USA's new drama signals a return to blue skies

Are we in for a new age of scripted basic cable television? Given the successes of the old age, which threaded its way between broadcast and premium cable TV, a little bolder than the former, less pricier than the latter, making up what it lacked in resources with invention and charm — producing such shows as "The Detour," "Halt and Catch Fire," "Lodge 49" and "The Closer," to name just a few of my favorites - I'd be all for it.

- ROBERT LLOYD TELEVISION CRITIC

Premiering Friday on the USA Network, lately devoted to sports, reality shows and reruns, the legal drama "The Rainmaker" is the first fruit of an intentional return to the network's self-styled "blue sky" era, when its slogan was "Characters Welcome" and "optimism" in storytelling was a stated goal. "Psych," "In Plain Sight," "Monk" and "Suits" - whose recent success after being recycled onto Netflix would seem to be a factor in this turnaround were among the series born in that period.

Based on John Grisham's 1995 novel, faithfully adapted by Francis Ford Coppola into a 1997 film starring Matt Damon and Claire Danes, the TV "Rainmaker" has been kitted out with some new and altered characters and a novel focus, and in order to keep you on the hook across 10 episodes, it stirs in a case of arson and a serial murderer. (And surely some additional complications only five episodes out of 10 were available for review, so even though I wouldn't tell you about what's coming later, I couldn't.) Serial killer notwithstanding nothing drearier than a serial killer - the nuts and bolts and gird-

ers and panels of a USA show are here colorful characters, one part comedy to one part drama, a mystery to solve, and just a tiny bit of sex. (This is basic cable, remember.)