Gail Shister | CBS to decide if ride is over for Philly-based 'Hack'

By Gail Shister
Inquirer Columnist

Will Hack be back?

With two episodes remaining, CBS's Philly-based drama is again on the bubble, with no better than 50-50 odds to see a third season. CBS won't decide its fate until May.

"I've been at this a long time, so there's no point in ranting and raving," executive producer Bob Singer, 60, says. "But sometimes I feel like I don't raise enough hell.

"This is the only business where they reward you for being a child. Maybe if I stomped my feet more and carried on, we wouldn't be on the bubble."

Hack, which stars David Morse as a crusading ex-Philly cop in a cab, has been marooned at 9 p.m. Saturdays, TV's least-watched night. It ranks 84th among all shows this season, averaging just 5.9 million viewers.

"Saturday is a tough night for everybody," Singer says. "It's kind of a wasteland for all the networks." He didn't seek a new time because "CBS has a very solid schedule."

Only 18 Hack episodes were shot this season - four fewer than last year. The cast is under a holding contract for six months, in case CBS passes and Hack gets shopped to other outlets.

"I don't know where we would go," says Singer, whose credits include ABC's Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman and NBC's Midnight Caller. At $2 million plus per episode, "we're probably too expensive" for cable.

It would be expensive for Philly if Hack got whacked.

The first network series ever produced in our town, Hack will bring in more than $20 million in goods and services this season, according to Sharon Pinkenson, executive director of the Greater Philadelphia Film Office.

Locally, that includes paydays for more than 125 principal actors, and a total of 4,400 days' work for extras, Philly casting director Diane Heery says.

"We're clearly good for the city, and they've welcomed us with open arms," Singer says. "I've shot in San Francisco, Chicago, Canada and England, and I'd go back to Philly in a minute."

For Singer, that's saying something, given that he's been dividing his time between here and L.A. ("It's a hard slog. Tougher than I expected.")

Another problem is finding good crews. About half the Hack crew has to be brought in from New York, which pumps up the show's costs, Singer says.

"The Philadelphia people are great. There just aren't that many of them, especially if M. Night Shyamalan is making a movie."

All that aside, Singer says he cares only about the work. "The [industry] politics don't interest me. I'm not the most social guy around."