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Image credit: Smith: Cliff Lipson/CBS

MADSEN AND LIOTTA

Smith

Concept Ray Liotta and pals look and act très cool while pulling off heists and leading double lives.

The Scoop Creator John Wells, also an exec producer of ER, had been hectoring Liotta to do a series since the actor's Emmy-winning spot on the NBC hospital drama. ''Often you write something for a very charismatic man and then you can't cast it,'' Wells says. ''I promised myself that if I didn't have the [right] actors, then I wouldn't write it.'' Wells also enticed Simon Baker (The Devil Wears Prada) as a fellow robber, Shohreh Aghdashloo (24) as their purring leader, and Virginia Madsen (Sideways) as Liotta's suburban wife. Wells has no shortage of ideas for heists: ''In the age of the Internet, you can hit things like 'bank robbery' and 'art theft' and you'll be shocked at how many things show up.''

Bottom Line After FX's Thief and NBC's Heist, audiences may be a bit weary of the genre, but a great time slot, sleek camera work, and a flashy cast may make the difference.