Silk Stalkings: The Complete First Season (review)

It tries so hard to be wicked, does this "sexy" detective series, one of the 18 billion variations on the cop show producer Stephen J. Cannell pumped out during the 1970s, 80s, and 90s. Cannell's series almost invariably did well in ratings game -- this one ran for eight season from 1991 to '98, first on CBS, and then moving to USA to become an early original-to-cable success -- but very few transcend their brief moments in the sun to achieve any lasting significance. This is not one of those shows. In ritzy Palm Beach, Florida, homicide cops Sergeant Rita Lance (Mitzi Kapture, whose garish lipstick tends to bleed into the neon on the sometimes fuzzy transfer) and Sergeant Charles Lorenzo (Rob Estes) investigate "crimes of passion among the rich and famous," aka "silk stalkings." It's a stretch, that artificially risque term, but it suits the deliberate and awkward faux naughtiness of a show that delights in murdering models, call girls, socialites, stockbrokers, politicians, and celebrities, all of whom seem to have moderately seamy pasts that will be exposed over the course of 45 minutes. It's never as much sordid fun as it seems to think it is. All 22 episodes from that premiere season are here, as well as new interviews with Cannell and cast, though no extras beyond that.