Hoping for Raines

I'm a big fan of the NBC, and they've got a new show called Raines. Jeff Goldblum is a cop who imagines he sees the victims of his murders. Each new murder, there's a new figment of his imagination. He solves the murder, the imagining of the victim goes away.

I've been needing a new cop show since the death of Cop Rock, so I checked out the pilot and so far, so good. I'm going to keep watching, partly 'cuz Jeff Goldblum is still cool, and partly because I have a secret wish for Raines embedded in my heart like so much love shrapnel. I want it to come true, not just for me, but for all of T.V..

Here is my very small (and, I'm sure, ultimately futile) hope for Raines: that some of his murders go unsolved.

In New York City, roughly 30% of murders go unsolved. Let's say that Jeff Goldblum does an extraordinary job and 10% of his murders go unsolved. That means that at some point in the next ten episodes, Jeff Goldblum is going to pick up an imaginary victim that will not go away.

Raines already has an imaginary sidekick, so this would have to be someone who isn't just a cheerleader. There's a lot of potential for drama here. Being haunted by an imagined victim is classic stuff, and it's given us some classic T.V..

What if this permanent imaginary victim were someone charming? Someone crazy? What about someone who knew Raines before? Someone who's murder will take years to solve, even while other murder victims show up and disappear? Raines' perception of his victims changes as he learns more about the case - maybe by the time he can make an arrest, he won't want to lose his imaginary victim.

I know that it's too much to ask for a new, permanent character every two-thirds of a season, especially when that character's main function will be to drive the protagonist crazy. I know that everything on network T.V. has to wrap up neat and clean by the end of each stand-alone show, exactly the same as it was before. But, come on, if Raines has any balls at all, documenting Jeff Goldblum's slow descent in to madness has got to be at least an occasional theme. Why not run with it?

I know you don't have the guts to do it, but I still have hope for you, television. I'll watch until you can make me stop hoping.