Ellen Gray: Wednesdays are crime nights at NBC

LIFE. 9 p.m. tomorrow, Channel 10.

LAW & ORDER. 10 p.m. tomorrow, Channel 10.

WHEN IT CALLED "Law & Order" off the midseason bench early and moved "Life" to Wednesdays to be its lead-in, NBC described the resulting lineup, which launches tomorrow with "Knight Rider" still in pole position, as its new "crime block."

Because as we all know by now, in the criminal justice system, the people are represented by three separate but equally important groups: the police who investigate crime, the district attorneys who prosecute the offenders and the talking cars who give most of the orders.

And we are talking NBC, which moved "Lipstick Jungle" to Fridays last week to be closer to "Crusoe."

You do realize they're both set on islands, right?

Still, there's more than one way to skin a crime drama, and if "Life" and "L&O" don't share DNA in quite the way all those Jerry Bruckheimer shows on CBS seem to, they do at least reflect the very different cities in which they're set.

"Law & Order" begins its 19th season in what for a moment might seem too topical a fashion as a New York stockbroker succumbs to injuries sustained in a beating on the street.

But while the promotion of class warfare may have helped make "Law & Order" producer (and Penn alum) Dick Wolf as rich as many of his fictional criminals, tomorrow's episode isn't really about the economy, stupid or otherwise.

It is, however, of-the-moment enough to make use of the generic equivalents of YouTube and Twitter to tell a dark tale that easily could have been ripped from the B-story in "Romeo and Juliet."

Tragedy works on "Law & Order," and always has. Could be all those theater-trained actors in the guest roles. Could just be the skyscrapers that squeeze out the sunlight.

Things are lighter and brighter - and frequently funnier - in the Los Angeles of "Life," whose episode tomorrow, "Jackpot," after a nod to the back story in which Detective Charlie Crews (Damian Lewis) won a multimillion settlement for 12 years of wrongful imprisonment, opens with one of its typically artsy shots to launch the case of the week.

A beautiful young woman is seated at the head of a long table in a luxury apartment high over L.A. and as Crews and his partner, Dani Reese (Sarah Shahi) circle around her, we become gradually aware of her lifeless state, courtesy of at least three stab wounds in her back.

The investigation that follows is, perhaps, a more fanciful one than most on "Law & Order," involving a most-likely fictional support group most of us wouldn't have a prayer of joining, anyway, and some very colorful characters.

Some of those characters are cops, chief among them Lewis' Crews. Looking at him, and at Donal Logue, who plays a native New Yorker who's the new captain in Crews and Reese's unit, it's hard to imagine either not being chewed up in the interchangeable-parts machinery of "Law & Order."

They're really much safer on "Life."

Tomorrow's episode also features a bizarre little cameo by Erik Estrada - who plays himself - perhaps for those hoping television's next visit to the vaults will yield a remake of "CHiPs."

Not being one of those people, I was happy to see Ponch come and go quickly.

As long as "Knight Rider's" out there, you can't be too careful. *

Send e-mail to graye@phillynews.com.