With so many terrific British crime and mystery shows out there now available on DVD (for example, check out Midsomer Murders: Set Eight), I'm not going to waste a lot of time discussing 2005's Murder in Suburbia: Series 2. Designed as some kind of hybrid between Cagney & Lacey and CSI, by way of Bridget Jones, Murder in Suburbia: Series 2 doesn't do a lot to try and earn the freewheeling, "cheeky" attitude it thinks it deserves. Supposedly a hit here on BBC America (I never saw it, and I watch that channel religiously), this Granada International production sports a laid-back approach to its material that the producers may have thought spelled "breezy," but which I took for "lazy."

In the ritzy suburb of Middleford, detective inspectors Kate "Ash" Ashurst (Caroline Catz) and Emma "Scribbs" Scribbins (Lisa Faulkner) tool around the well-manicured properties, trading quips about their latest exploits (or lack thereof) in the bedroom, while comparing notes about the latest improbable murder they're investigating. Keeping strictly to TV stereotypes, Scribbs is the instinctive, slightly daffy blonde one, and Ash is the dark, intense, neurotic brunette. When things get slow in the investigation, there's always time for a brief romantic interlude for one of the detectives, which invariably goes awry. Oh, and of course, they have a superior who's eccentric and gives them grief from time to time.

I'm the last guy to mind genre retreads or updates. As Honey said in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, familiar stories are always the best. So I don't care if structurally, much of Murder in Suburbia: Series 2 is obviously recycled material from a hundred other cop shows. What I do mind is the "love me without earning it" attitude that permeates the main relationship between the two lead actors. Ash and Scribbs (god, those are ungainly nicknames), during the course of their desultory investigations, are constantly exchanging these knowing glances at each other that signify nothing more than, "Can you believe he said that?" but we're never let in on the joke. Even the most mundane response from a witness or suspect elicits a "knowing" or "confused" or "icky" glance from Ash to Scribbs, or Scribbs to Ash (if you need a new TV drinking game, this just might supplant the "Hi, Bob!" one for The Bob Newhart Show). And when the lady cops do decide to talk to each other (or rather, banter comically and cynically at each other), it's usually some pale Sex and the City kind of whining about how men are dopes and dolts who don't deserve their time (but of course, that doesn't seem to stop the detectives from obsessing about them all the same).

DISC ONE:

Witches
After teenager Holly Andrews dies of a single stab wound in a church graveyard one night, Ash and Scribbs delve into schoolgirl witchcraft at exclusive St. John's Academy. A coded diary reveals that more than one suspect was doing the jolly with Holly. But who was casting black spells on whom?

Estate Agents
Estate agent Phil Jakes doesn't seem to care that most of his clients and even his colleagues hate him. But then someone closes Phil's sale for good by applying a paperweight to the back of his head. His murder involves Ash and Scribbs in the seamy, cynical world of suburban real estate.

Weddings
"Marriage is where we admit that our parents were right," Ash advises Scribbs. "Don't ever forget that." At this wedding, though, the father of the bride winds up dead wrong. Peeking behind the bridal veil and bouquets, Ash and Scribbs find that nothing is exactly what it seems.

DISC TWO:

Salsa
Who saved the last dance for Sandra? The lovely young salsa enthusiast took a tumble off a high balcony, and her death definitely looks like murder. The investigation leads the detective duo to Middleford's steamiest salsa club, where the passions run as hot as the rhythms -- and even Ash catches the fever.

Dogs
The brutal murder of Christine Archer, proprietress of a local dog day care center, introduces Ash and Scribbs to some temperamental canines and their eccentric, equally temperamental owners. But, as Ash and Scribbs soon discover, the bonds between dogs and their masters often prove stronger than those between human beings.

Oldies
The Birch Grove elder home's motto is "Life begins at 70." Unfortunately, life also ends there for Johnny Jones, a '50s crooner drugged and drowned in his bathtub. It seems that the former heartthrob never lost his sex appeal, as Ash and Scribbs turn up plenty of suspects among his aged admirers and rivals.

The DVD:

The Video:
The 16:9 widescreen video image for Murder in Suburbia: Series 2 is extremely clean and sharp, with no artifacting or pixilation. It's a good looking series -- just not very well written or performed.

The Audio:
The Dolby Digital English 2.0 stereo soundtrack was muddy in spots, with the dialogue (such as it was) sometimes drowned out by the music soundtrack. There are no subtitles or close-captioning options.

The Extras:
There are text filmographies for the cast of Murder in Suburbia: Series 2.

Final Thoughts:
Trading on our good humor before it ever earned it, Murder in Suburbia: Series 2 assumes we love its lead characters as much as they love themselves, but sappy dialogue and tired, inflated mysteries sink this female comedy cop duo. It's self-satisfied, for sure -- but it didn't satisfy me. You can safely skip Murder in Suburbia: Series 2.