Tonight on CBS, in the former home of CSI, new show PERSON OF INTEREST, a JJ Abrams-created drama starring Michael Emerson, Taraji P Henson (pictured, on purpose), and Jim Caviezel, settles in on a busy Thursday schedule.

The show, about a creepy man named Finch (played, naturally, by Michael Emerson) who has a machine or device that can pull up the social security number, or some other identifying information, about people who will be involved in a crime or something dangerous in the future.  Sounds perfectly acceptable…

After John Reese (Caviezel) is picked up by Detective Carter (Henson – the Oscar nominee is woefully underused, but I have a hope we’ll see more from her in future episodes), for his involvement in an assault on the subway, the face of this presumed-dead former military man is back on the radar.  Naturally, Finch recruits Reese to help him save the people or solve the murders or stop the crimes “predicted” by this device, that Finch himself is physically incapable of stopping.

In the premiere episode, Natalie Zea guest stars as the social security number in question, and, though it takes a while, the show does finally get to the point that the device in question, while reliable, is just the beginning of what Finch and Reese are getting themselves into.

The show toes the line of going too far into the procedural world.  If they are able to successfully explore a case of the week AND continue the weird “mythology” involved in where this device came from, what it should possibly be used for, and who exactly this creepy Mr Finch is, then PERSON OF INTEREST has a promising future and this is a show I’ll be watching on a weekly basis.