NBC'S NEW police drama, "Hawaii," has an interesting cast, amazing island backdrops and limited chemistry among its stars.

What a shame it wastes most of that on humdrum stories that could just as easily be happening in Columbus or Spokane.

When you set a story in a place as beautiful as Hawaii, there should be something in the soul of the series that makes that necessary.

But on NBC's new Wednesday night (8 p.m.) police story, the stories focus on the same mundane or salacious crimes and investigations that occur on so many other police shows.

Sure, the producers of this new series use a Hawaiian cultural reference as a plot device here and there, like the killer in the première who wielded a multitoothed "sword" of sorts, a cultural icon, to behead victims.

And every now and then, we get a waterside scene or a beautiful sunset to remind viewers where all this action is supposed to be happening.

But this is essentially "Police Story" that just happens to occur on the islands.

The same shortfall can be found in the cast, where the major action happens to everyone in the cast but the Asians or Hawaiians.

Sure, the captain of this investigative unit is an Asian actor, Cary Hiroyuki Tagawa, though he's a back-bencher in this cop drama.

The alpha dog in this pack of detectives is the most experienced star, Michael Biehn. He's Detective Sean Harrison, a former Special Forces officer turned policeman.

Though Biehn is a good actor, he's replowing the same ground a dozen or more TV cops have plowed in recent series.

As his partner, Sharif Atkins (until recently young doctor Michael Gallant on "ER") seems miscast as former Chicago street cop John Declan, Harrison's partner.

We're to believe that Harrison is the old hand, teaching Declan that there's a whole new world of culture and behavior in Hawaii.

But Harrison isn't any more Hawaiian than most of the cast, which makes it hard to swallow much of the action.

Eric Balfour (both "Six Feet Under" and "24") plays street-smart Detective Christopher Gains, supposedly of some Hawaiian ancestry.

The California-born actor looks more Californian than Hawaiian.