Karen Sisco's off the
beat at ABC.
Sisco, based on the J.Lo drama Out of Sight,
will return to active duty in March. While critically acclaimed, the
sassy U.S. marshal series couldn't hack it opposite NBC's veteran cop
drama Law & Order on Wednesday nights.
"We love this show, but it has become increasingly obvious that
it's not working on Wednesday nights," said Alphabet prez Susan Lyne
in a statement released Friday.
"Rather than give up, we're going to complete production on the
remaining episodes, and aggressively relaunch the series this March in
a new time period. We're hopeful that this course of action will
result in the show becoming as popular with viewers as it is with
critics and ABC executives," added Lyne.
Seven episodes have aired to date, which leaves six for spring.
Executive-produced by Danny DeVito, among others, the series stars
Spy Kids' Carla Gugino as the feisty U.S. marshal who busts bad
guys on Miami's Gold Coast. Lopez played the titular role in Steven
Soderbergh's 1998 feature opposite George Clooney.
While Sisco is on hiatus, ABC will use the 10 p.m. slot to
bow its latest installment of fame-seeking saboteurs on
Celebrity Mole January 14. Say what you will Kathy Griffin,
but the first season was a bona-fide hit for ABC, ranking as the
fourth highest-rated series of its 2002-03 season.
Participants this time around include Hanging With Mr. Cooper's
Mark Curry, first season vets Corbin Bernsen and Stephen Baldwin,
Growing Pain's Tracy Gold, The Cosby Show's Keisha Knight
Pulliam, model Angie Everhart, talk show host Ananda Lewis, and former
NBC superstar Dennis Rodman. Ahmad Rashad will return to host.
After the Mole's seven-week run, ABC has reserved the
Wednesday night slot for the 15-hour series Kingdom Hospital
from horror master Stephen King.
Tag-teaming with Celebrity Mole on January 14 is the
newest installment of The Bachelorette. The net recently struck
gold, wedding-band style, with the dating series--Bachelorette
Trista Rehn and Ryan Sutter will marry in a televised ceremony on
December 10--and undoubtedly hopes to get lucky again.
In the meantime, the network has a slate of TV specials to fill the
hole left by Sisco's shelving. On November 26, the net will run
an original beauty-is-pain episode of
Extreme Makeover. The following week it launches the pilot
episode of its domestic overhaul spinoff Extreme Makeover: the Home
Edition, hosted by Trading Spaces' Ty Pennington.
No word on what the net plans to air during the holidays.