A promising, if poky, Syfy entry

We're pretty much on familiar ground with Syfy's tantalizing new drama Alphas. A science-fiction procedural about a band of psychically gifted investigators, it's part Law & Order, part Heroes.

Cocreated by Zak Penn, writer of X-Men: The Last Stand, it premieres Monday at 10 p.m., capping one of Syfy's strongest nights, which includes weirdo-science dramedies Eureka and Warehouse 13.

The pilot opens with a conundrum. It's a problem, a puzzle, an impossibility: A federal witness is shot to death with a high-powered rifle while sitting at a table in a small, locked, windowless interrogation room.

The assassination has the feds scratching their heads, so they call in the Alphas, a group of gifted individuals who work under the purview of the Defense Department's Defense Criminal Investigative Service.

It's a cool opening for what could be another winner for Syfy. Then again, it may end up another dud: The uneven pilot introduces exciting possibilities, but also suffers from a general lack of focus and a lethargic pace.

Led by compassionate psychiatrist, neurologist - and most likely ex-hippie - Dr. Lee Rosen (the great David Strathairn), the Alphas are a diverse group of young men and women whose neural pathways are so gobbledygook and gobbledygeek that they have extraordinary powers.

The most interesting Alpha, Gary Bell (an assured turn by Ryan Cartwright), has the power of "electromagnetic manipulation." He's a human antenna who can pick up - in his mind - any transmission, from cellphones to pay cable. His idea of fun is to watch a dozen channels at a time.

He also suffers from autism, which makes him seem incapable of empathy.

Rachel Pirzad (Afghani American thesp Azita Ghanizada) has enhanced senses. At any given time, she can hone any one of her five senses into a super-instrument. Sadly, when she's in the zone, her other senses virtually shut down.

Bill Harken (Malik Yoba), the only actual crime-fighter, is an FBI agent who can activate his fight-or-flight response to soup up his strength to Hulk levels.

Finally, Nina Theroux (the gorgeous Laura Mennell) has mastered mind control. She'll make ya do anything her somewhat twisted mind desires.

Like some of her cohorts, Nina once used her gift to satisfy her baser urges. That changed when Dr. Rosen corralled her. His job is to keep the Alphas sane, since each has a set of emotional, physical, and sometimes moral ailments as unique as his or her gifts.

The pilot episode proceeds by fits and starts - the investigation and its few action-movie-worthy set pieces are continuously interrupted so we can meet the characters and their powers. This is something Penn should have allowed to develop naturally across the first two or three episodes.

Speaking of the investigation, it leads the team to another Alpha, dark, tortured, and sexy former military man Cameron Hicks (Warren Christie).

But the heroes also uncover a conspiracy involving mind control and an evil organization of other Alphas bent on destroying the nice Alphas and, indeed, America itself.

Penn and his writers seem obsessed with grounding each Alpha's power in real (fake-sci-fi) science, and they get bogged down in too much gobbledygook speech.

For all its problems, Alphas has real promise. Let's hope it delivers.