FBI Orders '24' Lite From Hollywood Menu

Imagine Entertainment -- the production house that has done so much to improve the image of torture with its CIA-but-not-really drama series "24" -- has gotten into bed with the Federal Bureau of Investigation to develop a drama series based on bureau cases and incidents, tentatively called "The FBI."

Imagine has just landed the project at Fox, also home of "24."

It all started about a year and a half ago when the assistant director of the FBI's Office of Public Affairs, John Miller, made a trip to Los Angeles to meet with various producers to see if he could get a series developed about the bureau.

You may remember Miller from his days as a journalist at ABC News, where he interviewed Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan in 1998, was Peter Jennings's go-to guy on Sept. 11, 2001, and in 2002 became Barbara Walters's co-anchor on "20/20," a post he held until he left the news biz to join the Los Angeles Police Department in 2003.

Anyway, Miller went to Hollywood to try to drum up interest in a show that would have lots of access to FBI cases, agents and gadgetry -- so long as the end result was up to standard. "We're not looking for approval rights or to edit scripts, but before we lend our name or seal we're going to want to take a look at it," Miller told The TV Column yesterday. Which sounds perfectly reasonable.

Not that there is any shortage of FBI series already on the air -- CBS's pervtastic "Criminal Minds" and "Without a Trace," as well as Fox's own "Bones" come to mind. All are shows for which the bureau provides advice, and will continue to do so, Miller said.

"We're not arguing with those shows and what they do," he said.

But what the FBI does these days is much more interesting -- and there's a lot more to it, he explained.

"What we were seeking to do was reverse-engineer the process," he said, ". . . looking to find someone who would do an FBI show based on real events, cases and characters that looked a little bit more like the real FBI than the shows that are on now.

"We were looking for what, in effect, is a custom job."

You know, like the LAPD had in the '50s with "Dragnet," starring Jack Webb. Like the FBI itself had in the mid-'60s to the mid-'70s with "The F.B.I.," starring Efrem Zimbalist Jr. And like the Naval Criminal Investigative Service has with, well, "NCIS." "The FBI" would be the first TV series done with the agency's cooperation since ABC's "The F.B.I."

So, Miller went to Hollywood to get this show made.