But as weeks went on, Benzali's monotonous characterization began to wear thin; we've spent all this time waiting for the unflappable Hoffman to, well, flap. Would it be too much to have the guy hum, tell a joke, throw a hissy fit, get drunk and dance around with a lampshade on his head -- something, just to let us know he's alive?

The casting of Benzali was a gamble that hasn't paid off, but you can't fault a producer for having the guts to take a gamble (especially since Bohco's last quirky casting choice, Dennis Franz in "NYPD Blue," was a stroke of genius).

You can, however, fault a producer who's fortunate enough to secure the services of the gifted and riveting Tucci and then relegates him to three-minute walk-ons. As of last Monday, Tucci Rationing was still in effect.

Indeed, you might say that "Murder One" blew it when it pulled a bait-and-switch with its defendant in "Chapter Two." In that episode, Cross got off the hook when forensic evidence tied victim Jessica Costello's lover, druggie-stud-muffin movie star Neil Avedon (Jason Gedrick), to the crime scene. Hoffman ended up defending Avedon, who happened to be a former client.

The pilot derived much of its tension and bite from the fact that Hoffman was defending Cross, a man he didn't trust or like. Removing Cross immediately left Hoffman without a worthy receptacle for his patented burning stares. Now he looks just plain weird, like a nut who thinks he can make laser death rays come out of his eyeballs.

All of this may change very soon; word has it that we may be seeing more of Tucci from now on thanks to another "shocking" plot twist. But is another shocking plot twist what "Murder One" needs? It's already dipped embarassingly into the daytime soap cauldron with such overheated contrivances as a sexually predatory Dr. Feelgood shrink who keeps Jessica's sister doped up and captive, and some Stephen King-rip-off stuff about an obsessed fan stalking Avedon. Yes, the Simpson case had its share of wackos too, but, from Kato Kaelin to Rosa Lopez, they were all more interesting and, oddly, more credible, than anybody who's had anything to do thus far with the "Goldilocks Murder Trial."

Not only is truth stranger than fiction, it's more entertaining. After the performances of Johnnie Cochran and Marcia Clark, et al., Benzali's imitation of a stuffed turkey is a major letdown. In fact, Barbara Bosson as prosecutor Miriam Grasso is emerging as the far more compelling lawyer in "Murder One's'' courtroom.

Bosson is done up to look more matronly than Clark, but she's got her mannerisms down cold -- the goody-goody deference to the judge, the scolding tone, the fierce intelligence conveyed in split-second shifts of tactic. Next to Bosson's personality-plus performance, Benzali's looking duller and duller every week.