‘Fastlane’ updates ‘Vice’ Latest ‘Twilight Zone’ debuts tonight on UPN

A guilty pleasure is something that a person enjoys but is embarrassed to admit.

“Fastlane,” premiering at 9 tonight on Fox, promises to become such for many viewers. It’s loud and high-powered and packed with gratuitous skin … and a lot of fun. It’d be the male version of “V.I.P.” if it didn’t take itself so seriously.

As created by McG (the “Charlie’s Angels” movie) and John McNamara (TV’s new “Fugitive”), it’s an update of “Miami Vice,” full of color and rock music (Phil Collins’ “In the Air Tonight” is actually reprised from a “Vice” episode).

The L.A.-based series starts with an undercover scenario gone wrong. Van Ray (Tom Cruise-lookalike Peter Facinelli) sees his older partner gunned down, and he loses $100,000 that he borrowed from the police property room in the process.

In trouble with his superiors, Ray is contacted by Billie Chambers (Tiffani Thiessen, “Beverly Hills 90210”) with an intriguing offer … a chance to clear himself while working deep undercover. He also gets access to “The Candy Store,” a warehouse full of Ducatis, Ferraris and Rolexes seized in previous busts, to be used as props in police stings.

The player enters the picture in the form of Deaqon Hayes (Bill Bellamy), the slain cop’s younger brother. Estranged from his brother for nine years, Deaqon had gone east to become a police officer in New York City, but he’s come home seeking vengeance.

Ray and Hayes meet, then fight, bonding in that manly way, then Chambers drafts Hayes into her program. After much predictable ado, they get their man, and a new team is born.

At the same time as “Fastlane” comes another revamp of an old concept.

Doo doo doo doo … doo doo doo doo. If that sounds familiar, then a new UPN series will ring bells for many, as “The Twilight Zone” returns for the third time.

The 1959-1965 original series, created and hosted by playwright Rod Serling, remains an eerie TV classic, and still airs late night on the Sci-Fi Channel. It blended innovative storytelling with actors who would become well known. The term itself became part of the popular lexicon.

The second version came out after 1983’s “The Twilight Zone – The Movie,” and ran from 1985 to 1988. Mixing some new scripts with updated versions of old screenplays, it felt like a weak carbon copy of its namesake.

The latest overhaul faces much the same challenge. It has the cachet of the “Twilight Zone” name, substantial actor Forest Whitaker as host, and new scripts written in the classic “TZ” manner. But Serling casts a huge shadow. It’s hard to improve on an original that was done right the first time.

Both these new series are put in a time slot ruled by “The West Wing.” Still, even “Twilight Zone” Lite and “Miami Vice” redux are going to be more substantial than reality fluff “The Bachelor” on ABC and “The Amazing Race” on CBS and more of a known quantity than the rookie superhero drama “Birds of Prey” on The WB. Both deserve a lengthy shot to survive.

Also tonight, buoyed by the success of Bernie Mac, Fox tabbed another of “The Original Kings of Comedy,” Cedric the Entertainer, and gave him his own variety show, which debuts at 8:30.