ABC buys rights
By Tim Ryan
to isle pilot
Star-BulletinABC Television has bought a "cast-contingent" Disney pilot tentatively called "Honolulu Crew," a buddy cop drama that if selected by the network could be filmed on Oahu as early as March. An ABC official yesterday emphasized that although the network has "bought the rights to develop (the hour-long pilot), it still may never happen."
That's because ABC is still considering several shows for its 1998 fall season or mid-season replacements, sources said.
The Hawaii show has not been cast and the pilot cannot get the go-ahead until that decision has been made by ABC and Disney.
The show would be based on the Honolulu Police Department's crime reduction unit division. In November, Jon Avnet and Jordan Kerner, who would produce the program, sent writer Mark Haskell-Smith here to research the series and to spend a few weeks with HPD.
The two men and ABC officials will only confirm that the show is being considered for a pilot but would not provide any other details. If the pilot goes to series, it would be the first network series in Hawaii since "The Byrds of Paradise," which ran on CBS.
Producer-director Avnet, 50, first made his name as a producer, in partnership with Steve Tisch, of issue-oriented television movies such as 1984's "The Burning Bed" and the 1960s-set series "Call to Glory."
He formed the Avnet/Kerner Company in 1986 with Jordan Kerner, former vice president of dramatic programming for ABC-TV. Avnet's big-screen projects have included "Risky Business", "Less Than Zero" and "Men Don't Leave." In 1991 Avnet produced "Fried Green Tomatoes."
He followed up with several family-oriented entertainments for Disney. These included "The Mighty Ducks" (1992), "The Three Musketeers" (1993), and "D2: The Mighty Ducks" (1994). He also produced and directed "War" in 1994, "When A Man Loves A Woman" (1995), and "Miami Rhapsody" (1996).
