The Unusuals (2009) User Reviews

A Cop show that doesn't fit a regular mold

[Rabh17 · 8/10 · 29 May 2009]

I kept seeing the word 'Comedy' used to describe this show. And yes, the initial previews splashes gave you comedic moments-- which would lead your average viewer to expect a kind of 'Night Court' type cop show.

But now, I'm watching it. And it's a Drama. . .that has some threads of 'Funny' here and there. And it flips back and forth across the spectrum. There's a little 'Hill Street', a little 'Cops' plus some other shows the rest of you can fish up-- yet it's STILL DIFFERENT.

I'll call this 'Uneasy Drama' with a small side of 'funny' in the little paper cup like you used to get in a diner-- there for just enough Sweet & Sour to make you pucker up.

The Story here is about all these people in a small precinct who WANT to be Cops. But they ALL have secrets-- secrets that should close the Precinct door on them. Something in their past that they cannot let out. And despite all that, they go out and do the Job of keeping the streets safe.

For those of you who know-- the closest 'Uneasy' Drama I can think of was "Firefly". It has that same Mix of Unexpected Serious & Hilarious-- except you don't know which side of the slap you're gonna get at any minute. Yet the Network Marketed that show exactly the SAME WAY. Everyone thought it was gonna be a nonstop comedy-- and when it turned into something else, people didn't know what to do with it.

SO it is with "Unusuals". You could have a situation that starts looking Hilarious-- but then it turns Ugly-- and you feel uncomfortable because you were starting to chuckle. Or you could have the reverse.

For those of you looking for non-stop dark oily adrenaline-hyped emotional thunderstorms-- stick to 'The Shield' and 'Third Watch'

I just happen to like watching a Cop show where the cops are 'human' without the nonstop back-alley knuckle-punches and brutal spinal back-stabs. I like a Cop show that has police who aren't power-crazed motherless thugs who happen to have a Badge.

If you're only looking for Comedy with the canned 'Hahaha" in the background, then no-- this show is not for you.

But if you're looking for some human Cop drama that will entertain you and leave you with a good feeling. . .give this one a try.

The Writing is Good. And the Uncomfortable Spots-- are there on Purpose. Isn't that the point of Drama, anyway?

I don't understand the bad reviews for this show

[rivergirl301 · 9/10 · 22 April 2009]

The Unusuals caught my eye last night, and I was desperate for some decent TV fare (all I currently watch is The Office and Intervention, well, okayand The Millionaire Matchmaker, but I am just plain humiliated to admit that). I loved it immediately and then read the bad reviews after a search on the web. I was dumbfounded! Maybe the original media reviews were for the premiere episode, and I have seen only the last 2 episodes, episodes 3 and 4. This show is funny and smart and sad and real and crazy. My gosh, you've got how many millions of people watching Real Housewives or that hospital show based in Seattle where the impossibly attractive, and thus vapid, characters hang around posing like they are in an MTV video, and The Unusuals gets bad reviews? This show seems to have found the soul that Boomtown was searching for, and it doesn't take itself too seriously, which was Boomtown's downfall. Network TV--give me a reason to tune in, with shows like The Unusuals!

Cop Show That Throws "Procedure" Out The Window...

[cchase · 8/10 · 19 April 2009]

Having watched everything from LAW AND ORDER to NYPD BLUE, I have a pretty good idea by now how police procedural shows work. You get a sense of the personalities of the main characters while they solve a boatload of cases week after week, but since the shows are mostly about the cases and not about the characters, nuggets of information about the heroes' quirks, family lives and other intimate details are about as rare as actually finding a real cherry in a Hostess Cherry Fruit Pie. And then they're doled out maybe one or two every fifth or sixth episode.

Which is why THE UNUSUALS is so darn refreshing. Like a fighter who actually leads with his chin, this series wears its characters odd qualities on its sleeve. And what gets doled out just like those aforementioned cherries, are bits and pieces of a puzzle underneath all the weirdness: the real secrets these characters are hiding underneath the "WTF" moments.

I never watched a single episode of JOAN OF ARCADIA, but I was immediately intrigued with Amber Tamblyn, who plays Det. Casey Shraeger. What makes her "unusual": she's a trust- fund baby from a VERY wealthy blue-blood background, who has been working in Vice "on the stroll" for two years, when she's plucked off the streets from her hooker gig and teamed up with stoic Det. Jason Walsh, played by Jeremy Renner. (You may remember Renner as the heroic and doomed soldier from 28 WEEKS LATER.) Two of the things that make him "unusual": off-duty, he runs a hole-in-the-wall diner where he cooks and serves dishes you could never imagine yourself wanting to eat, and he has been covering for his corrupt partner, who suddenly ends up looking like a slab of beef in a slaughterhouse. Since said partner was also into hookers, hence his sudden, reluctant partnership with Shraeger.

