Hopes, heels are high

Hit-hungry ABC is pinning its revival hopes on a pistol-packing, poker-playing, con-dating U.S. marshal who goes about her business in stiletto heels.

That would be “Karen Sisco,” the character and the title of the highest-profile drama the network is debuting this fall. Giving ABC a new hit is a crucial yet formidable task, but this series brings with it a formidable arsenal. It comes from top-tier Hollywood filmmakers, features a star fresh from a hit movie franchise, has the ambition and means to shoot exterior scenes in highly visual Miami and, most of all, was born in the mind of one of the most popular and admired authors in current fiction: Elmore Leonard.

Even before its premiere at 10 tonight, “Karen Sisco” has already been dubbed fall’s coolest drama. Of course, in TV, cool is nice, drawing big audiences is even better. ABC, at least, feels good about its chances.

“Karen Sisco” is based on Elmore Leonard’s novel “Out of Sight,” which was made into the 1998 movie starring George Clooney as Jack Foley and Jennifer Lopez as Sisco.

Unlike the film, which revolved around the Foley character, the series is true to the book and centers on Sisco. Played by Carla Gugino, who was last seen as the super mom in the successful film franchise “Spy Kids,” “Sisco” follows a U.S. marshal in Miami who is confident in her job, has a loving relationship with her father but has a personal life littered with would-be relationships with soon-to-be convicted felons.

Co-starring with Gugino is veteran actor Robert Forster, whose star turn in the Quentin Tarantino film “Jackie Brown,” based on another Leonard book, has given him a keen understanding of the author and his characters. It was Forster who summed up the spirit of the show best when he said of “Karen Sisco,” “In the world of Elmore Leonard, believable things happen that are even stranger than fiction.”

Forster plays Gugino’s father, a retired cop who is now a private investigator. Joining them is Bill Duke as Gugino’s tough but fair boss.

Shot partially in Miami, which provides the show’s soft lighting, the series is smart and hip, weaving in plots as well as music. The same song that was used in “Get Shorty” -- the Isley Brother’s “It’s Your Thing” -- opens each show.

The choice of music is central to the series, according to Jason Smilovic, one of the show’s five writers. “From a storytelling perspective, music is very important,” he said. “Music can set the tone of a scene. If you actually reference the music itself, it can give deeper meaning to the characters and the plot.”

Although Leonard -- known by the nickname “Dutch” -- is not writing scripts, he does serve as a consultant for the show. And his nothing-is-as-it-seems sensibility infuses the offbeat series; Sisco comes home every night and downs a shot of bourbon; she and her father play poker with a bunch of ex-cons because as he puts it, “it makes for a cleaner game”; and there is a constant romantic chemistry between her and the criminals.

There is a mob boss who is a recurring character in the first couple of episodes. “He’s a mob boss with a heart of gold,” laughed Danny DeVito, who plays the role and is one of the show’s executive producers.

ABC falters in ratings

The show debuts at a crucial time for ABC, which tied for third with relative upstart Fox in last season’s ratings race, far behind NBC and CBS. With returning dramas such as “Alias,” “NYPD Blue” and “The Practice” not showing exceptional ratings muscle, and few observers predicting much from ABC’s other new dramas -- “Threat Matrix” and “10-8” -- there’s even more pressure on “Karen Sisco.”

Asked how important it is for the network, ABC Entertainment President Susan Lyne said candidly, “Very, and for a couple of reasons. It’s important for us to launch a great drama. We need to demonstrate that we can do more than comedy. ‘Alias’ is a fantastic show, but it’s in its third season. We need to launch another hit show.”

The network, she notes, also needs to prove to its affiliates around the country that it can deliver in the 10 p.m. time slot.

ABC is using one of its most successful shows, “The Bachelor,” as the lead-in for “Sisco,” hoping that female viewers will remain. It needs the boost, since it’s going up against NBC’s seemingly unstoppable hit “Law & Order.”

“Our feeling is that 10 p.m. Wednesday was a time period that could sustain another strong hour,” said Lyne, who calls the counter-programming a “great alternative” for viewers.

