Poor Ratings Slow Down CBS’ ‘Wiseguy’

CBS has slowed down production on the drama series “Wiseguy” after poor ratings for its first episode of the season.

Executive producer Peter Lance said Thursday that the show had not been canceled, but production has been delayed for a week to see if ratings for the 9 p.m. Saturday show improve.

The third-season series, which returned to the schedule last Saturday night with Steven Bauer replacing Ken Wahl in the lead role, finished third in its time slot, attracting only 13% of the available viewers, and ranked 78th among the week’s 93 prime-time programs.

“I think it’s fair to say they (CBS) were dissatisfied with the numbers we got the first time out,” Lance said, “but also you have to remember it was on against the ‘Who Killed Laura Palmer’ episode of ‘Twin Peaks,’ which is like ‘Who Shot J.R.?”--it was certainly the most heavily promoted episode of this season.

“The networks are sensitive to immediate ratings, especially with mid-season programs,” he continued. “We’re promoting the show heavily; Steven Bauer is doing ‘The Arsenio Hall Show’ on Friday. We’ll see how well it does now that everyone knows who killed Laura Palmer--except Agent Cooper.”

Lance said eight of the 13 “Wiseguy” episodes ordered by CBS have been completed, including a five-episode “arc” featuring Billy Dee Williams.