"Jesse Stone - Benefit of the Doubt," With Tom Selleck - NYTimes.com Jesse Stone has survived a lot, including the death in 2010 of the novelist who created him, Robert B. Parker. He is back on Sunday in "Jesse Stone: Benefit of the Doubt," the eighth television movie in which Tom Selleck portrays him. Chris Reardon/CBS Tom Selleck in "Jesse Stone: Benefit of the Doubt," having its premiere on CBS on Sunday night. Stone, who when he's employed is police chief in Paradise, Mass., was invented by Parker in the 1990s, and in this latest CBS film he's showing his age - not physically, but as a cop-show construct. Mr. Selleck's Stone hasn't changed much in the course of the films, the first of which was in 2005. He still solves crimes mostly by thinking about them, generally with a drink in his hand. And he still speaks only when necessary, and not for very long. With each new film, the character, who is often alone in his personal life, seems increasingly alone in the landscape of TV cops as well. Everyone else solving crimes on television these days - including Mr. Selleck himself, in CBS's "Blue Bloods" - seems to have ever-deepening back stories, savvy assistants and scripts that move briskly and cover a lot of territory. Stone, in contrast, just keeps brooding about the same past mistakes, which we never learn much about, and in this new story, written by Michael Brandman and Mr. Selleck, he pretty much sticks to a single crime. It's a big one, and startling, coming in the film's first moments amid some mindless chatter between two police officers. Stone isn't one of them; as the story begins, he is in reluctant exile - "retirement" doesn't seem like the right word for this fellow - with just his dog for company. But the crime leaves Paradise police chief-less, and the town string pullers ask Stone to put on the chief's badge again to work the case. This isn't a very intricate whodunit. Stone spends less time investigating than he does renewing relationships with characters from earlier movies: Rose Gammon (Kathy Baker) and Luther Simpson (Kohl Sudduth), former Paradise police officers; Healy (Stephen McHattie), the state homicide commander and Stone's friend; and Dr. Dix (William Devane), Stone's mental health therapist and himself a former police officer. A slice of Dix-and-Stone dialogue gives the flavor of the film. "Being a cop was toxic for me; it made me drink," Dix tells Stone after Stone has asked if he misses carrying a badge. "Being a cop's the only thing that makes me drink less," Stone replies. The film is in no hurry to reach its not-hard-to-guess resolution, but that's the way this series has always been. It's as if Mr. Selleck were personally keeping alive a slice of television history in a much faster-paced world. Jesse Stone: Benefit of the Doubt CBS, Sunday night at 9, Eastern and Pacific times; 8, Central time. Produced by Brandman Productions Inc. and TWS Productions II, in association with Sony Pictures Television.Written by Tom Selleck and Michael Brandman, based on characters created by Robert B. Parker; Mr. Brandman and Mr. Selleck, executive producers. WITH: Tom Selleck (Police Chief Jesse Stone), Kathy Baker (Rose Gammon), Kohl Sudduth (Luther Simpson), Stephen McHattie (State Homicide Commander Healy), William Devane (Dr. Dix), William Sadler (Gino Fish), Gloria Reuben (Thelma Gleffey) and Saul Rubinek (Hasty Hathaway).