ABC Moves ‘Ellen’ Off Its Spring Bench to Earlier Time

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 at 8:30.

The network previously announced that 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--9:30 p.m. 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 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. Beyond a number of inside jokes, DeGeneres has indicated she would like to see the character developed in a way “to make a lot of people proud.” A network spokeswoman said no decision has yet been made on pursuing the lesbian story line.

Organizations such as the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation have criticized ABC for what’s seen as its indecision in the matter, viewing such a move as a potential breakthrough.

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 when airing at 8 p.m. ABC plans to return “Ellen” to its current time period in May.

In an unrelated matter, Hall’s show is experiencing its own troubles. The program’s creator, David Rosenthal, quit after what was characterized as an angry outburst by the star Tuesday.

A spokesman for production company DreamWorks SKG insisted that any changes won’t affect the scheduled March 5 premiere, though a similar situation forced DreamWorks to delay “Ink,” Ted Danson’s new CBS comedy, when the producer was let go and four episodes were scrapped. In his show, Hall will play a newlywed sportscaster married to “Independence Day’s” Vivica Fox.