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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Fox appeals to younger set with ‘Inside’

Kevin McDonough United Feature Syndicate

Like a June wedding, “The Inside” (9 p.m., Fox) offers some things borrowed and something blue.

The brand-new weekly drama borrows the studied morbidity of television’s many other forensics dramas. Its chilly, blue, overexposed cinematography will seem very familiar to even casual fans of “Cold Case.”

Even Peter Coyote, who plays FBI Special Agent Virgil “Web” Webster, is borrowed from “The 4400,” a more intriguing and original sci-fi series on USA.

Rachel Nichols stars as FBI rookie Rebecca Locke. Webster invites her to join his elite squad after a serial killer dispatches one of his key agents in grisly fashion.

Upon arriving at her new office, Locke is not shown her desk, locker or the ladies’ room, but is whisked straight to the morgue to see, in her words, “who I am replacing.” Or at least what’s left of her.

I wouldn’t watch “The Inside” while eating a TV dinner.

Almost immediately, Locke begins to show remarkable intuitive abilities that allow her to see evidence that Webster’s team overlooked, and make hitherto undreamed of connections.

It’s not giving too much away to reveal that her gift comes from her experience as a kidnapping victim.

Upon learning about Locke’s past, skeptical members of Webster’s team begin to wonder and worry if he is exploiting the psychological weakness of his young, fetching rookie.

The sense of Locke’s vulnerability is further enhanced by her youth. Although she’s a graduate of the bureau’s Quantico training school (and therefore nicknamed “Clarice” by a gung-ho colleague), she often appears to be about 16 years old.

I don’t expect Fox to avoid a chance to appeal to a youthful audience, but in her scenes with Webster, Locke seems to be attending Bring Your Daughter to Work Day.

Halloween has come early for some networks. They’ve decided to spend the whole summer dressed up like cable stations.

NBC is pretending to be VH1, showcasing Eagles concerts and the ‘80s comeback special “Hit Me Baby One More Time.” CBS borrows heavily from MTV for it’s cruel candid-camera show “Fire Me … Please.”

And Thursday night, CBS lifts ideas from Bravo’s “Project Runway” with “Cuts,” a fashion contest hosted by Tommy Hilfiger (father of Ally Hilfiger, protagonist of MTV’s “Rich Girls”).

So it’s no surprise that NBC is importing “Psychic Detectives” (8 p.m., NBC) from Court TV, where it is in its third season as a half-hour show. NBC will air “Detectives” in one-hour installments.

Each episode will describe a crime and its investigation from the point of view of a psychic detective who offers police unusual tips and unexplainable clues that prove crucial to the case’s resolution

Other highlights

Scheduled on “60 Minutes” (8 p.m., CBS): adjusting to life after prison; yoga to go; genetic disorders peculiar to the Amish.

A has-beens hoedown on “Dancing with the Stars” (9 p.m., ABC).

The three-hour tour never ends as “The Real Gilligan’s Island” (9 p.m., TBS) enters its second season.

A broker vanishes on “CSI: NY” (10 p.m., CBS).

On back-to-back episodes of “Law & Order” (NBC), a homicide reveals evidence of a cult (9 p.m.), and liposuction closes the book on a famous author (10 p.m.).

A radio raises hopes, then a wild beast dashes them, on “Lost” (10 p.m., ABC).

Cult choice

An obsessed fan (Lili Taylor, “Six Feet Under”) forces a local rocker to pay attention to her in the 1999 drama “A Slipping-Down Life” (7 p.m., Sundance), based on a 1970 novel by Anne Tyler.

Series notes

Donna takes a stand on “That ‘70s Show” (8 p.m., Fox) … Too much moonlight on “All of Us” (8 p.m., UPN) … Intensive therapy on “Beauty and the Geek” (8 p.m., WB) … Time in the romance section on “Stacked” (8:30 p.m., Fox) … Janie’s secret on “Eve” (8:30 p.m., UPN) … Shuffleboard strategy on “King of Queens” (9 p.m., CBS) … Death in the boxing ring on “Kevin Hill” (9 p.m., UPN) … Robotic beaus on “Smallville” (9 p.m., WB) … A romantic squabble on “Yes, Dear” (9:30 p.m., CBS).