'Heist' When: 10 p.m. Wednesday, NBC. Starring: Dougray Scott. 'The Evidence' When: 10 p.m. Wednesday, ABC. Starring: Orlando Jones.

Sort of an "Ocean's Eleven" for TV -- though not nearly as entertaining as "Hustle" on BBC America -- "Heist" tells one of those stories where viewers can either cheer for the bad guys, who aren't all bad, or the cops, who aren't all good. In the first hour, at least, the show's sympathies lie more with the casually cool crooks.

They're led by Mickey O'Neil (Dougray Scott), who assembles a team of top thieves to help him pull off a half-billion-dollar heist. But first, they have to get some capital to launch their quest and if they can do it by foiling meaner rival baddies along the way, all the better.

On the other side of the law, Amy Sykes (Michele Hicks) is lead detective in the Los Angeles Police Department's robbery/homicide division, where she sees too much laziness and incompetence, much of it emanating from racist fat cop Billy O'Brien (Pittsburgh native Billy Gardell). So she pairs him with African-American detective Tyrese Evans (Reno Wilson) so the pair can spat throughout the hour.

"This is just like 'Lethal Weapon' except I do actually hate you," O'Brien tells Evans.

Among the robbers, Mickey is backed by his No. 2 (Steve Harris, "The Practice"), an old coot called Pops (Seymour Cassell), an attractive, conniving woman (Marika Dominczyk) and a dumb, young guy (David Walton). There's also a back story involving Mickey and the belief by some people that he's dead, but the pilot didn't make clear who these people are or what their relationships are to Mickey.

"Heist" moves along at a fast clip, some of the tricks and diversions the crooks employ are clever. Much of the dialogue is overly glib, but it's an entertaining enough diversion if you're not expecting much.

'The Evidence'

For all the cliches that pile up in "Heist," there are twice as many in ABC's "The Evidence," a San Francisco-set buddy cop drama that follows inspectors/best friends Cayman Bishop (Orlando Jones) and Sean Cole (Rob Estes). They banter, make up acronyms (a "TGD" is a "to-go dog" from a street side hot dog vendor) and investigate murders.

The show's attempt at innovation comes when the evidence is laid out at the top of the hour by coroner Sol Goldman (Martin Landau), a wily veteran who inexplicably calls his staff "hamburgers and cheeseburgers." But showing the evidence really adds nothing as the story twists, turns and contorts itself in an attempt to keep viewers from tuning out before the hour is up.

Both Cayman and Cole have back stories: Cayman's brother is in jail; Cole's wife was murdered and the case remains unsolved, which we haven't seen since, oh, last fall on ABC's now-canceled "Night Stalker."

Too often when new shows premiere, multiple intriguing, fresh series end up battling one another. At least we can be thankful that few are likely to feel torn between two programs this time around.