Starring: Ioan Gruffudd, Alana De La Garza, Judd Hirsch, Joel David Moore, Lorraine Toussaint

Everyone seems to want to have a new buddy cop dramedy, because this is the second one I’ve seen this pilot season. The first was The Mysteries Of Laura, and I can say without a doubt that Forever is SO much better than that. First off, Ioan Gruffudd is surprisingly good as a leading actor. I was worried that he wouldn’t be, because he’s kind of a wooden actor in a lot of his cinematic work. I never liked him as Mr Fantastic, for example. I like him in this. His partner, De La Garza, is just the right amount of “serious female cop”, much like Beckett on Castle.

Forever takes a more serious tone than Castle, but still has some humor in it. It’s still definitely a buddy cop pairing, but like Castle, one of these characters is not technically a cop. It’s odd that ABC is trying to recreate their own product, but also not surprising since Castle is getting up there in age. This show is also different enough to work on its own, and keep interest up as other new fall shows premiere.

There’s an underlying season-long arc about someone who knows Henry’s secret, and who threatens to expose his secret. He’s already got someone who knows, Abe (Judd Hirsch), who I hope will become a more solid contributor in future episodes.

It’s not a mindblowingly awesome pilot, it’s just a really good one. I’m excited for the possibilities of Forever, and how they fit into the buddy cop genre, and how long it will take for his secret to come out to his new partner. You could also say “we’ve been here before”, and be a boring old sod, but just because we’ve seen “genius solves crimes” or “is this Quantum Leap?” doesn’t mean Forever doesn’t have potential. There’s a new episode tonight, so I won’t have to wait long to see how the next episode plays out. For now, I’m on board.

FINAL GRADE: A-