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"Witchblade" is jewelry to die for. 

When New York detective Sara Pezzini slips into this glowy bracelet, it makes her one mean fighting machine. "Witchblade," the new TV series built around the bracelet, will be punching along all summer. 

It is so good and bad all at once that you just have to watch it. You don't have to think about it, just have to watch. Remember, it's based on a comic book. 

Tuesday's premier (9 p.m. on TNT) is extraordinary in a number of ways: 

Many of the special effects are big-budget movie quality. It is especially adept at slowing bullets down to turtle speed and examining what thwarts them in their trajectory. Boffo stuff. 

The soundtrack excels. It feels like half the show is music. 

As action shows go, this one is off the scale. "Witchblade's" heroine flies through the air on a motorcycle, kicks butt savagely and sloughs off the wilting effect of a flame-thrower. 

And it's got fashion. She wears jewelry handed down from Joan of Arc. Can't beat that. 

The only thing wrong with "Witchblade" - oddly enough not a fatal flaw - is dialogue that doesn't make a lick of sense. They could talk in Latin and you'd understand as much. 

You just can't tell what the bad guys are about, what the good guys are thinking or even what crime is being investigated. 

It's as though MTV took a crack at producing "NYPD Blue." Like a music video, this show is an assault on the senses, but the cerebellum need not come to the conflict. Give it the night off and make popcorn. 
 

Magic bauble 
The history of the "Witchblade," which is explained in the title sequence, is knights of yore stuff. 
A magical bauble worn through the ages by Joan of Arc, various women of arms and other quixotics, the Witchblade glows with emotion, morphs into menacing swords and flicks away speeding bullets like a Jedi's light saber. 

Talk about the perfect fashion accessory - the Witchblade even comes with an invisible man and guardian spirit, Pezzini's slain partner, portrayed starkly by Will Yun Lee. 

Pezzini (played by Yancy Butler) - a sullen, smoldering cop who despises her boss - is a woman bent on justice rather than the rulebook. She's a woman with a past, and we'll spend much of the summer filling in the blanks. 

She makes more bodies in the first episode than Jack the Ripper. She even dispatches a suspect tethered to an ambulance stretcher. I don't think she carries handcuffs. 

Butler gives the role a one-dimensional take, but that's just fine. Her forte is acrobatics, and she delivers nicely. 

In one flash of action, she goes airborne against another biker who takes a shot at her. The effect is good - as he shoots at her she flips up on the handlebars in slow motion, allowing the bullet to pass beneath. Indiana Jones would be in lust. 
 

Transforming TNT 
The series reflects Turner Network Television's quest to be a bigger player on basic cable by having more original programming. 
TNT, born in 1988 and for most of its life largely the home of reruns and action movies, now produces six to eight original movies annually and last year trotted out "Bull," a Wall Street drama that had its moments. 

This week, Turner launches a marketing campaign centered on the slogan "TNT: We Know Drama." 

Next month, the network delivers the miniseries "Mists of Avalon" and later this summer presents the movie "James Dean." Sportswise, it has two weeks of Wimbledon tennis and will be sharing NASCAR coverage with NBC. 

The technical pizzazz of "Witchblade" fits in with the network's vision. 

"Technology has brought us to a place where you can show people doing extraordinary things, and when you marry that to fascinating characters and great storytelling, it's amazing how you can deliver on the dramatic promise," said Scot Safon, TNT's senior vice president of marketing. 

"Witchblade" fits the network nicely, capitalizing on the action genre in a way few shows have done. Its production values are high, and the photography is arresting. 

Most of all, the go-go, hip-hop rhythm of "Witchblade" is its enchantment. It is a cauldron of pure energy and casts a sparkling spell. 

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