Abc Reverses Decision About ‘Ellen’

ABC has done an about-face and will keep “Ellen” on the air through March and April, sandwiching the series between “Roseanne” and “Home Improvement” on Tuesday nights

The network previously announced the comedy would go off the air for an eight-week period after February - a decision that irked the program’s star, Ellen DeGeneres.

The series will still move from its current time period - Wednesdays after “The Drew Carey Show” - to make room for a still-untitled new comedy starring Arsenio Hall.

But beginning March 4, the network said Thursday, “Ellen” will replace “Life’s Work,” a sitcom starring comic Lisa Ann Walter, which remains a candidate to return next year. Both “Ellen” and “Life’s Work” are produced by Disney, which owns ABC.

Sources say ABC has been limited in scheduling “Ellen” because of uncertainty as to whether the lead character played by DeGeneres will come out as a lesbian. Network officials are said to feel it would be inappropriate to run the program between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m., when more young children are apt to be watching television, if the show becomes the first to feature an openly homosexual lead character.

Executives are still waiting for more creative input from the producers before determining if the show will be allowed to proceed in that direction. DeGeneres has indicated she would like to see the character developed in a way “to make a lot of people proud.”

Ratings for “Ellen” have improved substantially since ABC moved the series to its current time period, after being beaten by CBS’ “The Nanny” early in the season.

ABC plans to return “Ellen” to its current time period in May.