The Mole Returning This Summer to ABC

I’ve said on more than one occasion that ABC should bring back The Mole, particularly with the strike going on now. This summer, they’ll be doing just that, Variety reports, marking my first excuse in years to actually watch something on the alphabet network.

Stone Stanley Prods., producer of the first four seasons, folded in 2004, but Scott Stone is back with a new company and has achieved his goal of bringing the show back as well.

“This is a show we honestly love and people ask us about all the time,” said ABC Entertainment alternative series senior VP John Saade, though he says the timing is coincidental. “We were looking to bring the show back even when the writers were working.”

“If anyone asks me what my favorite show has been, I’ve answered ‘The Mole,'” Stone said. “Not surprisingly, this has been a passion of mine since the option lapsed three or four years ago. In my staff meeting every week, people would say, ‘Don’t even bring it up.’ I kept throwing it out that it was eventually going to be the right time. And it perennially ends up on lists of people’s favorite reality shows. That kept the fires burning inside me.”

He has suggested that there will be some changes to the show’s format. “We simplified it to where the people at home can play along,” Stone said. “And the quiz will be much shorter than in the past.” I’m getting a Mole Australia 5 vibe from that (not a good thing), but I’m definitely willing to give it a chance.

CNN’s Anderson Cooper, host of the first two seasons, is not available to host. Ahmad Rashad, who hosted seasons three and four, has not been asked return. “We’re looking for someone in the Anderson mode, a little mysterious but full of comedy,” Stone said. “It could be a breakout role for someone.”