TV REVIEWS : ‘Suspects’ Spoofs Police Drama

A shapely woman in a skimpy bikini slips into her pool for an evening swim. She’s young, she’s beautiful. Minutes later, she’s also dead.

Hardly material for comedy. A sense of humor, however, is precisely what drives the appealing new Fox series “Likely Suspects.” A playful half-hour that’s been mislabeled as a drama, it premieres at 9:30 tonight on KTTV-TV Channel 11 and XETV-TV Channel 6. Its mystery component is secondary to its camera style and drollery.

This is not cosmic television. Yet who can resist a fresh bit of whimsy when it’s well executed?

The body in the pool is that of a ruthlessly ambitious television reporter, and the trembling finger of guilt points . . . everywhere. Ace detective Marshak’s (Sam McMurray) list of suspects is led by the victim’s boyfriend, a rival anchorwoman and both the husband and wife who operate the station where these greedy TV personalities work. Everyone acts suspiciously, and helping Marshak investigate the case are detective Harry Spinoza (Jason Schombing) and, well, the camera.

Addressed by Marshak as “rook,” this minicam each week becomes a participant in an investigation, filling the role of Marshak’s unseen, non-speaking rookie partner. When Marshak instructs his green sidekick to question the victim’s neighbors (“See if they saw anything . . .”), for example, it’s the lens that Marshak speaks to. The suspects also address the camera as if it were a detective.

This is a technique you can trace back at least as far as that Raymond Chandler whodunit “Lady in the Lake.” However, director Don Scardino (who guided some of the best episodes of “The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd”) adds his own breezy touches. At one point, when Marshak tells his partner to go out for a doughnut, the minicam departs, and a stationary camera shoots the next scene.

None of this fragile nonsense is to be taken seriously, with Marshak straight-facing his way through some occasional comedy business that comes close to the best of “Police Squad”/”Police Academy.”

Holding an item of evidence, Marshak enters a room where a policeman is questioning the victim’s maid. When he orders, “Get this dusted!” the cop and maid both jump to their feet.

Following form for the genre, the suspects are ultimately gathered in a room where Marshak, after reviewing the clues in detail, reveals the murderer, whereupon the guilty one immediately confesses.

“This is what’s known as a twist,” Marshak says. This is what’s known as fun.