'Wicked City' boasts Ed Westwick's great cheekbones, not much else

So not only is ABC's new thrill-killing drama "Wicked City" the victim of an ungainly misnomer, but also unimaginative, misogynistic writing. As Kent, Westwick seems to be portraying Chuck Bass as a serial killer rather than anything new or innovative.

If that's not wretched enough, Kent quickly hooks up with Betty Beaumontaine (Erika Christensen, "Parenthood"), a single mother and nurse who falls for Kent ... even though he likes her to pretend she's dead while he's having sex with her. And, before long, Betty becomes Kent's partner in crime.

Meanwhile, two LAPD detectives (Gabriel Luna and Jeremy Sisto) who dislike each other are on Kent's trail as they are reluctantly paired off as partners.

The writing is cliched, the characters cartoonish and the action tedious, punctured by bloodshed.

If the show would shift its musical focus from the hair-metal bands of this era to the punk acts rising up simultaneously, I might watch another few episodes of Wicked City. If only it were possible to mute everything else. It's set on Los Angeles' Sunset Strip in the early 80s, and it's chock full of Billy Idol. But is it worth your time?

Karen McClaren (Taissa Farmiga), is a rookie reporter who covers the Strip and witnesses one of the victims leaving a club. He is likely meant to come off as charismatic but feels more like an oily, obvious operator in the hands of Ed Westwick ("Gossip Girl"), who is in a tough spot since he is revealed nearly immediately.

Kent murders young women for reasons as-yet unknown, and he does it with flair, but he's not completely evil. Kent immediately makes a phone call into a radio station to dedicate a song to Emily F., the girl he is taking home who thinks he is a real estate mogul.

Jeremy Sisto stars in "Wicked City", premiering at 10 tonight on ABC. All slitted eyes and lizard grin, Kent is a distinctly male notion of what sort of guy a woman wants: a slithery lothario who tells a gal how great she looks, how smart she is, how she ought to be more confident, because, baby, you've got what it takes.

Frontline: Inside Assad's Syria (10 p.m., UNC-TV) - Martin Smith reports from government-controlled areas in Syria, and provides firsthand accounts from Syrians caught in the conflict. He's also world-weary and cheating on his wife! - and isn't as convincing as the killer's story.