It Doesn’t Add Up

There’s almost enough chalk dust in the first episode of “Numb3rs,” the new CBS procedural crime drama that debuts this Sunday night after football, to cover the holes in the show’s concept – but not quite. Aside from the obvious weaknesses of a show that shamelessly mimics the model of “CSI,” “Numb3rs” also suffers from a fatal flaw: it isn’t built to last. There’s nothing in the pilot episode – about yet another serial rapist/killer on the loose in Los Angeles – that makes you want to come back for episode two, let alone season two. “Numb3rs” is, if nothing else, aptly named; it’s by-the-numbers programming by executives trying to fool us into watching a show we’ve seen a million times before.