NEW YORK — When Court TV launched its "Forensic Files" series in 2000, there wasn't much competition when it came to programs about the science of police evidence examination.
Nowadays it's hard to turn on the television without catching a glimpse of slickly produced dramas, such as "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," "Without a Trace" or "The Evidence," that cast forensics in a sexy veneer.
So when Court TV executives decided to create a spinoff of its real-life forensic series set in a particular city -- just as the "CSI" franchise has done -- they picked the place they believed would provide the most sizzle: Los Angeles.
"If there is any city that has a very distinct, unique personality, it's L.A. as the home of entertainment and movie stars and glamour and sun," said Marc Juris, the network's general manager of marketing and programming. "Lots of people go to Los Angeles to find their dreams, and that lends itself to some great stories -- and crimes."
But it remains to be seen whether "L.A. Forensics" -- a show premiering at 10:30 tonight that is based on real case files of the LAPD's Scientific Investigation Division -- will be able to compete with the twists of fictional television dramas.
"That's a challenge for us because real forensics is sometimes intense and time-consuming," admitted Ed Hersch, Court TV's executive vice president of programming. "Real CSI investigators don't drive around in Hummers and throw witnesses across the hood. In the real world, these people are meticulous; they're scientists."
Indeed, the investigators featured in the first two episodes of "L.A. Forensics" resemble earnest lab technicians, not Hollywood's notion of smoldering, hard-boiled detectives. And there's no glistening lab with high-tech computers that instantly spit out a suspect's name and address based on a partial shoe print.
That's exactly why LAPD Chief William J. Bratton wanted his department to participate in the show.
"There are so many misconceptions, unfortunately, that have been formed by shows like 'CSI,' " Bratton said. "The real world is, in many respects, very different in the sense of what our capabilities are."
But nowadays jurors increasingly expect to see the same kind of scientific razzle-dazzle in trials that they watch on forensic dramas, he said.
"They want ballistic evidence; they want definitive presentations in front of them, similar to what they're seeing on TV," said Bratton, whose wife, Rikki Klieman, is a Court TV analyst. "Most cases that go before a jury don't require that."
