Women's Murder Club

There's nothing gritty or particularly realistic about ABC's Women's Murder Club, but that's OK. The show is an entertaining, estrogen-powered hour regardless.

Laura Harris as Jill Bernhardt, the platinum-blonde district attorney, Paula Newsome as Claire Washburn, the surprisingly jolly medical examiner, and Aubrey Dollar as Cindy Thomas, the impossibly young newspaper reporter, do not add up to a Kaffeeklatsch or a therapy group. I’m not saying that they don’t occasionally discuss emotions (usually Angie/Lindsay’s), but it’s more grad-school seminar than touchy-feely hot-tub hangout.

WMC--that's what the hip people will no doubt soon be calling it--sprints energetically from the gate carrying genuine qualitative heft: charismatic leads, snappy dialogue and an agreeable blend of lighthearted and dramatic.

Sharply written, compellingly acted, this is the crime procedural ABC has needed all along, one for the “Grey’s Anatomy” crowd.

The show looks to be a smart, stylish crime drama that just happens to revolve around a group of women as so many have revolved around men.

It's funny and smart, with affably quirky characters who aren't cut from cardboard.

While the crime itself is only moderately intriguing, its real function is to let viewers see what each of these women does, how they work together and how they talk to each other.

Neither self-serious nor campy, the new ABC police drama is just what I've been craving amid all the businesslike "Law & Orders" and "CSIs."