Spinoffs on Hold

Anyone who watched last week’s “Murder, She Wrote,” with Barry Newman as Ballinger, a gruff cop-turned-criminology professor, had no trouble detecting a potential spinoff character. It’s just the latest unofficial pilot to turn up on the popular series, now that star Angela Lansbury is limiting her participation in the show.

With Lansbury starring in only 13 episodes this season--and doing intros and closings on the remaining nine shows--the producers decided to make the most of the “bookend” format by testing possible series spinoff characters, according to exec producer Peter S. Fischer. Audience research for one such episode, featuring Ken Howard as a football-player-turned-detective, was under way when CBS programming chief Kim LeMasters resigned last month.

Now, “things are in limbo,” Fischer said, though the bookend shows have been doing fine in the ratings.

Upcoming “bookends” will feature actors Len Cariou as a secret agent and Keith Michell as a reformed jewel thief.