If it’s between Cupid and the Unusuals, I think the Unusuals should win.

Cupid surprised me. Bobby Cannavale and Sarah Paulson have a great deal of chemistry. The love stories are usually very interesting, not only in what they are, but how they end. Because I’m a sap, I found myself in tears at the ending of this week’s episode. Rob Thomas is a hell of a writer and I know that given time, we’ll see Cupid snared by Psyche’s (that’s right, we all know he should end up marrying his psychiatrist, Claire) own form of love arrows. Yes, the show is entertaining and sappy and well written, but it is not as good as the Unusuals.

When I heard the networks were coming out with two cop shows, I could feel my cop show heavy heart begin to buckle under the weight of anticipation. Based on the commercials, I expected the Unusuals to be somewhat a farce of cop shows, but what it turned into was a blend of the comedic and humourous that make life worth living. The craziness of being a cop in a city that is known for the ridiculous, the sublime and the just plain scary deserves a show that gives you all of that. Also, I was glad that this show moves away from the gritty type of show where the cops are no heroes. Amber Tamblyn as Detective Shraeger is excellent, Harold Perrineau and Adam Goldberg work so well together, I just want a show with the two of them and Kai Lennox who plays Eddie Alvarez basically steals every scene he is in.

I think I’m getting a knot in my throat just thinking about this show.

We all love Cupid and I know you’re tired of cop shows, but watch the Unusuals and see how it is different. The Unusuals is doing for cop shows what Bones does for forensic anthropological shows – add character, humour and heart.

I love television and as such, I have had to chose many times to watch one show over another. No, I don’t have a little box in my home recording everything, but I will watch House instead of Chuck, not because I don’t like Chuck, but because I like House more. I will watch Heroes instead of 24, because I kept hoping I would finally see an episode of Heroes that blew me away. 24 is doing a much better job of that, and I should have been watching it. I wish the network would keep both shows. They come on at different times and both are entertaining. But in the end, if ABC has to make a decision, I hope that it saves the Unusuals, even if it is at the expense of Cupid.

Three weeks ago saw the premiere of two new cop shows, NBC’s Southland and ABC’s The Unusuals. The shows share some similarity with other cop shows in that they are about finding the bad guys and bringing them in. Unlike shows like CSI and its many offshoots, both shows concentrate mainly on character development versus catching the bad guy.

Southland has an eerie opening, like you’re about to see some sort of gangland violence or mafia shooting right after the last name cycles through. It was created by the makers of ER and, like ER, it follows the characters as they do their work, as if there is an unseen and unacknowledged film crew following them around. It feels less polished than ER and, in that, is supposed to seem more real. While the cops seems very real (not accounting for the way some of the sentences are put together), the people they interact with seem much less so. In the last episode, the basketball star whose car and wife’s pet was taken by two women he brought to the house was so stiff that I just wanted to skip through his parts. His insults were flat and you could almost see the cue cards. The girls who took the car was the worst approximation of gold digging black women I’ve ever seen on television (of course, it’s been some times since I’ve been around any, so maybe not anymore) and the absurdity that is the alcoholic cop’s activities of the night was by far the worst of the viewing. That being said, there is something a little bit melancholic about the show that says, “One more episode.” Though I like the show, I’m not sure if I like it enough to recommend.

The Unusuals, on the other hand, I very much like. From the snazzy opening title to the humourous dispatch calls that act as a voice over, this show hits the right blend of comedic and serious. Unlike Southland, I actually care about the characters and their situations stand out to me. The 42 year old detective that wears a bullet proof vest to fend off impending death (after all, both his grandfather and his father died at 42), his partner with a brain tumor who lives life to the fullest as he faces what may be his actual death, the rich girl who becomes a cop to buck the system her parents still want her to live in, the secretive, tough cop who’s partner’s death in the first episode leads us to this idea of “who can you trust” for which the Unusuals is based, the very good cop who has a little bit too much ego, but is also very good at his job, if not for being led by his girlfriend who would rather see him succeed politically than practically, and the born again Christian cop with a past that is one overheard conversation away from being discovered.

I think the difference between Southland and the Unusuals is that Southland takes itself very seriously. After all, how can you not when there is so much killing and brutality going on. It’s nice to see Regina King in something again and the actors are actually very good. Benjamin McKenzie, formerly of Fox’s The OC, plays a rich guy who turns to policing after something tragic in his past. His partner won’t let him forget that he learned to shoot at the Beverly Hills Country Club. There’s also the obligatory misogynistic cop who’s a cracked out alcoholic on a self destructive streak… Many of the cops feel like stereotypes, or at least like they started out as stereotypes, so badly developed that traces of those stereotypes still bleed through.

The Unusuals also have the rich guy (or girl) who turns to policing – although the only tragedy is that she appears to have carelessly ignorant parents. There’s also the guy with a self destructive streak, though his self destruction tends to work out well for himself and those around him. It’s good to see Harold Perrineau again after he irritated the hell out of us by shouting his son’s name over and over again on Lost. In this show, he’s neurotic but he’s also accessible and you understand him. Amber Tamblyn is the Unusual’s little rich girl who still unfortunately interacts with people from her rich past while still trying to keep her beginning a secret. Adam Goldberg is excellent as the cop with a brain tumor whose self destructive tactics turn out very well for himself and those around him. He is also Harold Perrineau’s partner, one of my favourite on-screen partnerships in just 4 episodes.

I don’t think Southland will stick around for long. I mean, I’ve been wrong before. Both the Big Bang Theory and Fringe are still going, despite both being perfectly awful. Southland is not awful. It just needs something else to add a little more humanity.The Unusuals is very good, one I highly recommend and one in which I would be very angry if it doesn’t get a second season pick up.