In an inspired bit of casting, two of the most watchable "unusuals" seem to have the most conventional secrets in any cop show going this far over-the-top: Adam Goldberg (SAVING PRIVATE RYAN) and Harold Perrineau (LOST, OZ) play partnered Detectives Leo Banks and Eric Delahoy, respectively. Banks wears a bulletproof vest both on and off-duty (he's terrified that he will die at age 42), where Delahoy suddenly becomes a suicidal "super-cop", who isn't afraid to do anything that might get him killed (he has a brain tumor and has been given mere months to live, if he doesn't get the operation he's determined to avoid.)

Riding herd on these and several other off-beat personalities constantly clashing in the precinct is Sgt. Harvey Brown (OZ alum Terry Kinney), who has pulled Tamblyn's seemingly squeaky-clean character in for a very specific reason: to help him clean house. Not surprisingly enough, there are several cops in their shop who are on the take and worse, and he wants to expose and take them down before his superiors are motivated to do it for him. "Nothing is what it looks like," he warns her - or something to that effect.

If the show has any problems, which are definitely not with the strong ensemble cast, it's some of the cases piled on top of everything else to heighten the weirdness. No explanation is given as to why a perp is brought in wearing a hot dog suit, or why their caseloads include everything from a serial killer of neighborhood cats, to a dangerous gang that goes on a rampage which includes virtually every male member of the family, down to the youngest brother who is an honor student in high school (so why weren't the aunts, the mother and the grandmother in on it, too?)

The goings-on with the main characters would be more than enough to keep things interesting without any more embellishments, but in a blasted landscape littered with the corpses of shows long past their prime, being fed on by the fly-blown vultures of reality TV constructs, at least THE UNUSUALS is trying by daring to be...unusual. And it's for that reason I fear that this show will be over before it even gets the chance to find its feet and its potential audience.

But I really hope I'm wrong.

Not your usual cop show.

[johnnymacbest · 8 April 2009]

Over the years audiences have been treated to gritty, dark cop shows but ABC's new show "The Unusuals" is something really different. There's a heavy emphasis on dark humor and eccentricities that gave me a few laughs, but there's something going on beneath the surface and only by watching these characters will we ever find out. True, there are the inevitable crimes of the week that viewers will be treated to but it's the well acted characters, witty and funny dialog as well as the "unusual" situations that keep things interesting and I for one was getting into this show. It's already starting to grow on me. Not a show for the kiddies as there are sexual innuendo and some thematic elements, but it's good, real good. Although I like serious shows but every once in a while I'd watch something that's light-hearted, doesn't take itself too seriously, and overall, fun for an entire hour.

THE BeSt Show OF the year,The decade too perhaps

[tvanish · 10/10 · 18 February 2010]

this show had it going, i saw the first couple of them and it was amusing enough to make you want more and more....great cast And even greater Script, though it started out as your Average Joe detective show , and it turned out to be much much more than just cops doing their work ,it can be predictable but it sure as hell funny , ..after i was watching it on a regular basis i discovered that the show had been canceled...What a waste to a great potential :(, well i hope that CBS or ABC or what ever , could bring it back...it has good ratings, great potential and everything required to make a show of the year, i just don't get it , anyways i say, enjoy the 10episodes to the fullest as u can,you never know when they might release a thing that good ever again!! :D .

The Unusuals is definitely worth watching!

[kimberly-turner · 9/10 · 3 June 2009]

I like cop shows, which was one of the reasons I was drawn to this show. This is well-written, well directed, well acted show. It is mainly a drama with humor sprinkled throughout it. It manages to keep the viewer intrigued without the intense violence or graphic nature of most of the other popular crime shows we see today. I love cast of characters they have chosen. I turn each week to watch this show because I truly am drawn back to the storyline and the characters. I certainly don't tune in because ABC has advertised; since they don't. This is good show and it deserves a real chance to succeed. If you haven't watched this show, tune in and give it a chance. It is well worth the time spent watching it.

Why?

