WITH A STAR who's a welcome new addi- tion to the world of nighttime television--though not to daytime--Lifetime's "Angela's Eyes" is one of so many middling series.

As Angela Henson, Abigail Spencer is an attractive and captivating FBI agent, one whose all-noticing eyes are often able to tell who's lying or telling the truth.

But this isn't a gimmick show. She's your typical federal agent, though she looks more at home in designer suits than any drab bureaucratic garb.

The unique part of this setup: Her parents sold U.S. secrets to foreign governments when she was young, sending themselves to jail and leaving their young children with no parents to care for them.

Flash forward to now and you've got a dedicated and driven young woman determined to even her family's tally on the patriotic scales.

That's all well and good, with the bitterness and anger she's derived an interesting part of every story and a counterbalance to the glamorous look that seems out of place for the FBI.

Add to that story lines that show she has trouble with intimacy issues--she meets, falls for, then drives off a beau in the first few episodes--and this is a show that's definitely worth an initial look-see.

The test for this original Lifetime series, as is so often the case for all television trying to be worthwhile and memorable, is whether the series' creators have anywhere to take the show.

Sure, the first few episodes are about establishing characters and putting them in situations that help to demonstrate the way they fit into the whole. As new events unfold, we're learning about these new characters as they come to life and grow before our very eyes.

The key to it all is whether the shows' creators have somewhere to go after those few episodes.

So far with "Angela's Eyes," so good.

But already, the scripts are starting to feel more and more humdrum, which may not bode well.

Instead of growing, the show has started to resemble every other cop drama that ever came down the pike.