Silk Stalkings: The Complete First Season

Silk Stalkings, the "sexy" detective series that tried so hard to be wicked, was one of the 18 billion variations on the cop show that producer Stephen J. Cannell pumped out during the 1970s, '80s, and '90s. Cannell's series almost invariably did well in the ratings game--SS ran for eight seasons from 1991-99, first on CBS, and then on USA, where it became an early cable success--but very few of those shows managed to transcend their brief moment in the sun to achieve any lasting significance, including this one. Set in ritzy Palm Beach, Florida, SS featured homicide cops Sergeant Rita Lance (Mitzi Kapture, whose garish lipstick tends to bleed into the neon on the sometimes fuzzy transfer) and Sergeant Chris Lorenzo (Rob Estes) investigating "crimes of passion among the rich and famous," a.k.a. "silk stalkings." The show delighted in murdering models, call girls, socialites, stockbrokers, politicians, and celebrities, most of whom had moderately seamy pasts that are exposed over the 45-minute span of the 22 first-season episodes collected here. Unfortunately, the series is just not as much sordid fun as it thinks it is. DVD extras include new interviews with Cannell and cast. Optional. (M. Johanson)