[antonella-delucamaksimov · 10/10 · 26 October 2012]

I discovered and bought ''The Unusuals'' DVD on Amazon a few days ago (10 October 2012, too late, unfortunately) because I (and my family!) am an absolute fan of Jeremy Renner (really great, charming, extraordinary, irresistible, deep and intense actor) and of Amber Tamblyn (also great, delightful and brilliant actress). I already watched the whole series twice in a week! Definitely, ''The Unusuals'' is one of my favorite series in my life (I am 48)! An outstanding casting (Renner, Tamblyn, Perrineau, Goldberg, Curnen, Lennox, Close, Kinney and so on, the performance of each actor and actress is always so right, perfect, natural); a fantastic mixture of drama, comedy, romanticism; a gripping, original, amusing, touching and dynamic script!!! So, I wonder WHY the series stopped????? It's a crime!!!!! I know that my complaint (sorry for my bad English) is probably just a message in a bottle in the ocean but PLEASE, I BEG YOU, at least make a FILM (with the same casting, of course...)!!! Do not let us down...

Another One Season Show Leaving You Wanting More.

[rainmanrey · 8/10 · 15 November 2014]

This was a very enjoyable show with a great cast of actors & actresses that I love in other things as well. I know we are not lacking for cop shows out there, but this one had its own thing going on. It seemed like every character was very much a unique character with baggage and quirks on the plenty. We had the rich girl, bubble boy, cancer guy, goody good... Someone from every realm. It seems very weird but it complimented the same old cops and bad guy routine nicely. I even liked the random dispatcher with the strange announcements. I am sad to see this didn't have more episodes but it was still worth watching what I did. On a positive note the show did not end with a huge cliffhanger, so I was not to upset with not knowing what was going to happen. It also didn't really have a series or season closure either... Just kind of ran out of episodes.

What's Unusual?

[welambert01 · 6/10 · 12 May 2021]

Even with the flaws, it would have been nice if the show was given a second season. The Unusuals was finding it's voice. One of the strongest cast in recent memories. The show succeed when it's original material is used, the show fails when borrow heavily from other crime dramas. A good binge watch; it's ironic the last episode is E. I. D. (Emotionally Invested Detective) as you never get emotionally invested in the show.

The Unusuals was a great series....

[viktormadarasz · 10/10 · 16 April 2012]

I really liked The Unusuals, I still don't understand why they canceled the show after the first season (just 10 episodes).

It had a different approach on its own towards the same topic which had been used a million times before , Detectives and Police Precints :)

But unlike The Wire, which I really consider as one of the best ever series in COP category, The Unusuals has a bit more comedy and less though drama like The Wire ( i mean no really ugly reality as we saw on The Wire, which made it a best in class) And its also different from The Shield (which I am still watching), it has a different sense, its easier to watch and put no pressure on the viewers.

Jeremy Renner really played well Welsh together with the rest of the crew..all great acting

Trying too hard to be wacky

[SnoopyStyle · 6/10 · 21 August 2014]

NYPD Detective Casey Shraeger (Amber Tamblyn) is not so good at being hooker bait for the vice squad. Luckily she's pulled by Sergeant Harvey Brown (Terry Kinney) to beef up the depleted 2nd after a detective is murdered. She's assigned to detective Jason Walsh (Jeremy Renner) who just lost his partner. He owns a dinner but only opens it when he feels like it. Detective Leo Banks (Harold Perrineau) and Detective Eric Delahoy (Adam Goldberg) are another odd couple pairing.

This show tries really hard to be quirky. The voice-over with the dispatcher is just one of many, many weird touches to amp up the wacky. Renner even does a Bourne joke which is so odd looking back at it. This show could have worked if they didn't take 'the unusuals' so literally. It's just not wacky enough to be funny and all the craziness takes away the realism. This is a show that tries way way way too hard to be quirky.

Just watched last week, so sad it's only 10 episodes.

[Ashleygumina · 10/10 · 15 August 2020]

I know I caught this super late, like I just watched it a week ago, but I loved it! It was funny, suspenseful, sexy and I am so mad they cancelled it. I want to know what happens to the characters! Did Leo die before he turned 43? Does his partner get his brain tumor removed? Do Walsh and Casey get together? I NEED TO KNOW! Lol I love me some Jeremy Renner and I would have missed this great show if not for being obsessed with him. Great character and I wish to know more...

Ironically The Unusuals is incredibly plain.

[DavidBjerre · 2/10 · 10 April 2009]

THE UNUSUALS: THE PILOT.

