CBS Series Nears Need For 'Eleventh Hour' Help

A young boy in a rural Southern town is dashing about on his bicycle, dodging oncoming traffic, when he suddenly drops dead of a heart attack.

Soon we learn that other young males have coronary problems in the backwoods burg. It's creepy. It's unexplained.

Enter a quirky, eccentric genius and his sexy female sidekick to solve the mystery.

Sound familiar?

It could be "Fringe," "The Mentalist" or "Monk."

But, no, it's CBS' new "Eleventh Hour," which debuted last week and continues tonight at 10 with the second episode.

Rufus Sewell, a British actor gifted at playing brooding types, is the brooding Dr. Jacob Hood, a scientist called in by the FBI when all else fails.

Marley Shelton plays his grumpy handler, Rachel Young.

In addition to having a been-there, done-that feel to it, "Eleventh Hour" lacks the romantic tension of "Bones" or "Fringe."

And as for Brits playing Americans, Sewell isn't as interesting as Damien Lewis on "Life" or Hugh Laurie on "House."

Sewell, best known for film roles in "A Knight's Tale" and "The Illusionist," spews pompous and deadly dull dialogue without emotion.

"People fear what they don't understand," he reminds us.

We fear "Eleventh Hour" includes every cliche in the forensics procedural playbook.

Like many current TV heroes, Hood is saddled with a tragic past involving an unsolved crime. CBS hit the mark with "The Mentalist" (on which Australian Simon Baker plays an American crime solver) but misses with "Eleventh Hour."

ANCHOR ILL: WTSP sports anchor Justin Allen is expected to be released from a Boston hospital after suffering from a bacterial infection.

Allen says he checked into the hospital after covering the Tampa Bay Rays' 13-4 rout of the Boston Red Sox on Tuesday night at Fenway Park.

"I had an infection in my arm," he said in a telephone interview. "It's not that serious. There was a minor surgery, but there's nothing life-threatening. This is just a little hiccup."

Allen said the cause of the infection had not been determined, but his arm had been hurting for a few days and started swelling on Tuesday.

"It hurt like hell, but I am fine now," he says.

He says he doesn't want to miss covering the World Series if the Rays are in it. The team could make it with a win over the Red Sox in Game 5 tonight.

Allen has been working long hours, covering the Rays' march through the American League playoffs as well as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

WTSP, Channel 10, has dispatched sports anchor-reporter Angela Jacobs to cover tonight's game.

10CONNECTS: Speaking of WTSP, the station has dropped the "Tampa Bay's 10" logo and rebranded itself as "10Connects."

The change happened last week when the station unveiled new theme music and on-air graphics.

The station also revamped its Web site (10connects.com), and as part of an effort to "connect" with viewers, 20 viewers are being recruited as community video journalists.

This could be the wave of the future or just a way to replace more reporters.

Volunteer "shooters" get a video camera, tripod, battery and other necessary equipment to download video and send it to the station.

Shooters are asked to supply at least 10 stories every three months. 10Connects promises to pay $20 for every story that makes it on the air and $10 for Web-only stories.

Those who keep feeding stories for 12 months will get to keep the video equipment.