TV Reviews : Weathers’ Charm Can’t Carry Lame ‘Justice’

Carl Weathers makes an effective and welcome action hero in the new syndicated cop series “Street Justice” (premiering with a two-hour episode at 8 p.m. on KTLA Channel 5), pulling his considerable pumped-up weight even when the script calls for sensitivity instead of shooting. Unfortunately, what he’s been saddled with is the unlikeliest of buddy-movie scenarios, and it’ll take Apollo Creed-like fortitude for him to redeem the show.

Weathers is Adam Beaudreaux, a plainclothes detective in an anonymous Northwestern big city who keeps catching and losing a sinister Mob hit man. Parallel to this story is his ongoing search for the white orphan he befriended and then was forced to leave behind 20 years ago in Vietnam. The kid, Bryan Genesse, suddenly shows up, now a cocky, grown-up martial arts expert. Their teaming is inevitable, but not before Weathers learns a surprise or two about his rediscovered young sidekick’s connection with the archvillain being tracked.

So much for realism: The deadly assassin keeps attacking and even torturing Weathers’ friends and associates, none of whom are seriously injured, lest they not survive the pilot. The twist the story hinges on is preposterously plotted, the show’s supporting characters and locale incredibly generic.

Stephen J. Cannell Productions (“Hunter,” “21 Jump Street”) isn’t exactly known for cinema verite- style cop docudrama, but this trifle may test viewers’ credulity further still, Weathers’ heretofore under-used charms notwithstanding.