The Unusuals is a cop show that belongs in a different decade. After NYPD Blues, Third Watch, The Shield, hell, even after the old Hill Street Blues there's just no room for a toothless show like this any more. The plot lines are trivial at best, or just plain stolen (pop quiz: in which other cop show does one of the lead character's mum call all the time?), and the whole show is presented in pretty, calm pictures that just underlines the plainness of the whole endeavor. I've seen more interesting cinematography in The Golden Girls. And don't get me started on the police station, the most unconvincing piece of art direction in recent memory.

The characters are also terrible! Amber Tamblyn is cute. She's suppose to be the young, beautiful rookie, who's just transferred in to this tough station. Unfortunately all her collages look like they're fifteen and wandered off the set of 90210. Her partner, played by Jeremy Renner is so beyond bland it hurts, apparently he has "a secret", and we're suppose to be intrigued. I'd go ahead and be dutifully intrigued if he could manage a single convincing emotion. Even solid folks like Harold Perrineau and Adam Goldberg look like they've watched The Thunderbirds for acting inspiration.

The most offending elements, however, are those comic relief moments. Oh look, the cops are looking for a cat killer. That's so funny! And there's a guy dressed as a hot dog! Hilarious. They even put on that "this-is-funny-and-quirky-just-so-you-know"-music which plagues shows like Grey's Anatomy, Desperate Housewives or Ugly Betty, and make them completely unwatchable. They even have one character who talks about himself in the third person, and has a funny mustache. Really!? The pilot lines up the plot for the series... There's something rotten in this station. They're gonna need to clean it up! Which of course begs the obvious question: Why would you need to clean up a station which looks so squeaky clean it'll makes your dentist's office seem like a dump? I love Amber Tamblyn, but I can't bring myself to watch such a mediocre show just for her. There aren't enough hours in the day to justify that.

absolutely worth for watcing

[ezvara · 9/10 · 17 August 2022]

I am writing this in 2022 , watching The Unusuals the 3rd or 4th time. IMO: it was cut after the 1st serie because Renner was to go to big screen. ( The Town by b.affleck, Mission Impossible ). Anyway, i am sad there were no following series. This was a really good show. Somone wrote it was an "absurd" storyline. IMO: the storyline was totally police procedure, the carachters were the absurdsist. And then what ? Absurd is a wellknown and recognised genre. Not everybody' s cup of tea. If you dont like it, quit it. Why do you torture yourselves to watch full series, just to write a very negative opinion. Really???

Thank you very much for all quitters and for all the lovers. After one episode anyone can know if it ment to be for them or not. I promise.

And please, make a come back with serie 2. Thanks.

Gone but not forgotten.

[vwaimlessly · 10/10 · 18 July 2021]

This is 10 episodes of one of the best shows that ever aired. It should have never been canceled. It is dark, weird, mysterious, and funny. I would cut off two fingers to see more episodes.

Very suprised at 2022 how good it was, and still cancelled.

[HrSookoll · 9/10 · 22 September 2022]

Well i was few weeks ago really lucky to accidentally discover this amazing and smart cop department tv-show, where so many top actors appear: Jeremy Renner, Amber Tamblyn, Harold Perrineau, Adam Goldberg and many more in one ten episode show. That show aired over a decade ago when tv wasnt so popular like today, and stars first choice was cinema by far.

Cristin Milioti, Adam Driver, Miles Teller, Betty Gilpin, Corey Stoll and many other big names today are doing their first big appearence on screen there, and its so fun to watch.

Cancelling Unusuals other seasons was maybe the stupidest thing in ABC history, but then again maybe Noah Hawley would still create Unusuals season 11 today and we would miss Fargo, dunno.

Maybe some episodes should/could have more tension and thrill, and action scenes a bit longer balanced with all the rest, unusuals would still continue.

Anyway a fun, fresh and full of good crime show was left a shore and hope someone will continue where it was left.

