Wahl Says He Was Forced Out Of `Wiseguy'

HOLLYWOOD - There was enough confusion surrounding the future of Ken Wahl and ``Wiseguy'' Friday to warrant an investigation by undercover agent Vinnie Terranova.

CBS pulled the hour-long drama from its prime-time schedule a week ago with the promise that it would be remodeled and returned to the air next winter at midseason. The network said that Wahl, who has starred as Terranova since the series began in 1987, would depart after appearing in the first two to four episodes to help segue to a new federal agent played by Steven Bauer.

Not true, Wahl told the Los Angeles Times through what sounded like gritted teeth: ``The information was incorrect.'' He said that he was dropped against his will.

But his agent, Bill Block of the InterTalent Agency, had told the newspaper only moments earlier that Wahl and executive producer Stephen J. Cannell, the series' co-creator, were ``working things out creatively.''

That drew a laugh from Wahl, calling from Mexico City, where he is making a feature film, ``The Taking of Beverly Hills.''

``Well, that's news to me,'' he said. ``I don't think so. They don't want me back on the show and that's fair enough. Cannell's the boss. It's his name on the building; he can do what he wants.

``But I don't feel obligated to introduce another character.''

Cannell, one of TV's most prolific and successful writer-producers, is headquartered in Hollywood and has built a studio in Vancouver, B.C., where ``Wiseguy'' episodes were shot along with two other Cannell series, ``21 Jump Street'' and ``Booker.''

Cannell said Friday that he was ``surprised at Ken's response. I have letters from him and his attorneys asking that Ken be relieved. . . . I still want him to do the show.'' A CBS spokesman said that the network ``won't be commenting on the situation.''

Wahl said that the trouble began last season, about midproduction, when he was injured and ``they (the producers) thought that I was trying to get out of the show. They didn't believe the doctors and they didn't believe me about being hurt.''

At that point, another actor was brought in as another agent for a sequence of shows.

``I wanted to do two days work per episode,'' Wahl said. ``But instead of that, they went crazy and got all their lawyers on me and said they were going to sue me and this and that.

``As a defense mechanism, I wrote them in my own handwriting a letter that said, `Look, I'll finish out the season but I want to get out' - only to get their lawyers off my back, because I had no intention of leaving the show.''

The actor said that he later talked with Cannell ``and he told me in his own words that he didn't like the show for the last two seasons . . . and he was going to take it over and do what he wants with it. And he doesn't want to fight with me. He thought that he'd get into creative arguments with me. So he said, `Why don't we shake hands and leave it go at that?' I said, `Fine, I don't want to be where I'm not wanted.' ''

Wahl said that he received a letter from Cannell's business affairs department saying they wanted him for two to four episodes for next season, and ``I completely disregarded it. . . . As far as I was concerned with my conversation with Cannell, we had gone our separate ways.''

John Voorhees' column, which usually appears in this space, will resume Wednesday.