I like my modern Los Angeles detectives to be, among other things, honest, resourceful, somewhat compassionate and intuitive.

If you've read any of Michael Connelly's superb novels about Detective Harry Bosch, you know the type of character I have in mind.

LAPD Detective Michael Raines (Jeff Goldblum) tries to combine those qualities, particularly the intuitive part.

How intuitive?

He talks to dead people, including the victims of the murder cases he's trying to solve.

Harry Bosch will never be able to do that.

Michael Raines is the central figure in Raines (9 tonight, 9News), a seven-week tryout series replacing ER in the NBC schedule.

We meet Raines, an intense homicide detective, when he arrives on a busy Los Angeles street to find a beautiful young woman lying face-down with a bullet in her back.

As his investigation begins, Raines gets firsthand - really firsthand - help.

The victim, portrayed by Alexa Davalos, shows up regularly in his life as the investigation proceeds.

She discusses her lifestyle, almost like a witness, while providing a few clues about who murdered her and why.

And since the setting is L.A., where almost anything is possible, there's a bit of sexual tension between the sexy walking corpse and the attractive strolling cop.

Nothing sleazy, mind you. Just the tension.

Is Raines hallucinating? Is he losing his mind?

A qualified yes to both questions.

While such haunting situations bother Raines, they don't get in the way of his crime-solving abilities.

Regarding compassion, Raines is overloaded with it.

The ending of tonight's premiere plays like a discarded script from Touched by an Angel.

There's also a twist at the end regarding the relationship between Raines and his former partner, portrayed by Malik Yoba.

Raines seems to be part of the cookie-cutter trend of TV heroes who deal with the unknown (Medium, Ghost Whisperer).

But creator Graham Yost (Boomtown) was looking for a twist on the popular detective genre of Los Angeles where Raymond Chandler and other noted novelists plied their trade.

Raines' major strong point is its production values, which provide visual tours of many scenic - and not-so scenic - locales.

It would seem logical that Raines would seek psychiatric help. That supposedly will come in future episodes from Madeleine Stowe, a talented actress who rarely works in television.

The series' title is based on Yost's love for single-named detective series like Mannix, Cannon and Longstreet.

In the latter, the late James Franciscus played a blind private eye, who solved cases for a season on ABC in the early '70s.

Blindness is much more of a handicap than Raines faces.

Don't expect Raines to hallucinate for an entire season.

Regarding Connelly's Harry Bosch character, I keep expecting a producer to bring him to TV.

I hope not. Bosch is too intuitive, in the positive sense, to become a weekly television hero.

Caregiver

Phillip Palmer, a CBS 4 anchor in the '90s before moving on to Los Angeles, is going above and beyond for a media friend.

Palmer, a high-profile morning anchor on ABC-owned KABC-TV, underwent surgery Tuesday to donate a kidney to Dale Davis, a tape editor at KCBS-TV.

The two became good friends while working together.

Doctors had searched for more than a year for a donor without success before discovering Palmer had a perfect match.

In another medical note

Bodog.com, an online gambling service, is setting up odds on the possibility of Heather Mills' artificial left leg falling off while she's competing in Dancing With the Stars, beginning Monday.

According to Reuters, the betting is on the leg falling off, not being removed after competition.

Mills' left leg below the knee was amputated after a 1993 automobile accident.

Top that betting for publicity, American Idol.

TV politics

Fred Dalton Thompson, former Tennessee Republican senator, who portrays crusty New York district attorney Arthur Branch on Law & Order, left, is considering running for president next year.

How about Sam Waterston as a Democratic vice presidential candidate?

Today's nostalgia

On March 15, 1954, CBS premiered The Morning Show, featuring newsman Walter Cronkite, to compete against NBC's Today, which featured Dave Garroway and a chimpanzee named J. Fred Muggs.

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