ABC and Fox recently picked up two drama series featuring familiar CSI: Crime Scene Investigation actors.

Jeffrey D. Sams, who played the recurring role of Detective Lockwood until his sudden demise in "Inside The Box", will star in ABC's midseason series, Line of Fire, Zap2it reported.

The one-hour drama series centres around the world of organised crime, focusing on both the crime syndicates and the FBI agents who try to take them down. Zap2it was puzzled as to why ABC chose to hold the series back until midseason. "The technique of telling both the agents' and the criminals' stories looks could make for good television that goes deeper than what we usually see on the networks," the web site wrote.

Written by Rod Lurie (The Contender), Line of Fire stars 24's Leslie Hope as FBI agent Lisa Cohen and Oscar-nominee David Paymer (The American President) as crime boss Jonah Malloy. Sams will play the role of Todd Stevens, who appears to be one of the FBI agents.

Over on Fox, Pamela Gidley, best known to CSI fans as anthropologist Teri Miller, has been cast in the Romeo and Juliet-style Skin. The drama series centres around two teenagers, Adam Roame and Jewel Goldman, who meet and fall in love. The twist is that Adam's father, Thomas Roame, the Los Angeles district attorney, is prosecuting Jewel's father, Larry Goldman, who happens to be a notorious producer of adult films.

Created by Thieves and Night Visions scribe Jim Leonard, Skin will be executive produced by CSI's Jerry Bruckheimer and Jonathan Littman. The series stars Emmy-nominee Ron Silver (The West Wing) as porn mogul Larry Goldman and Nothing Sacred's Kevin Anderson as district attorney Thomas Roame. Gidley will play the role of Goldman's wife, Barbara.

Zap2it had mixed feelings about the future of the series. "Fox is already trying to downplay the pornography aspect of the story (the female teen's pop is an adult movie baron), which is a mistake, because without that kind of grit and detail, this is fairly straight-forward soap opera stuff," the web site said. "Ron Silver and Kevin Anderson are good enough actors that they can pull off even the most melodramatic moments, but the young stars will have a lot to prove."

Skin will air Monday nights at 9:00 p.m. after the popular reality show, Joe Millionaire.

Further information on Line of Fire and Skin is available at Zap2it and the Futon Critic.

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