Tim Daly says ”Eyes” felt right

Sometimes it’s not who you know, it’s what the people you know don’t know about you.

That’s what Tim Daly found out when he first read the pilot script for ABC’s “Eyes” (Wednesdays at 10 p.m.), a smart, funny take on a private-eye drama set in a “risk-management” firm led by a charming rogue named Harlan Judd.

“This is the first series I’ve wanted to do,” Daly says, since starring in CBS’ “The Fugitive.”

It didn’t hurt that “Eyes” was the brainchild of John McNamara, who’d been executive producer of the remake of “The Fugitive.” Or at least Daly didn’t think it would hurt.

“When I read ‘Eyes,’ ” Daly recalls, “I called John up and I said, ‘You wrote this part for me. You realize that?’

“And he said, ‘No, you’re completely wrong for it.’

“And I said, ‘John, you wrote this part for me.’

“And he said, ‘You couldn’t be wronger for this part.’

“And what I eventually realized was that he saw me as Dr. Richard Kimble. I mean he just couldn’t get that vision of me out of his brain, you know, of a guy who was eating out of Dumpsters, and hiding, and couldn’t complete a sentence and wouldn’t look anyone in the eye and didn’t want to be revealed,” Daly says.

“I really had to go in and remind him what a sort of natural (wiseguy) I am.”

In fairness to McNamara, Daly’s probably had less face time as a wiseguy than as a more serious sort of leading man, or as the uptight brother on “Wings.”

But that hasn’t stopped him from slipping easily into the role of the fast-talking Judd, a man whose moral compass points in any number of directions.

“I went in to meet John and the director of the pilot, Jon Amiel … and Jon Amiel didn’t really know who I was,” Daly says.

“Now that I look back on it, it was almost like a Harlan Judd improvisation. I said, ‘All right, you guys. This is what’s going to happen. Every A-level TV actor in Hollywood is going to come in here, they’re going to beg you for this part, they’re going to read, they’re going to plead, they’re not going to do a good job. You’re going to say, ‘We just can’t find this guy.’

“You’re going to see a bunch of B-level movie actors who are toying with the idea of doing TV … you’re going to get tired of (them), and then finally you’re going to hire me. So why don’t you just cut through all that right now and hire me, because that’s what’s going to happen?’

“And they sat there with their mouths open and sort of looked at each other and it was kind of like, ‘That’s Harlan Judd.’ “

These days, Daly is putting his improvisational skills to work promoting the show, the latest in a slate of pretty good ABC dramas and the one in the toughest time slot – up against NBC’s “Law & Order” and CBS’ “CSI: NY.”

“It’s funny, there’s a perception, because Jennifer Garner goes out with Ben Affleck, and makes movies from time to time, that ‘Alias’ is a killer lead-in, when the truth is, it’s … a tough night,” Daly says ruefully.

Like every actor on ABC who’s not on “Desperate Housewives,” he’d like to be on the show that’s on after “Desperate Housewives” – a slot now successfully occupied by fellow midseason replacement “Grey’s Anatomy.”

“Honestly, I think that ‘Eyes’ is somewhat better suited in tone to ‘Desperate Housewives’ than ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ is because once again, it’s funny and it’s dark, and ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ is a very good show, but it’s much more straight ahead,” Daly says.

A year ago, the so-so numbers for “Eyes” might actually have looked good to a struggling ABC, which hadn’t launched a hit in some time.

Now Daly’s hoping that the network – riding high on the success of “Desperate Housewives,” “Lost,” and, yes, “Grey’s Anatomy” – will give the audience some time to find his show, too.

He says he’s hearing two kinds of comments as he walks the streets.

“The one that makes me weep with joy is, ‘Dude, I saw your show. It is awesome. I love it,’ ” he says.

“And the one that makes me weep is, ‘Hey, when’s your show start?’ … That’s the kind of thing that makes you want to find the highest bridge.”