Déjà vu drama in ‘Past Life’

You might be better off, though, holding out for something fresher - maybe a cold-case drama involving psychics who were channeling dead witnesses who were missing when they were alive, if they ever were alive in the first place. “Past Life’’ feels overly formulaic from the first moments of the first episode. It’s the kind of procedural that’s stuffed with lightning-bolt revelations and convulsive tears by guest-of-the-week actors and yet still seems bland.

Actually, “Past Life’’ is a bit of an anti-procedural, in that the facts and logic of the cases are quite secondary to the vibrations emanating from the great beyond. In the premiere, tonight at 9 on Ch. 25, a teenage boy is having meltdowns that look like panic attacks. When his parents find no answers in the medical community, they take their son to Dr. Kate McGinn (Kelli Giddish) and her team for some unconventional advice. Turns out the kid is having visions of an unresolved murder case from the 1990s - we see his visions in blurry camera shots - and through him they may be able to find the killer. They trigger his visions to dig for clues; he is their crime scene.

The “Past Life’’ investigators appear to be stock characters, which is too bad. A show whose plots are doomed to repeat themselves from episode to episode - tortured client, past-life regression, clues, solution - needs interesting investigators more than a “CSI’’-type show that can dazzle with cool science each week. “Bones,’’ which will serve as a lead-in to “Past Life’’ when the show moves to its regular Thursday slot this week, floats on the distinction and humor of its regular characters.

Giddish’s Kate has some potential. She’s duly compassionate, honest, and professional as she comforts her clients before plumbing their consciousnesses. But she seems more unusual and fascinating when she gets a little kooky around her very kooky mother, who’s played with appealing warmth by Judith Ivey. The writers are inevitably going to have Kate flirt with ex-cop Price Whatley (Nicholas Bishop), which may also make her more interesting.

Too bad Bishop, an Australian actor, isn’t gruff enough to convince as a man lost in an alcoholic haze since his wife died in a swimming accident. Initially, at least, Bishop’s Price, who’ll undoubtedly hear from his wife via one of the team’s plagued clients, doesn’t have nearly enough texture to be engaging.

Richard Schiff, who won an Emmy playing Toby on “The West Wing,’’ is a part of the past-life team, as Kate’s mentor. It’s strange watching him deliver flat lines designed primarily to serve the plot or provide background noise, when he was once scripted by Aaron Sorkin. In his past life, Schiff was definitely a lot better off.

Matthew Gilbert can be reached at gilbert@globe.com. For more on TV, visit boston.com/ae/tv/blog/.