Review: ‘The Unusuals’ on ABC

A promising comedic New York City police drama, “The Unusuals,” premieres tonight on ABC, which has just laid to rest its formerly promising fantasy New York City police drama, “Life on Mars.”

I suppose there will always be a New York City police drama on TV, of one flavor or another, not even counting the next 50 years of “Law & Order.” (ABC has another currently up, the romantic New York City police drama, “Castle.”) “The Closer” and “Life” and the new “Southland” may make a good case for the local variety, but nothing says urban social breakdown like what goes on in an imaginary Manhattan precinct house.

As its name portends, “The Unusuals” runs more to the fanciful than to the faithful -- closer to “Barney Miller” than to, say, “Kojak,” though not as good as either.

Populated by a cast of mostly eccentric capital-C Characters who are nevertheless capable of getting the job done, the show sets its tone with a series of voice-over bulletins that dot tonight’s episode like the loudspeaker announcements in “MASH”: “Be on the lookout for a man in a hot dog costume last seen running west on Houston Street. Suspect may or may not be wielding a samurai sword,” and so on. It’s the sort of affair that might have starred George Segal 30 or 40 years ago, possibly wearing a mustache -- an accouterment much in evidence here.

Created by Noah Hawley (“Bones”), with Peter Tolan (“Rescue Me,” “The Larry Sanders Show”) on board as an “executive consultant,” the show has as its most newsworthy aspect the starring presence of Amber Tamblyn, the eponymous former “Joan of Arcadia.”

Tamblyn plays Det. Casey Shraeger, transferred in the show’s opening scene from vice to homicide, where she is made the new partner of Det. Jason Walsh (Jeremy Renner), whose old partner has just turned up dead. Possibly you have never seen a police drama that begins with a detective getting a new partner, but more likely you have never seen one that doesn’t.

Casey’s secret -- close your eyes now, reader, should you wish not to know -- is that she comes from Upper East Side money. Having a secret only means she fits right in with her new colleagues: Says a superior officer (Terry Kinney), “Nothing in this world is what it seems.”

One detective (Adam Goldberg) has an untreated brain tumor, the knowledge of which makes him reckless with his life, while his partner (Harold Perrineau), inconveniently, has a superstitious fear of early death -- he never takes off his Kevlar vest. Another (Josh Close), who thumps a Bible a trifle too vigorously, has a past that includes “wanton acts of teenagery” and possibly something worse.

Kai Lennox plays the Dwight Schrute of the piece, an arrogant idiot who refers to himself in the third person, while the detective played by Monique Gabriela Curnen has as her distinguishing characteristic an apparent lack of distinguishing characteristics.

The cast is excellent, and there’s potential here, even though tonight’s opening episode, as pilots will, tries a little too hard. Wisecracks fall flat (references to chlamydia, juvenile cross-dressing and sluttiness); a secondary story line about a cat killer is weak and unpleasant; and the craziness is somewhat over-stressed. That may be why Renner registers so well -- he gets to play a relatively normal guy, and there is a melancholy undertone to his performance that keeps the show tethered to the Earth we know.

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robert.lloyd@latimes.com

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‘The Unusuals’

Where: ABC

When: 10 tonight

Rating: TV-14-D,L,V (may be unsuitable for children under the age of 14, with advisories for suggestive dialogue, coarse language and violence)