Television Reviews : NBC’s ‘UNSUB’ Crime-Fighter Series Is a Crime

Just when you may have thought that prime-time had exhausted its supply of elite crime-fighting units that solve the seemingly insolvable, along comes NBC’s “UNSUB” at 10 tonight on Channels 4, 36 and 39.

Occupying the former time slot of “Miami Vice” (now airing at 9), “UNSUB” is the epitome of the weary TV formula that refuses to go away. The elite unit in this case is the Federal Justice Department’s Behavioral Science Unit, whose specialists wear hooded jumpsuits and speak into their personal recorders while blitzing the scenes of vicious crimes. These crackerjacks really know their criminals (“He might drive a bright-red sports car. It goes with repressed types. . . .”).

Actually, tonight’s perpetrator has simpler tastes. He’s a serial killer who always murders his single female victims on Fridays and removes their shoes. He carries out his crimes after getting instructions from an imaginary “white bone demon.”

The production from Stephen J. Cannell is slick, and David Soul is crisp and efficient as the unit’s leader, Westy Grayson. When the killer’s identity is revealed swiftly and prematurely, however, all mystery and suspense vanish, allowing viewers to concentrate solely on the predictable pursuit and inevitable last-minute rescue. This is no elite series.