TV Review : Promising Series Still ‘Under Suspicion’

Question to Detective Rose Phillips: “What’s it like being the only woman among these men?”

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Reply: “The toilet seat is always up.”

Crisp dialogue is a strength of the new CBS cop series, “Under Suspicion.” As is Karen Sillas as Phillips, the only female in a police squad room, and thus the predictable butt of coarse jokes from some of her cruder male colleagues. As a character who wants to fit in with the boys without becoming one, Sillas is first rate.

These are optimistic signs for “Under Suspicion,” one of the more promising newcomers in a largely undistinguished fall season. Here is a series with at least potential for growth, and a cast, including Seymour Cassel as Phillips’ boss, to help it.

Unfortunately, the premiere also suffers from pothole-sized script flaws and a questionable approach to Phillips--from wardrobe to camera shots--that at times undermines Sillas’ good work.

Early in the episode, Phillips is jolted by the disappearance of her partner, Frank Fusco (Peter Onorati), then by news that she’s being reassigned as the police department’s “women’s coordinator.” She resists, but it’s a done deal, making her a receptacle for sexual harassment and other gender-related charges from female uniformed officers. Phillips’ own subconscious demons surface--is she overcompensating?--when she’s arbitrarily cool to one officer’s claim that her partner has been coming on to her. Very nice.

On another level, though, you’re way ahead not only of the story but also of the cops who are so baffled by Fusco’s disappearance. They are unable to deduce what any viewer will be able to figure out merely by paying attention. And later, when detectives uncover an eyewitness who describes a murderous rogue cop as wearing a shoulder holster, no one asks the witness an obvious critical question, whether the killer was white or black.

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On still another front, compare “Under Suspicion” to the subtler moves of those extraordinary “Prime Suspect” miniseries on PBS, where strong-willed Detective Jane Tennison is put in charge of male detectives, many of whom resent having a female boss. Although a highly sexual person (at one point she has a hot fling with another detective), Tennison strategically dresses down on the job, wearing relatively conservative suits that don’t attract attention to her gender.

You’d think that the especially good-looking Phillips would do the same after repeatedly fending off obnoxious sexist comments from some of the men around her. Yet she wears tight miniskirts, presumably enticing the very oglers she wants to discourage. It would be her right to dress like that, and her attire would never justify lewd or sexist comments. But a smart cop trying to fit in would use a smarter strategy.

Lest you think this is incidental, consider a couple of executive producer Robert Lieberman’s choices as director of the first episode. At one point, he opts for a seductive front shot of Phillips walking toward us in her miniskirt. Another time, he shoots her by starting the camera low and panning up her body. It’s gratuitous.

In that respect the director seems to be working at cross purposes with Sillas, whose performance as Phillips is nothing if not controlled. Here’s hoping that control rubs off.

* “Under Suspicion” premieres at 9 tonight on CBS (Channels 2 and 8).