Tv Reporter - November 18, 2002

The first wave of drama pilot scripts are starting to trickle in to the networks this week, offering a glimpse of the creative concepts on the horizon for the 2003-04 season.

Law enforcement in its many forms remains a growth industry in primetime. Shows revolving around beat cops, FBI agents, SWAT teams, elite undercover units, task forces with all sorts of eclectic tasks and task-masters, bounty hunters and, of course, forensic investigators (thank you "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" and "CSI: Miami") are abundant at all of the broadcast networks.

Private eyes are also as popular as ever — quirky gumshoes, buddy detectives, teen detectives, accidental detectives. ABC and Carsey-Werner-Mandabach earn the prize for most creative twist on a well-worn theme with the "Mr. & Mr. Nash" project, about a pair of gay interior decorators who stumble into P.I. work while doing their day jobs.

Mayors are big this development season — controversial big-city mayors, quirky small-town mayors, youngest-ever mayors, etc. CBS has a hot candidate in a project about a baseball player-turned-mayor from Spelling Television and writers David Mills and Daniel Sackheim.

Twenty-five years after Jack Lord hung up his "Hawaii Five-O" badge, the Aloha State is making a comeback as a popular dramatic locale for cop shows. ABC has two such projects percolating, while Fox has "Blue Crush" writer-director John Stockwell whipping up a cops-on-surfboards project.

Steven Bochco and Paul Attanasio have set their minds wandering into the future. Armed with a 13-episode commitment, Bochco and writers Matthew Olmstead and Nicholas Wootton are working on a project for Fox about a New York cop who is cryogenically frozen and transported to the force in 2069. Attanasio and writer Ed Zuckerman are trying to imagine how the legal system will evolve over the next 50 years in a project that some have dubbed "L.A. Law 2053."

Not to be outdone by futurists, Gavin Polone is shepherding a "Clan of the Cave Bear"-esque project at ABC from writer David Seltzer revolving around the adventures of three brothers doing the hunter-gatherer thing in prehistoric times.



It was supposed to be a one-off appearance in the "Northern Exposure" pilot, but Margaret "Peg" Phillips turned a few lines into a regular gig on the 1990-95 CBS drama series on the strength of her personality.

"Northern Exposure" co-creator Josh Brand says that the character of feisty store owner Ruth-Anne Miller was largely inspired by Phillips, who died Nov. 7 at 84. After raising four children, Phillips didn't even start acting until she was in her late 60s, but she was a natural, Brand recalls.

"She had such a presence. She was a remarkable person," Brand says. "She was lovely and honest and brave and sweet without being mawkish or corny. She was the opposite of politically correct."