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Raines is a 2007 American police procedural television show created by Graham Yost.
Broadcast on NBC, it stars Jeff Goldblum as Los Angeles Police homicide detective Michael Raines, who returns to duty after a shooting, and copes by hallucinating the victims in his cases. The ensemble cast includes Matt Craven, Nicole Sullivan, Linda Park, Dov Davidoff, Malik Yoba, and Madeleine Stowe. The seven-episode series aired from March 15 to April 27, 2007, and received mixed reviews, with critics divided on the premise but singling out Goldblum's lead performance.
Variety categorized the show as "a throwback to the 1970s — a single-lead detective show that neatly wraps up whodunit each hour."
Malik Yoba was cast as Charlie Lincoln, Raines' partner who died before the show began; whereas he once kept his eccentric partner grounded, now Raines hallucinates his presence and continues to rely on his assistance.
Madeleine Stowe plays Dr. Samantha Kohl, a psychiatry unenviably tasked with helping Raines cope with the loss of his partner and subsequent hallucinations.
David Bianculli broadly praised Raines, calling for NBC to renew the brand-new show after having seen only two episodes. Media Life Andrew Lyons called Raines a fresh injection of film noir sensibilities into the world of "Bruckheimer quick cuts". Comparing Raines to characters played by Humphrey Bogart and Robert Mitchum, Lyons called Yost's take successful. For the New York Post, Raines was the only standout among the 2007 mid-season replacements that otherwise with … horrible writing, amateurish acting and plot lines that stink up the joint." Linda Stasi described this cream of that crop as an amalgamation of other lasting serials such as Columbo, Medium, and Monk. Invoking those same shows, USA Today Robert Bianco was pleased with the Goldblum vehicle, further lauding Yost's "fascination with the beauty and peculiarity of Los Angeles. This is Raymond Chandler for the Age of Therapy."
Brian Lowry of Variety called Raines unremarkable in its field, with only Jeff Goldblum to distinguish it, conceding that his analysis also fit the popular shows House (with Hugh Laurie) and Monk (with Tony Shalhoub). Lowry appreciated Raines eschewing mysticism in favor of Raines' acknowledged hallucinations. The Toronto Star Vinay Menon similarly called Goldblum the show's driver, but that the performance "sometimes feels locked inside the wrong car." Though the San Francisco Chronicle anticipated a quick cancellation for Raines for its predictability, pandering, and mediocrity, reviewer Tim Goodman nonetheless called it an "enjoyable time waster", praising Goldblum and the show's "crisp, darkly saturated visual style". Alessandra Stanley thought Raines was an overly slavish homage to 1986's The Singing Detective; while she was uncertain about the hallucination gimmick—noting that most television have been strong men with faults (e.g. Kojak with his lollipop or Ironside in his wheelchair)—Stanley felt Raines was trying to be too much and was muddled therefor. She did recommend allowing Goldblum's new vehicle to find its feet, though, much like House, Boston Legal, and Shark did.
Scott D. Pierce of the Deseret News found Raines to simply be a boring, "fairly standard detective show" that cribbed from other, more-successful programs like The Sopranos. Ellen Gray wrote in The Philadelphia Inquirer that the well-trod hallucinating character trope only served to make Raines an unappealing character to audiences, and this failing central tenet of the show doomed it from the start.
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