BattleCreek

Dean Winters, left, and Josh Duhamel play mismatched law enforcement officers in "Battle Creek," the CBS series starting Sunday, March 1.

(Cliff Lipson/CBS)

CLEVELAND, Ohio - The best odd couple CBS will introduce this winter is not the Felix-and-Oscar tandem on its Thursday reboot of "The Odd Couple." More delightful, more engaging and much more promising are the mismatched law enforcement officers at the mischievous heart of the network's "Battle Creek."

As much a quirky cop comedy as it is a crime drama, "Battle Creek" makes its offbeat debut at 10 p.m. Sunday, March 1, on WOIO Channel 19. It shows what happens when handsome, sophisticated and charming FBI agent Milton Chamberlain (Josh Duhamel) is teamed with gruff, hard-boiled and cynical police detective Russ Agnew (Dean Winters). What happens is a fast-paced run of fun.

REVIEW

Battle Creek

What: Vince Gilligan, the writer-producer behind "Breaking Bad," created this lighthearted crime drama.

When: 10 p.m. Sunday, March 1.

Where: CBS (WOIO Channel 19)

Vince Gilligan wrote this crime dramedy before creating and producing the much darker "Breaking Bad" for AMC. Adding to the show's pedigree, David Shore ("House") jumped on board as an executive producer and show runner.

About 20 years ago, CBS carried a quirky Canadian crime drama called "Due South." It featured Paul Gross as a Royal Canadian Mountie teamed with a corner-cutting Chicago police detective played by David Marciano.

The straight-arrow Mountie always came out smelling like the proverbial rose, much to the frustration of the streetwise detective. Shore worked on "Due South," and "Battle Creek" has a similar vibe and a similar antic spirit.

Toss in a little Dale Cooper-like FBI eccentricity from "Twin Peaks" and the precinct-house energy of "NYPD Blue," and you're getting close to the potent and mirthful formula fueling "Battle Creek."

The series hilariously draws us in with a surveillance sequence that introduces us to brusque Russ and his partner, Fontanelle White (Kal Penn). They are battle-tested detectives in Battle Creek, Michigan. But their police force, like the city, has fallen on hard times.

They're understaffed and underfunded. They're working with hopelessly outdated equipment. They're getting by with limited resources.

Milt has been selected to head up the FBI's new field office in Battle Creek. He can call in an army of forensic experts whenever he wishes. He has access to state-of-the-art equipment. He seems to have unlimited resources and charisma.

Everyone at police headquarters, from Commander Guziewicz (Janet McTeer) to Fontanelle, is dazzled by Milt . . . everyone except Russ. So Milt, of course, chooses Russ as his partner-in-fighting-crime.

Their world views clash as much as their approaches to a criminal investigation. Milt believes in playing it by the book. Russ think the rules are there to be bent.

Aspects of "Battle Creek" seem familiar, to be sure, yet it registers high on the giddy scale thanks to energetic direction, clever writing and the comic chemistry generated by Duhamel and Winters. They make a great odd-couple team.

The only cloud hanging over "Battle Creek" is that it just doesn't feel like a CBS show (any more than "Due South" did in the '90s). It has elements of the police procedural the network's programmers so love, but it definitely will be the oddball on a lineup with "NCIS," "CSI" and "Criminal Minds."

CBS needs to give it the chance to battle for an audience. Anything less would be, well, criminal.

ALSO THIS WEEK: The packed programming choices include:

The return of ABC's "Once Upon a Time," resuming its fourth season at 8 p.m. Sunday, on WEWS Channel 5.

The premiere of ABC's "Secrets and Lies'' (9 p.m. Sunday, Channel 5), a murder-minded rookie drama starring Ryan Phillipe as a Good Samaritan who becomes a murder suspect when he discovers the body of his neighbor's young son in the woods.

The premiere of Fox's "The Last Man on Earth" (9 p.m. Sunday, WJW Channel 8), a post-apocalyptic comedy with Will Forte ("Saturday Night Live") as an average guy who becomes humanity's last hope.

The two-hour third-season opener of Fox's "The Following" (8 p.m. Monday, Channel 8), with former FBI agent Ryan Hardy (Kevin Bacon) again matching wits with brilliant serial killer Joe Carroll (James Purefoy).

"Hell's Kitchen" (8 p.m. Tuesday, Channel 8), with Gordon Ramsay trying to keep things simmering for the 14th edition of his Fox reality series.

The premiere of CBS' "CSI: Cyber" (10 p.m. Wednesday, Channel 19), the spinoff starring Oscar winner Patricia Arquette ("Boyhood") as an FBI agent specializing in the high-tech work of cyberpsychology.

The premiere of "Dig" (9 p.m. Thursday, USA), the six-episode cable miniseries starring Jason Isaacs ("Heroes") as an archaeologist who uncovers a 2,000-year-old conspiracy. (Aurora native Anne Heche co-stars.)

And the premiere of "American Crime" (10 p.m. Thursday, Channel 5), writer-producer John Ridley's series about a racially charged murder case and the trial that follows in Modesto, California (Felicity Huffman and Timothy Hutton star).