I am – Hercules!!


The great Jeff Goldblum – he of “Death Wish,” “Annie Hall,” “Invasion of the Body Snatchers,” “Tenspeed and Brownshoe,” “The Big Chill,” “The Right Stuff,” “Buckaroo Banzai,” “Silverado,” “The Fly,” “Vibes,” “Jurassic Park,” “Independence Day,” “The Lost World” and “The Life Aquatic” fame – makes his debut tonight as a regular on “Law & Order: Criminal Intent.”

He’s great on it, and his casting instantly makes CI a new show. It’s still “Law & Order,” with its cookie-cutter suspects and lowlifes, but his presence as detective Zack Nichols livens up the procedures immensely. I think I might even prefer this new CI to Goldblum’s 2007 NBC detective series “Raines.”

Julianne Nicholson returns in the episode as Nichols’ new partner, Megan Wheeler, who used to be partnered with Chris Noth’s now-departed character. She’s wasted here as the girl who jumps too readily to the conclusion that Nichols is a nutcase.

I’ve recently stumbled upon Nicholson as the lead in two flawed but highly watchable indie films: Wallace Wolodarsky’s “Seeing Other People” (2004) and Jeff Lipsky’s “Flannel Pajamas,” and I’ve come to realize that she’s actually kind of great when she’s not on this show. Too bad a zillion more people see her on "Intent" than in the cinemas.

Entertainment Weekly gives it an “B” and says:

… Goldblum keeps his usual mannerisms under control, but he's still unpredictable enough for Eric Bogosian's police captain to have to reassure Nicholson, ''He's not crazy, exactly...'' …

The New York Times says:

… The character is better suited to Mr. Goldblum’s sensibility than the hallucinating detective he played on the short-lived series “Raines,” on which he was required to do too much feeling. Nichols is like Damian Lewis’s Charlie Crews on “Life” but funnier. … Mr. Goldblum’s initial scene has the effect of a star’s first walk-on in a stage play: you feel moved to applause. It isn’t merely that Mr. Goldblum is now the marquee name, more famous than the actors around him. It’s also that you trust him to break through the show’s melodramatic solemnity; he signals a kind of first-aid relief. Wheeler, played by the expressionless, pancake-faced Ms. Nicholson, is destined to fade even further into the background than she did with her previous partner, Mike Logan (Chris Noth). And Mr. D’Onofrio’s Detective Robert Goren, with his lugubrious intellect and Rodin poses, is fated to seem even more annoying now that Mr. Goldblum is here, on alternate weeks, to deliver a far more appealing take on how to be a know-it-all.

The Chicago Tribune says:

… Goldblum, who plays twitchy detective Zack Nichols and whose first episode airs April 26, is an inspired addition to USA's roster of off-kilter crime fighters. He brings his usual slightly goofy energy to this otherwise workmanlike procedural. …

The San Francisco Chronicle says:

… Once again, episodes will feature either D'Onofrio or Goldblum, rarely both. The only problem I have with this is that Goldblum can't play "normal," and I don't know if the show really needs more than one eccentric, possibly crazy, cop. …

The Newark Star Ledger says:

… Goldblum is always engaging (as he was on his short-lived NBC cop show "Raines" a couple of years ago), but I liked the rhythm of the D'Onofrio/Noth years on "Criminal Intent," and how both sets of episodes felt like part of the same series without becoming interchangeable. Goldblum makes more sense as D'Onofrio's potential replacement, not his co-lead. …

Variety says:

… Jeff Goldblum's wild-eyed, mad genius mode -- think "Jurassic Park" -- turns out to be a perfect fit for the Sherlock Holmes/Columbo variant on "Law & Order's" procedural template, "Criminal Intent." … Goldblum's deft touch with rapid-fire delivery makes him a particularly good choice for the show's cerebral brand of crime drama, although as a consequence, that approach tends to leave the secondary detective with even less to occupy her in most episodes than the flagship hour's assistant DAs. …

9 p.m. Sunday. USA.

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