ABC Reprises ‘Mole II’ for Summer

C’mon, you want to watch “The Mole,” don’t you? Won’t you?

Having benched the series after a mere trio of poorly rated Friday-night outings last fall, ABC will revive “The Mole II: The Next Betrayal” beginning tonight at 8, with the hope that enough people will tune in to justify the summer run of the reality show.

The gimmick of “The Mole” involves a group of contestants undergoing a series of physical and mental challenges (though probably none as difficult as putting together ABC’s prime-time lineup). One among the group is a mole, or saboteur, and the contestants go about trying to identify him or her. At the end, someone gets prize money.

The series premiered in January 2001 as a “Survivor”-like gambit, part of the same wave that brought “Temptation Island” to Fox and “The Amazing Race” to CBS, among others. In its initial run on ABC, “The Mole” boosted the network’s ratings among younger viewers. But “The Mole II” didn’t fare as well when it returned to the schedule last fall, a few weeks after Sept. 11. Now it’s getting another chance, with the network offering back-to-back episodes the first two weeks, followed by previously unseen episodes at 9 p.m. in the weeks to come.

The host, by the way, remains Anderson Cooper, who completed production on the series months ago and has since landed a job at CNN as an anchor on “American Morning With Paula Zahn.”