FOX's Urban Police Series `New York Undercover' Packs An Emotional Wallop

As a young, streetwise detective named J.C. Williams, Malik Yoba leans back in his chair to pay a fellow cop a compliment.

"Yo," he says, "I heard you were dope last night." The veteran cop looks puzzled. "I'm a dope for getting shot at?" No, Williams fires back. "It means you were down, man." Down, as in good. "I was down," the cop explains, "because they were shooting at me."

Chuckling nearby is Eddie Torres (Michael DeLorenzo), Williams' partner, who tells J.C. he needs to quit "buggin' " (playing around) and that it's time "to book" (leave). "Yo," says J.C., "I'm ghost." (He's outta there.)

By this point, it should be clear that it's not wise to watch "New York Undercover" (9 p.m. tomorrow on KCPQ-TV) without first packing your updated dictionary of street lingo.

And don't bother comparing it to "NYPD Blue," Steven Bochco's gritty portrait of urban life, even though this is as urban as TV gets, and the creators are certainly aiming for a similar intelligence, authenticity and identity.

Dick Wolf, who was co-executive producer of "Miami Vice," and creator and executive producer of "Law & Order," instead makes "New York Undercover" move with the edgy motion of a music video - with a thumping hip-hop soundtrack, it would be a hands-down favorite for "best music in a television series" award, if the Emmy folks offered such a thing.

Taken on those terms, "New York Undercover" is loaded with a lot that Fox's target audience will find perfectly consumable, particularly those viewers who shudder at the thought of news magazines, find "Seinfeld" square and wouldn't be caught watching a family series about an outdoor tour guide company ("McKenna").

Williams and Torres are undercover cops well-suited to their jobs because they grew up with the hoodlums they're chasing. Without the badges and guns, they look, walk and talk like them as well.

Indeed, in a scene of a future episode, the writers apparently couldn't resist, and fellow police mistake the detectives for criminals, tossing them on the hood of a squad car.

Their most-asked question: "You guys cops?"

As in most Wolf series, the characters are thoughtful, vulnerable and fight inner demons outside their place of business. Williams is the father of a young son; he didn't marry the boy's mother (Fatima Faloye) and she'll be a recurring pain in his side. To muddle the issue, Michael Michele ("New Jack City") - a lawyer from an upper-middle-class background - is his girlfriend.

Torres is a ladies' man whose father is a former drug addict and, in the pilot, he learns that his estranged mother is seriously ill. Torres used to run with gangs but is now dedicated to cleaning up the streets that blackened his father's soul.

Tomorrow's episode finds the two detectives investigating the gang rape of a woman who is accusing the key players of a rival high school football team of the crime.

At least for the first several episodes, the core plots will revolve around the relationship of Williams and Torres. Patti D'Arbanville-Quinn as Lt. Virginia Cooper leads a lackluster supporting cast. Singer Gladys Knight is listed as a recurring character, the owner of a lounge where Torres' father (Jose Perez) often plays.

The misstep in "New York Undercover" could be its countless attempts at hipness. Nearly every time Williams and Torres enter the squad room, they must exchange banter with out-of-touch colleagues - usually middle-aged, usually white - who strain to understand what they're saying.

What the series has going for it is its two stars, particularly Yoba. You should remember DeLorenzo from "Fame" and "Head of the Class." But Yoba, who appeared in the film "Cool Runnings," effortlessly conveys the perplexed feeling of being a father who sees the street as both teacher and destroyer.

"No matter how far you go," he tells his son after reluctantly agreeing to enroll the kid in a predominantly white private school outside the 'hood, "never forget where you come from."

"New York Undercover" is certainly not the season's most original concept. But it's one of the few new series to pack some kind of emotional wallop, even if it is a wallop worth dancing to.