Killer Instinct

Reviewed by:
Gregg Braverman

With more television crimes than television crime solvers, networks are forced to recruit high-cheek-boned inspectors to clean up streets and fill in time slots—and Instinct is at no risk of a shortage. Detective Jack Hale (Johnny Messner) heads up the Deviant Crime Unit, a branch of the police department dedicated to solving the most gruesome offenses San Fran has to offer outside 3Com Park. Not surprisingly, Hale's explosive temper is kept in check by his knack for finding the truth—his hot, peroxided partner, Detective Danielle Carter (Kristin Lehman), is pretty calming, too. As the two scramble to collar the latest killer before another victim is found, Instinct satisfies the whodunit itch as well as Angela Lansbury ever did. Unfortunately, the hefty burden of reaping repeat viewers hinges on manufacturing likable and identifiable characters. By teaming cookie-cutter performances with hollow dialogue, the gravel-throated Messner and pert-chested Lehman are just too perfectly prim for a line of work that boasts blood, guts, and a precedent set by Jake and the Fatman.

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