'CSI'S' NEXT TRY CAREFUL DISSECTION REVEALS A SOLID HIT.

Byline: David Kronke TV Critic

GIVEN HOW obsessed with sex many episodes of ``CSI: Crime Scene Investigation'' seems to be (doesn't anyone just gamble in Las Vegas?), the muted, almost melancholy, tone of tonight's premiere of ``CSI: Miami'' might come as a surprise.

Which is not to say it doesn't boast its share of splashy action sequences and gross-out shots. Tonight's episode finds Horatio Caine (David Caruso, introduced in an episode of ``CSI'' last season) and his crack team of investigators in the Everglades assembling the grisly pieces of the crash of a private plane. Most of the dead are corporate executives subpoenaed to testify in Washington regarding an Enron-style scandal.

Cheap, faulty equipment may seem the likely culprit, but there's the small matter of what seems to be a bullet hole in the pilot - and a passenger with a high blood-alcohol level found far from the crash site. As Richard Thompson might ask, did she jump or was she pushed?

As opposed to the ``CSI'' Version 1.0 team, ``Miami's'' troupe carries some weighty emotional baggage. Caruso brings a soulful empathy to any character he portrays; and Kim Delaney (``NYPD Blue,'' ``Philly'') joins the cast as DNA expert Megan Donner, who led the unit until her husband died and she took a bereavement leave longer than the two weeks she was allotted. Delaney's Donner boasts a wiry nervousness appropriate to her uncertainty as to her position in Caine's company.

The series also features Emily Procter (``The West Wing'') as ballistics expert Calleigh Duquesne; Khandi Alexander (``The Corner'') as coroner Alexx Woods; Adam Rodriguez as Eric Delko, who's saddled with the messy task of fishing bodies out of swamps; and Rory Cochran as forensics investigator Tim Speedle.

Production values verge on cinematic by TV standards - the pilot is shot in evocative amber hues, the special effects are effective, and the autopsy sequence is pretty gnarly. There are sequences in which the characters enter crime scenes just like in its time-slot companion ``Crossing Jordan''; they're more credible and less hokey here.

Given the solid storytelling abilities of Carol Mendelsohn, Ann Donahue and Anthony Zuiker - who also run the original series - the franchise's built-in popularity and a nicely assembled cast, it seems likely ``CSI: Miami'' will easily be the hit everyone expects it to be.

CSI: MIAMI - Three stars

What: Spin-off of the hit cop-procedural series, starring David Caruso and Kim Delaney.

Where: CBS (Channel 2).

When: 10 tonight.

In a nutshell: Boasts the same level of intrigue and dramatic competence as its predecessor, and though its premiere is more sober, all the hit ingredients are in place. ``CSI: Kalamazoo,'' anybody?

CAPTION(S):

photo

Photo:

Kim Delaney and David Caruso play forensic investigators in ``CSI: Miami,'' which debuts at 10 tonight on CBS.