Starring: Ioan Gruffudd (“Fantastic Four”), Judd Hirsch (“Taxi”), Alana De La Garza (“Law & Order”), Lorraine Touissant (“Orange is the New Black”), Donnie Keshawarz (“Homeland”), Joel David Moore (“Bones”).
Genre: One-hour drama
Premiere Date: Sneak Preview – Monday, September 22, 10 p.m. / Regular Time Period Premiere – Tuesday, September 23, 10:00 p.m., ABC
Direct Competition: “Person of Interest” (CBS), “Chicago Fire” (NBC)
Premise (in 140 characters or less): An immortal medical examiner partners with an NYPD detective and solves crimes. It’s your run-of-the-mill procedural with an obvious twist.
Initial Reaction: If you like crime procedurals – the lackluster “Castle,” in particular – you’ll enjoy this one, ABC’s newest drama to suffer the wrath of its Tuesday night death slot.
Conclusion (spoilers ahead): Procedurals aren’t my thing. I can’t get invested in an hour-long program that’ll always put the case of the week ahead of character development. I suppose “Forever” has its charm, but there are virtually no stakes. If your partner is immortal, his life is never in danger, and as the pilot proves, getting shot in the chest (twice) can’t keep an NYPD detective down, either. Ioan Gruffudd and Alana De La Garza make a fine pairing, but that’s not enough to hold my interest. Hell, the show doesn’t even appear to hold Judd Hirsch’s interest, an actor of great comic and dramatic delivery who gives a deservedly sheepish performance in a role without much meat.
Watch Live, DVR or Skip?: Skip this one. Catch up on your reading, or watch those episodes of “Castle” you recorded but haven’t seen yet. Perhaps if this one goes the way of “Lucky 7,” “Killer Women” and “Mind Games,” ABC will have the sense to move an established program to its troubled 10 p.m. hour.