If “The Bachelor” is supposed to keep the women watching, the men will likely be drawn to the tight skirts, high heels and cleavage-revealing tops Gugino’s Sisco dons.

And if the expectations are high for “Sisco,” the team behind it sounds confident.

“The biggest challenge is to maintain the quality of the scripts, especially for a show that is derived from such precise and clearly developed material,” said David Kissinger, president of Universal Television and Networks Group, the studio behind the show. “You don’t want to do some kind of watered-down version of Elmore Leonard. We have a terrific team to pull it off.”

That team is Jersey Television, led by John Landgraf, a former NBC prime-time series executive. “We didn’t want to make a really mediocre television show based on a really great movie. I think those fears are behind us because it’s clear already that ‘Karen Sisco’ works on its own terms.”

The idea for the series came from executive producer Stacey Sher, who along with Michael Shamberg and DeVito ran Jersey Films, the company that produced Leonard’s “Get Shorty” and “Out of Sight.” DeVito’s Jersey and Shamberg’s and Sher’s newly minted Double Feature Films are also producing “Be Cool,” the sequel to “Get Shorty.” The Jersey executives have pulled in another film compatriot, “Shorty” and “Out of Sight” screenwriter Scott Frank.

But key to making the series work was finding an actress who was strong enough to carry a possible franchise property. “The truism of television is that you fall in love with characters,” said Shamberg, who has produced more than 25 films, including “Erin Brockovich.” “The audience has to want to visit them every week. The stories count, but not as much as your relationship with those characters.”

Speaking between takes on the back lot of Universal, Gugino grabs a shady spot under the trees to explain why she was initially reluctant to fill the stilettos J. Lo once occupied.

“If the series hits, you have to commit to it for like seven years of your life,” noted Gugino. She credits “Spy Kids’” director Robert Rodriguez for making her realize the importance of this role and ultimately helping her decide to pick up Sisco’s 9-millimeter Glock. “Robert said to me, ‘You know Carla, they never write stuff like this for women. In terms of acting, you could never get to do as much great stuff as this on one show.’ ”

Even after Gugino let her interest be known, ABC brass still wanted a screen test. Never mind her stints on such series as “Spin City” and “Chicago Hope,” or that her former attorney is Lloyd Braun, the current head of ABC Television Group.

Once the ABC executives saw her, they were convinced. “We saw her and she was able to pull off the dialogue here, which is no small feat, because it’s very quick banter,” Lyne said.

The primary relationship in the show is between Sisco and her father, said executive producer Bob Brush, who wrote the first episode. “What Robert Forster brings is kind of an understated thing

Added Sher: “Someone was asking Scott Frank at one point about the way Elmore Leonard characters speak and he looked at Robert Forster and said, ‘He’ll always have it right.’ ”

Now it’s up to the cast and crew to maintain the quality and style of the first few episodes. It’s not easy for any show, and particularly one that has to match the unique light of Miami with that of Los Angeles.

“The first couple of scripts were killing us because they had 80 or 90 different scenes per episode,” said director Michael Dinner, who handled the pilot episode and is an executive producer on the series. “The episodes are shooting in eight days as opposed to 12 to 15 days.” He calls the pace “murderous.”

Gugino confessed that she has been working 15 hours a day for five days a week and they have shot only three episodes. In her downtime, she does press interviews. They will shoot another 10 more before that kind of workweek ends.

If the show hits, it could launch Gugino into a different celebrity stratosphere -- as it did for “Alias’” Jennifer Garner. The actress said she would welcome that kind of recognition because it would ultimately allow her a wider choice in acting roles.

As she gulps down another 16-ounce bottle of spring water, preparing to go back under the lights to shoot a scene with Forster, Gugino says of the crazy pace: “I’m going all the time. I’m always tired. I’m pounding vitamins. I’m doing acupuncture. I’m drinking any kind of thing that people say gives you energy. Oxygen? Ginseng? OK, I’ll do it!”

But still, she says with a wide smile, “I feel very fortunate to be doing this.”