JournalStar.com - Ground Zero Online

Jeff Korbelik: 'The Evidence' too similar to other shows

Sunday, Mar 19, 2006 - 12:09:06 am CST

ABC will introduce the new detective series “The Evidence” this week, giving it a plum timeslot behind megahit “Lost” on Wednesday nights.

I have a feeling not many “Lost” viewers will stick around for long because there is nothing about “The Evidence” that sets it apart from all the other procedural crime shows on the networks.

Except Martin Landau.

I like him and always have. In this case, the veteran actor, who comes off a stirring stint as Anthony LaPaglia’s father on “Without a Trace” (CBS), plays forensics scientist Dr. Sol Goldman, who works closely with San Franciso police detectives Sean Cole (Rob Estes) and Cayman Bishop (Orlando Jones).

Goldman sets up each episode by introducing the evidence involved in each case. The drama then jumps back in time to the crime and plays out from there.

After watching the pilot, I found “The Evidence” not much different than any of the “CSIs” on CBS or NBC’s “Crossing Jordan” — only the actors are different.

This one even has a “bigger picture” story, which seems to be the norm of late. In this instance, there is an unsolved crime that hits close to home with one of the principals.

We’ve seen this before on “Monk” (wife killed), “The X-Files” (sister missing), “Profiler” (husband killed). The recurring storyline allows the writers to break up the stand-alone episodes and, hopefully, keep viewers coming back to see if it’s ever resolved.

Personally, I like the pairing of Estes, who gained his fame on the campy, syndicated late-night drama “Silk Stalkings” and Jones, who is best known for all those 7-Up commercials. I see some potential for some great buddy moments, although the chemistry between them was lacking in the pilot.

That chemistry should develop if given time, but I don’t think it’s going to happen. “The Evidence” is too much like a bunch of other shows that are being done better.

But at least we’ll get to watch Martin Landau work some of his magic for a while.

Around the dial

* It had been 21 months since my friends and I gathered to watch an episode of “The Sopranos” at my house.

The premiere of season six last Sunday night was worth the wait, especially since it ended with a cliffhanger — mob boss Tony dialing 911 after being shot in the stomach by his dementia-suffering uncle.

Wow!

This came after three others already had died in the episode.

We appreciated HBO On-Demand making available short recaps of the first five seasons. They reminded us who was who and who wasn’t around anymore.

Reportedly, this is the final season of the pop culture phenomenon. That’s too bad. But my friends and I plan to savor every last episode.

* At this time of year, TV critics like to hypothesize which shows will or will not return the same way sports writers do about which college basketball teams will or won’t make the NCAA Tournament.

CBS has taken some of the fun out of it.

The network announced it will renew 14 of its shows a full two months before it unveils its 2006-07 season for advertisers.

Coming back will be “Two and Half Men,” “How I Met Your Mother,” all three “CSIs,” “Criminal Minds,” “NCIS,” “Cold Case,” “Without a Trace,” “Numb3rs,” “60 Minutes,” “Ghost Whisperer,” “Survivor” and “The Amazing Race.”

On the bubble are “The King of Queens,” “Still Standing,” “Out of Practice” and “Close to Home.” So is “Yes, Dear,” but it would be a shocker if it makes the cut. The fate of new shows “The Unit” and “The New Adventures of Old Christine” will be determined over the next few weeks.

* Quick hits … “House” (Fox) and “Project Runway” (Bravo) have been picked up for next season … Oscar winner Susan Sarandon will appear in three episodes of “Rescue Me” this summer as Franco’s (Daniel Sunjata) love interest … NBC will continue to run Howie Mandel’s “Deal or No Deal” on Mondays and Fridays.

Reach Jeff Korbelik at 473-7213 or jkorbelik@journalstar.com.

“The Evidence”

9 p.m. Wednesdays

ABC (channels 7, 8)

2 stars