Casey finds that the force is full of secrets, which serves her well, since she’s keeping a few of her own. But her first case is not an easy one, as she’s assigned to investigate the death of one of the department’s own, the former partner of Detective Jason Walsh (Jeremy Renner), who is now her new partner.

As the duo seeks out the cop killer, the secrets and eccentricities of the rest of the department begin to emerge. Prank-magnet and social climber Detective Eddie Alvarez (Kai Lennox) has no qualms about stealing cases, as long as he can turn them into front-page stories; partners Eric Delahoy (Adam Goldberg), who is trying to get himself killed in the line of duty, and Leo Banks (Harold Perrineau), an overly cautious officer who refuses to remove his bulletproof vest, are polar opposites; and the very religious Detective Henry Cole (Josh Close) is trying to keep his secret past from both his streetwise partner, Alison Beaumont (Monique Gabriela Curnen), and Sgt. Brown (Terry Kinney), who is struggling to rid the 2nd precinct of corruption.

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By BRIAN TALLERICO
Content Director
HollywoodChicago.com
brian@hollywoodchicago.com

News You Need: ‘Frankie Machine,’ ‘The Love Guru,’ ‘The Da Vinci Code’ Sequel, ‘Untitled’

HollywoodChicago.com — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 11:11:13 -0600

Michael Mann has inked a deal with Paramount Pictures to develop “Frankie Machine” as a star vehicle for Robert de Niro.

The drama is an adaptation of the Don Winslow novel “The Winter of Frankie Machine” and De Niro will play a mob hitman who has retired to run a bait shop.

The first photo has been released for “The Love Guru,” which stars Mike Myers and Jessica Alba. Myers plays an American who was left at the gates of an ashram in India as a child and raised by gurus.

Mike Myers and Jessica Alba in “The Love Guru”.
Photo courtesy of Paramount Pictures
Columbia has made official a Feb. 2007 fast-tracked European start to “Angels & Demons,” which is Ron Howard’s sequel to “The Da Vinci Code”. The film is slated for release in Dec. 2008.

Jamie Foxx has signed on for “The Zebra Murders: A Season of Killing, Racial Madness and Civil Rights” for DreamWorks.

Based on a 2006 book, the story chronicles the series of racially motivated, black-on-white serial killings from 1973 to 1974 in San Francisco.

Celtic Rose Entertainment has optioned the rights to young-adult fantasy book series “Leven Thumps” by Obert Skye.

As a 14-year-old boy, the fate by Leven Thumps is to save the ailing Foo, which is a world that allows mankind to dream and imagine.

Adam Goldberg (from “2 Days in Paris” with Julie Delpy; our Delpy interview on that film can be found here) and Marley Shelton will star in the indie feature “Untitled”.

The film is centered around a tortured musician at odds with his successful brother.

Adam Goldberg
Photo by Jeff Vespa, WireImage.com
Paramount Pictures has begun casting for a G.I. Joe film and plans to begin filming in the middle of Feb. 2008 in Prague and Los Angeles.

Stephen Sommers (“Van Helsing,” “The Mummy Returns,” “The Mummy”) will direct the film from a script by Stuart Beattie. Paramount is currently calling the film the “Untitled Stephen Sommers Project”.

Jim Caviezel (Jesus in “The Passion of the Christ”) and Claudia Karvan will star in the suspense thriller “Long Weekend” for Arclight Films.

The Everett de Roche story centers around a young couple on a camping trip who remorselessly disregard the local environment by shooting guns and wounding wildlife. The animals fight back.

The 11-year-old Kodi Smit-McPhee will play young Logan in “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” from 20th Century Fox. Smit-McPhee, who starred in “Romulus, My Father,” will start filming for the “X-Men” spin-off in Dec. 2007.

Kodi Smit-McPhee
Photo courtesy of Superhero! Hype
Freestyle Releasing has scored domestic theatrical rights to Rick Yune’s (“Die Another Day”) martial arts film “The Fifth Commandment” with plans to launch it into 1,000 U.S. theaters in March 2007.

Yune stars as a trained assassin who declines an assignment to off a pop singer because her bodyguard is his half brother.