LAW AND DISORDER 'CRIME' LESS CHALLENGING THAN THE NOVEL.Byline: David Kronke TV Critic CRIME & PUNISHMENT'' gloms off Dick Wolf's good name, borrowing ``Law & Order's'' music and title sequence to introduce a low-budget, summer-ready reality series about the San Diego District Attorney's most-recent salacious sa·la·cious adj. 1. Appealing to or stimulating sexual desire; lascivious. 2. Lustful; bawdy. [From Latin sal cases. In tonight's case, the show provides little back story in the case of a man accused of murdering his apparently promiscuous estranged es·trange tr.v. es·tranged, es·trang·ing, es·trang·es 1. To make hostile, unsympathetic, or indifferent; alienate. 2. To remove from an accustomed place or set of associations. wife. Instead, we see Court TV-style footage of questioning edited to within an inch of its life, along with a smattering of scenes in which the prosecutors discuss their case. ABC News has a similar series of its own, only without Wolf's imprimatur and flair for melodrama, ``State v.,'' premiering Wednesday - opposite, of course, ``Law & Order.'' Tonight's case is iffy if·fy adj. if·fi·er, if·fi·est Informal Doubtful; uncertain: an iffy proposition. [From if. , which makes it - to the producers' minds - dramatic: A man boasted of the wretched fashion in which he'd kill his wife, freely dismissing her in the basest of pejoratives. But once she disappeared, no forensic evidence tied him to her death. It's the sort of case Sam Waterston's character would crusade over, but of course here it's real. Fans of this sort of thing will find it passably pass·a·ble adj. 1. That can be passed, traversed, or crossed; navigable: a passable road. 2. Acceptable for general circulation: passable currency. 3. engaging. Those who think reality TV reprehensible rep·re·hen·si·ble adj. Deserving rebuke or censure; blameworthy. See Synonyms at blameworthy. [Middle English, from Old French, from Late Latin repreh will see nothing here to change their minds. ``If the case comes back not-guilty, it's going to be apocalyptic,'' the D.A. grimly intones. If this show doesn't click with viewers, the decision will have far less-dire consequences. CRIME & PUNISHMENT- Two and one half stars What: Reality series from ``Law & Order'' creator Dick Wolf examining San Diego court cases. Where: NBC NBC in full National Broadcasting Co. Major U.S. commercial broadcasting company. It was formed in 1926 by RCA Corp., General Electric Co. (GE), and Westinghouse and was the first U.S. company to operate a broadcast network. (Channel 4). When: 10 tonight. CAPTION(S): photo Photo: San Diego Deputy District Attorney Dan Goldstein discusses a case on ``Crime & Punishment,'' debuting tonight on NBC. |
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