TV Reviews : ‘Arresting Behavior’ Warrants Probation

Instead of “Cops,” ABC gives you flops.

Premiering at 9:30 tonight on Channels 7, 3 and 10, the summer series “Arresting Behavior” is a sendup of all those so-called reality programs that use minicams in a verite style to intimately monitor the activities of law enforcement agencies and their officers.

Put this down as a good comedy concept that’s unsurely and unevenly executed. The first episode is limp, the second--”Arresting Behavior” reappears at its regular time at 9:30 p.m. Wednesday--an improvement.

The primary cops in this case are middle-aged family man Bill Ruskin (Leo Burmester), his young, dense partner, Donny Walsh (Ron Eldard), and Donny’s even-denser--make that flat-out stupid--brother, Pete (Chris Mulkey).

They are a pretty inept group. Tonight Bill and Donny chase and lose a burglar, then fail to notice a stolen car that repeatedly crosses their path. And wild man Pete clumsily traumatizes an infant that Bill and Donny are trying to rescue from inside a locked car. On the domestic front, meanwhile, that big palooka Bill wonders what to get his wife, Connie (Lee Garlington), for her birthday. Donny suggests sexy lingerie.

Except for the emotionally unstable Pete’s grating antics, “Arresting Behavior” initially does try for some subtlety, only to become mired in tedium. It’s a fine line.

The problem is that nothing about the premiere is remotely funny. Only when the writing improves--on Wednesday a neighbor of the Ruskins gets snagged in a prostitute sting and their teen-aged daughter’s boyfriend turns out to be a thief--does “Arresting Behavior” begin to grow on you.