I’m not watching it for Jeff Goldblum

When I saw the promo spots for the new mid-season series Raines, I didn’t feel a terrible urge to see it. But I happened upon tonight’s episode because of Andy Barker, P.I., which was recommended to me by a friend earlier in the day.

(I’m not one to fancy so-called "big-boned" men, but I would make an exception for Andy Richter.)

I kept it on NBC as I did some much-needed housecleaning — SXSW pretty much made me neglect such duties — as Raines came on. Something about the writing felt familiar, and the way the hallucinations interacted with the title character came off far better than I expected.

My eyes happened to glance at the TV screen when the writing credits flashed, and I realized why this show felt familiar — it was created by Graham Yost, the genius behind the much-praised but ultimately-doomed Boomtown. I have the first season of Boomtown on DVD, and I’m sure the second season will never see a DVD release.

I may give Raines a Season Pass, because the half of the show I did catch was awesomely written and performed. But like Boomtown, the concept behind this show takes a bit of effort to get into, kind of like getting past the high school football premise of Friday Night Lights.

I had to run an errand before I could see the end, but not to worry — when Yost’s name appeared on the screen, I dove for my TiVo remote and began recording.