Rainn Wilson scores first post-‘Office’ show, as Fox picks up detective series

Apparently, January is the time in which pilots once featuring stars of “The Office” come back from the dead.

Yesterday, we reported that Craig Robinson’s “Mr. Robinson” comedy had been ordered for six episodes after initially being turned away by NBC, which may be a move brought on by their failure to really create some new interesting shows in the genre this year. This time around, the news that we have is even more surprising: Despite having good success with at least one new show in “Sleepy Hollow,” a still-solid “Bones,” and also “Rake” on the way, Fox has ordered 13 episodes of “Backstrom,” a detective show from Hart Hanson starring Rainn Wilson. This show was originally considered by CBS, but was turned away. (Wilson was sought after for many things early this year, and this was what he selected.)

The man previously known as Dwight Shrute is going to appear on the show as Everett Backstrom, a detective in Portland who is extremely angry, self-destructive, grumpy, but also somewhat effective. The show originally also had Mamie Gummer of “Emily Owens M.D.” attached to it as well, but she will not be moving forward with the show.

This series is an opportunity for Hanson to have another hit at Fox besides “Bones,” which has been going strong for a full nine years now. The showrunner at one point had another series on in “The Finder,” but it did not last long before succumbing to some low ratings. This at least has a popular actor on board, but the problem here is going to be just convincing people that he is effective in a role other than Dwight. (You can see a sizzle reel below that was originally posted online by Wilson after the show was not picked up.)

Do you think that “Backstrom” could work as a show? Let us know your thoughts.