Omar Epps is back on TV, and he plays a very different role from the one he played as a doctor on House. In Sunday night’s premiere of Resurrection, Epps’s character–U.S. immigration officer J. Martin “Marty” Bellamy–returns an 8-year-old boy who drowned 32 years prior to his family in Arcadia, Missouri, after he is found in a rice paddy in rural China. When another of the townspeople returns from the dead, Bellamy sticks around to lead the investigation into what is going on.

So begins a new series that certainly sounds like it will pull at all the appropriate emotional viewer strings needed to thrust it into ratings contention, with the exception of one glaring caveat. It is airing opposite AMC’s The Walking Dead, which just happens to be prime time’s number one TV show. It certainly sounds, however, as though its appeal will rein in those viewers who can’t bring themselves to watch undead zombies in various states of decomposition–right before they go to bed. Resurrection isn’t grotesque as The Walking Dead can be. It appeals instead to those yearning for mystery, a bit of science fiction and the possibility of a God versus Satan scenario. Plus it pulls at the heartstrings of those who have lost loved ones.

Omar Epps’s character is determined to stick around in Arcadia to find out exactly what is going on–and similarly to his character on House, he exudes a combination of compassion and no-nonsense composure. Check out a longer preview of the series.

But what might happen at the end of this season? Have the producers thought that far ahead to the “endgame or even how to sustain this show for more than a season?”

If something can’t be done to move Resurrection to a new time slot it may never need to worry about being resurrected for a second season–in fact, it might not even make it through it’s first season’s run. But in the meantime, House fans can revel in the fun of seeing Omar Epps back on TV–even if only for a little while.

You’ve no doubt seen the previews for Resurrection. Will you tune in or are you a diehard fan of The Walking Dead instead?

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