Different buddy cops this time

My niece and sister came to visit so I haven't watched any Starsky & Hutch for several days and I'm missing it. But my sister has been on a Due South binge and she wanted to introduce me to Ray Kowalski. I missed out on the Ray Wars entirely because I only ever saw the first two seasons (as did the rest of the family when Due South was first broadcast); my sister says she'd gone in with extreme scepticism, not expecting anyone to be able to replace Ray Vecchio, but new Ray has won her over. So with her endorsement I am willing to like this new Ray.

I think they did well introducing him by making Fraser even more puzzled than the audience. I don't know if having RayK take a bullet for Fraser the first day they met was a clever short-cut to making them believably partners, or just hilarious. I think Fraser is the best possible person to have his partner unexpectedly switched on him because he can see the good in anyone.

From screenshots I've seen wafting around the internet I had the idea RayK was appealing to the fanbase because he had blond spiky hair and was more attractive than RayV. I am not really seeing it. He looks like someone who might have been cute ten years ago and is now less so; he's also giving me trouble every time he changes clothes because until I get to know his face better he's very nondescript. I have to guess from cues like the way the camera follows him or if Fraser stands next to him or someone calls him by name. In s3e03 the guest star of the week was a man of similar age and build with light-coloured hair and I had no idea what was going on for the first half of it - in fact the guest star had a more distinctive face and I was able to spot RayK more easily by figuring that he was the one who wasn't that guy.

(I am choosing an appropriate episode of Starsky & Hutch to introduce my sister to in return.)