Who Needs The Writers, ABC Brings Back The Mole

ABC has given a 10-episode order to The Mole, which hasn’t aired in four years. Casting and pre-production have begun on the show, which will likely start shooting later this spring. ABC is looking to run The Mole this summer. The first two editions of The Mole which aired in 2001 and 2002, earned ABC’s top marks among adult 18-34 auditions in both of those years. ABC then ran two seasons of The Celebrity Mole, in midseason 2003 and 2004. The revived Mole will revert back to the original format, without any celebrities.

Stone Stanley Productions, which produced all four Mole seasons, dissolved in 2004. But principal Scott Stone said he kept a fire burning for the show, and has been looking to revive it under his new shingle for years. Rights to The Mole had reverted back to TTTI. Stone, who’s repped by WMA, finally managed to close a new deal to license the show two months ago. Stone said the new version has been simplified, but said he hasn’t “dumbed it down.” Anderson Cooper, who hosted the first two editions, remains at CNN and isn’t available to host; Ahmad Rashad, who hosted the celebrity editions, hasn’t been asked to return. Stone said he’s scouting for a host similar to Cooper.

The show features contestants traveling across a foreign country completing tasks and solving puzzles in order to add money to the winner’s pot. At the same time, they’re trying to figure out which of their competitors is actually The Mole – a player planted to sabotage the game and limit the money won. At the end of each episode, players take a quiz; lowest-score sends someone packing. Person who’s left standing alongside the Mole wins the money pot – which could be as much as $1 million, but ultimately came to $510,000 in season one and $636,000 in season two.