2 network TV pilots
will be made in isles

ABC's 'Honolulu CRU'
films on Oahu, an NBC show
on the Big Island

By Tim Ryan
Star-Bulletin

Two television pilots will be filmed in Hawaii next month, one on Oahu for ABC and the other on the Big Island for NBC.

"Honolulu CRU," a Hawaii-based ABC pilot patterned after the Honolulu Police Department's Crime Reduction Unit, apparently has the network's approval.

Touchstone, a subsidiary of Disney Studio and producers of the pilot, has rented a sound stage and production offices at the Hawaii Film Studio at Diamond Head from March 1 through April 15 for $15,000. The first day of filming for the 12-day shoot is scheduled for March 23, sources said.

Russell Wong, who portrayed Nick Wong in the failed "Hawaii Five-0" pilot filmed here last year and who co-starred in the film "Joy Luck Club," likely will be cast in the lead. Jason Scott Lee, who is filming "Soldier" with Kurt Russell in Los Angeles, declined the role to concentrate on motion pictures.

Cindy Guagenti, Wong's agent, confirmed that her client is "being considered" for the "CRU" role but declined further comment.

Neither ABC nor Avnet-Kerner Co., producers of the pilot, were available for comment late yesterday.

Meanwhile, NBC yesterday approved production on the Big Island during late March or early April of the hour-long pilot, "Wind on Water." The Zalman King Productions pilot is about two rival paniolo families in the North Kohala-Waimea areas.

King, who also produced the about-to-be-released film, "In God's Hands," created "Wind" and will be executive producer and director. He made his acting debut in 1971 in "The Ski Bum."

He was the screenwriter and producer of "Nine 1/2 Weeks." Casting has not been completed, a spokeswoman said.