'Guardian' creator looking to future

From:Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
By Rob Owen

With last week's news that ABC will not go forward with Pittsburgh native David Hollander's proposed Pittsburgh-set follow-up to "The Guardian," the writer/executive producer said he's exploring what he wants to do next.

"I want to take a little bit of time to try to figure out what I want to do, whether that's more TV or film or take a break," Hollander said.

Hollander said he was offered chances to act as show runner on series created by others, but he turned them down, preferring to create series of his own.

Another TV show -- this one set in Los Angeles -- remains in development at Fox, but Hollander said he's not holding his breath that it will see the light of day.

As for his proposed ABC show, titled "Three Rivers," the network will pay a "mid six-figure" penalty for not going forward with the project. Hollander said he remains fond of the show's concept -- a crime drama about a media mogul, his public defender son and newspaper reporter daughter and her ex-husband, a homicide detective -- and may re-develop it next season.

Hollander said he and ABC Entertainment president Stephen McPherson were perhaps overly exuberant about the prospect of working together. In addition, ABC's priorities changed.

"The thing they wanted in July [when development on 'Three Rivers' began] is what they didn't want come January," Hollander said.

Despite frustration last May over CBS's decision to cancel "The Guardian," Hollander said he may end up back at CBS, having mended fences with network executives there.

"Chalk it up to the lessons-learned category," he said. "I think with a cooler head and less frustration about 'The Guardian,' I would have been best served to stay at the network that knows my work the best ... I was upset and having a hard time understanding why the show was canceled. It made it hard for me to rush back there at the time."

Hollander continues to develop a movie to direct, "Personal Effects," and he's met with WQED executives about a kids show he wants to make in Pittsburgh.

"PBS development, in general, is glacial, so it's not something I'll have ready to go tomorrow," Hollander said, expressing hope that the project might move forward within 18 months. He's working on collecting songwriters who will agree to participate in the series, which traces the creative process of writing songs through the lens of childhood experiences.