Let's make something perfectly clear right up front. Even though "Missing Persons" sounds like another one of those reality shows, it's not.
What it is is a superior bit of television drama, a genre that's been fading on the networks in recent years."Missing Persons" does, however, borrow stylistically from reality shows like "Cops." It's shot on location in Chicago, it employs hand-held cameras, and it succeeds in achieving a feeling of reality.
Emmy Award-winning Daniel J. Travanti is back on series television as a police officer. But Lt. Ray McAuliffe bears only a physical resemblence to Capt. Frank Furillo of "Hill Street Blues."
Ray commands Chicago's renowned Missing Persons bureau. The stories of their searches range from compelling to heartbreaking to wryly funny.
In tonight's two-hour premiere (8 p.m., Ch. 4) the missing people include a toddler, a college student, a husband and an elderly woman. Not all the stories have happy endings.
Ray and his detectives - an interesting assortment of characters - sometimes deal with the aftermath of violence, but this is not a violent show. Yes, some of the missing turn up dead, but the viewers are not subjected to the violence that caused the death.
And, happily, the detectives are appealing on an emotional level. These are not police automatons carrying out their tasks; they actually care about the people they're trying to help.
And, in the process, they create characters viewers can care about too.
ABC will repeat the pilot on Thursday, Sept. 9, at 8 p.m. The series moves to its regular time slot - Thursdays from 7-8 p.m. - on Sept. 23. - Scott D. Pierce