That wily curmudgeon Dick Wolf, impresario of the "Law & Order" franchise, has created a new term to describe his latest series. Wolf says "W" is a "charactercedural," meaning it will be a procedural drama, like most of his other shows but with a greater emphasis on the characters, and younger characters at that.

		'Conviction' When: 10 p.m. tomorrow, NBC.

But NBC's "Conviction" (10 p.m. Friday, WPXI), still feels like an assembly line-produced show. All the characters are types -- the bad-boy with a gambling problem, the insecure young female prosecutor, the untested wealthy guy who joined the ranks to "try cases," the boss with political concerns -- and their personal stories and interoffice politics get more prominence than the court scenes. The show's tone is lighter than most procedural crime dramas. These elements may disappoint die-hard "Law & Order" fans.

Stephanie March reprises her role as assistant district attorney Alexandra Cabot from "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" (evidently she made it out of the witness protection program viewers last saw her in, though it goes unmentioned in the "Conviction" premiere). Cabot is a bureau chief in the District Attorney's office who delegates to deputy district attorney Jim Steele (Anson Mount). He's having a secret affair with one of the women on his staff, but it's strictly sex, not a relationship (at least that's what they initially agreed to).

Eric Balfour ("Sex, Love and Secrets"), who always plays over-sexed rascally boy-men (presumably because of his goatee and pierced ears), fills the same role yet again. And Julianne Nicholson, who did the winsome ingenue in "Ally McBeal," essentially reprises that archetypal character here.

When it comes to both character and story, there's really not much in "Conviction" viewers haven't seen before. Save for a few twists in each of the two episodes sent for review, the stories aren't engrossing and the characters aren't convincing.