''Wild Card'' (also known as ''Zoe Busiek: Wild Card'') is a

comedy-drama Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

series starring

Joely Fisher Joely Fisher ( /ˈdʒoʊˌli/ born October 29, 1967) is an American actress and singer, the daughter of singer Eddie Fisher and actress Connie Stevens, and half-sister of actress Carrie Fisher. Her breakthrough came in 1994, starring as Paige Cla ...

. It was broadcast in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

on Lifetime, and on the

Global Television Network The Global Television Network (more commonly called Global, or occasionally Global TV) is a Canadian English-language terrestrial television network. It is currently Canada's second most-watched private terrestrial television network after ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

from August 2003 to July 2005.

Synopsis

Zoe Busiek is a former Las Vegas blackjack dealer whose life takes an unexpected turn when her sister dies in a car accident and she has to take care of her sister's three children, teenaged Taylor, preteen Cliff, and little kid Hannah. When the insurance company denies the family a financial settlement Zoe takes matters into her own hands, which leads her to a new career as an insurance fraud investigator with handsome former criminal Dan Lennox and serious but sweet Sophia Mason becoming her partners. Each episode is centered on a particular case as well as Zoe's family life. Sophia later becomes the boss. She leaves the show in the second season, along with Marcos, and is replaced by M. Pearl McGuire, who becomes Zoe's and Dan's new boss.

Cast

Main

as Zoe Busiek * Chris Potter as Dan Lennox *

Rae Dawn Chong Rae Dawn Chong (born February 28, 1961) is a Canadian-American actress. She made her big screen debut appearing in the 1978 musical drama film ''Stony Island (film), Stony Island'', and in 1981 starred in the fantasy film ''Quest for Fire (film), ...

as Sophia Mason (season 1) * Bronson Picket as Marcos Morales (season 1) *

Jamie Johnston James Michael Johnston (born July 7, 1989) is a Canadian actor and singer-songwriter. He is best known for his role as Peter Stone on '' Degrassi: The Next Generation''. Personal life and career Johnston was born July 7, 1989 in Toronto, Ontar ...

as Clifford "Cliff" Woodall * Vikki Krinsky as Taylor Woodall * Aislinn Paul as Hannah Woodall *

Loretta Devine Loretta Devine (born August 21, 1949) is an American actress, singer and voice actor. She is known for numerous roles across stage and screen. Her most high profile roles include Lorrell Robinson in the original Broadway production of ''Dreamgir ...

as M. (Matilda) Pearl McGuire (season 2)

Recurring

Corey Sevier Corey Daniel Sevier (born July 3, 1984) is a Canadian actor. He is perhaps best known for his role on the Fox television series '' North Shore'' as Gabriel McKay and as Timmy Cabot in '' Lassie''. Life and career Sevier was born in Ajax, Ontari ...

as Julian *

Yani Gellman Yani Gellman (born September 2, 1985) is a Canadian film and television actor, known for playing Paolo Valisari in ''The Lizzie McGuire Movie'', Garrett Reynolds in ''Pretty Little Liars'' and Diego Flores in '' 90210.'' Early life Gellman was b ...

as Ryder *

Joe Pingue Joe Pingue is a Canadian actor and film maker. Early life Pingue was born and raised in St. Catharines, Ontario. He attended Ridley College for both elementary and high school, and studied theatre at York University. While attending Ridley Coll ...

as Leo Lombardi

Production notes

The series, which is set in

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

(filmed in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

), was created and executive produced by

Lynn Marie Latham Lynn Marie Latham is an American television writer, producer, and showrunner. Her initial foray into writing for television was as a story editor for the series ''Berrenger's'' in 1985. That same year, Latham became a writer for the nighttime seri ...

and

Bernard Lechowick Bernard Lechowick is an American television writer and producer. He grew up in Mentor, Ohio and is a father of two sons, Richard Latham Lechowick and Vincent Latham Lechowick.Amy Sky Amy Sky (born 24 September 1960) is a Canadian singer-songwriter, record producer, theatre actress, and television host. Sky started classical music lessons at the age of five, and plays piano, guitar, cello and recorder. She has a degree from t ...

, while the theme song for the second season, "I Believe In Me," is performed by

Cherie Cherie is an English female given name. It comes from the French ''chérie'', meaning ''darling'' (from the past participle of the verb ''chérir'', ''to cherish''). Notable people with the name or stage name include: * Cherie, one of the stage ...

Main crew

Lynn Marie Latham, Bernard Lechowick, Linda Gase, and

Thania St. John Thania Papas St. John is an American television producer and writer. For much of her career she has written and produced for a number of notable television series including ''21 Jump Street'', '' Life Goes On'', '' Lois & Clark: The New Adventu ...

. Latham and Lechowick were fired as showrunners by the end of the first season, replaced by Doug Steinberg (formerly a consultant on ''

Dawson's Creek ''Dawson's Creek'' is an American teen drama television series about the lives of a close-knit group of friends in the fictional town of Capeside, Massachusetts, beginning in high school and continuing into college that ran from 1998 to 2003. T ...

'').

Episodes

Series overview

Season 1 (2003–04)

Season 2 (2004–05)

Syndication

The series was aired in syndication on the

Lifetime Real Women Lifetime is an American basic cable channel that is part of Lifetime Entertainment Services, a subsidiary of A&E Networks, which is jointly owned by Hearst Communications and The Walt Disney Company. It features programming that is geared toward ...

network.

References

* Jeffrey Stepakoff, "Billion-Dollar Kiss" (Gotham/Penguin), p. 297. Stepakoff was briefly a co-executive producer of the series in its early episodes.

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wild Card 2000s American comedy-drama television series 2003 American television series debuts 2005 American television series endings 2000s American crime television series 2000s Canadian comedy-drama television series 2003 Canadian television series debuts 2005 Canadian television series endings 2000s Canadian crime television series English-language television shows Global Television Network original programming Lifetime (TV network) original programming Television shows set in Chicago Television shows filmed in Toronto Television series by Corus Entertainment