Wherein I discover Jeremy Renner before Hurt Locker

[dfloro · 8/10 · 29 June 2023]

So here is another one of those outstanding network TV shows canceled WAY before its time (after only 10 episodes?!? Can you say "Firefly"?). Around four months before Jeremy Renner's big breakthrough role starring in Kathryn Bigelow's award-winning "The Hurt Locker," I happened to be surfing TV channels one night and land on an unconventional cop show, written and created for ABC by Noah Hawley, who would proceed to make "Fargo" and "Legion" (two more brilliant cable TV series). While a plot synopsis doesn't promise that much to write home about: Amber Tamblyn plays a rookie detective thrown in head first to partner up with the more seasoned (and also somewhat resentful) cop Renner, given how long and hard he's worked to make detective, and whereupon equal parts danger and hilarity ensue (See what I mean about a plot synopsis?), it's the eccentric cast of characters who prove to have such compelling personalities (like that of the supporting actors Harold Perrineau and Adam Goldberg). I don't know why I should've been surprised that a major TV network would would premier a new series in April and ax it by June, but this show had vanished by the month before "The Hurt Locker" with Jeremy Renner premiered in theaters at the end of July 2009. And of course, Harold Perrineau would go on to be on ABC's "Lost," as all of the talented cast landed on their feet. But just like the rest of corporate America (and just like Fox with Firefly) nobody at ABC would or did admit that they'd had an interesting series with excellent writing and acting that they'd totally screwed up-right before its star became a major Hollywood force. Well, at least real-life super-hero Jeremy Renner has gone on to have lasting success/last laughs!

Another fabulous "Cancelled Too Soon" show...

[eclectic_girl77 · 8/10 · 29 January 2024]

....That makes you want to find the executive (-s) responsible and slap them upside the head with a frozen tuna.

Seriously, this is one of the best cop shows made ever. Right out of the gate, you've got a show stuffed with well-written and well-rounded characters, absurd humor, sensitively written drama, tense action, and several subplots deserving of exploration.

Let's talk about the casting. Even at the time, when so many of these names and faces would go on to even more amazing roles, this was an amazing cast. Amber Tamblyn, Jeremy Renner, Harold Perrineau, Adam Goldberg, Terry Kinney, Monique Curnen. Even the guest stars: Miles Teller, Corey Stoll, Joanna Gleason (a national treasure btw), Chris Sarandon (same). And we can't forget the voice of the show, Marisa Vural as "Dispatch." There was so much talent here, it's almost criminal. (Har har har.)

Next we have the series writers, which included: Sarah Watson (whose credits include About a Boy, Parenthood, Pure Genius, and That's So Raven), Danny Zucker (The Arsenio Hall Show, Evening Shade, Roseanne, Grace Under Fire, Modern Family), Melissa Byer (Stargate: Atlantis, Crossing Jordan, Reaper, CSI, The Gifted), Robert De Laurentiis (St. Elsewhere, Providence, The O. C., The Umbrella Academy, Fargo). And let's not forget the series creator, Noah Hawley who wrote for Bones, Legion, and Fargo, while producing and directing episodes of the same (among other series). I mean, the man has won an Emmy, a Golden Globe, a Peabody Award, he's a novelist, screenwriter, series creator, showrunner, director, and producer. He's accurately named an auteur.

So with so much goodness wrapped around a show like this, why the hell was it cancelled? Well, it had disappointing numbers, ones that started out low and dropped even further as the weeks went on. Yet shows such as The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, All in the Family, M*A*S*H, Family Ties, Cheers, Seinfeld, and Homicide were the same and I think we know how they turned out. So, then, ultimately, why was The Unusuals cancelled? Was it cop show burnout? Was it insufficient advertising? Was it impatience with a more complex storyline and characters? I'm thinking all of the above, along with the standard issue of executive ignorance and - the worst possible reason - bad luck. So many shows succeeded when they should've failed because they dropped at the right time and caught the right audience. So many other shows failed when they should've succeeded because of the opposite - they never found their footing or the audience, advertiser, and executive support. Sadly, The Unusuals fell into this last category, joining a far too long list of other "Cancelled Too Soon" shows. But a show totally worthy of rewatching, if only to enjoy what was and mourn what could've been.

Love that show

[mahja-29215 · 10/10 · 3 January 2024]

A goof the iv is upside-down. It is funny and jeremy renner is oddly seductive.the characters are well played.the city looks great. So many historic spots. Love the use of the apple yo take down the bad guy with the instruments. Alverez is histerical. Live the diner that is never open. Marvin is a ripp ans a half. Really would like If the partnership would get together romantically but his lover and him have great chemistry. I have to find 150 more characters to be accepted but I just love the show and would like it to continue. Bur I don't want to give anything away for anyone who has not seen it and would like too.

Awful

[ceferco · 2/10 · 19 January 2021]

Don't waste your time. Soundtrack? Awful. Storyline? Absurd. Funny? Rarely. Sorry to see several top notch actors ware their time on this tripe.