| Wild Card | |
|---|---|
| Also known as | Zoe Busiek: Wild Card |
| Genre | Comedy drama |
| Created by | Lynn Marie Latham Bernard Lechowick |
| Starring | Joely Fisher Chris Potter Vikki Krinsky Aislinn Paul Jamie Johnston |
| Country of origin | Canada United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 36 |
| Production | |
| Executive producers | Lynn Marie Latham Bernard Lechowick Douglas Steinberg |
| Camera setup | Single-camera |
| Running time | 45–48 minutes |
| Production companies | Fireworks Entertainment Lifetime Productions |
| Original release | |
| Network | Lifetime (United States) Global Television Network (Canada) |
| Release | August 2, 2003 – July 16, 2005 |
Wild Card (also known as Zoe Busiek: Wild Card) is a Canadian-American comedy-drama series starring Joely Fisher. It was broadcast in the United States on Lifetime, and on the Global Television Network in Canada from August 2003 to July 2005.
Zoe Busiek is a former Las Vegas blackjack dealer whose life takes an unexpected turn when her sister Susan dies in a hit-and-run and she has to take care of her sister's three children, Taylor, Cliff, and 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. She use her skills at reading people and deduction as a newly-hired insurance fraud investigator. 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.
The series, which is set in Chicago, Illinois (filmed in Toronto), was created and executive produced by Lynn Marie Latham and Bernard Lechowick. The theme song for the first season is performed by Amy Sky, while the theme song for the second season, "I Believe In Me," is performed by Cherie.
Lynn Marie Latham, Bernard Lechowick, Linda Gase, and Thania St. John. 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).[citation needed]
| Season | Episodes | Originally aired | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First aired | Last aired | |||
| 1 | 18 | August 2, 2003 | January 24, 2004 | |
| 2 | 18 | July 11, 2004 | July 16, 2005 | |
| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | "Pilot" | Stephen Surjik | Lynn Marie Latham & Bernard Lechowick & Steve Blackman | August 2, 2003 | |
| Zoe Busiek is a free spirited woman originally from Chicago who lives in Las Vegas. When she learns her sister died in an accident, she goes back to take care of her children. She then learns that the insurance company decides not to pay because eye witness account claims her sister was at fault. But Zoe doesn't believe she was so she sets out to prove it. | ||||||
| 2 | 2 | "The Learning Curve" | Steve Blackman | Steve Blackman | August 9, 2003 | |
| A woman's house is set on fire for trying to help out the community, so Zoe and Dan go and interview a 12-year-old boy named Jimmy who knew the woman that was killed. Sophia has trouble with her boyfriend. Hannah tries to protest for a crossing guard at her school that lives in her car. | ||||||
| 3 | 3 | "Con Artistry" | Andrew Potter | Steve Blackman | August 16, 2003 | |
| Zoe finds out her partner, Dan, used to be engaged and used to be a thief. Meanwhile Dan's ex-fiancé; comes to town. Marcos asks Zoe out on a date, but she turns him down the first time. Sophia and her boyfriend try to find a house, but have differences tastes in a place to live. Dan discovers he has feelings for Zoe and goes to tell her, but when he does he sees Zoe and Marcos kissing on the porch. | ||||||
| 4 | 4 | "Hell Week" | Steve Blackman | Steve Blackman & Marla Kanelos | August 23, 2003 | |
| A drunken young woman falls into a coma after being mauled in a lion enclosure. The zoo sues the girl for trespass. Zoe's and Sophie's investigation takes them to a university sorority where the girl was a pledge. Zoe tries to sort out her feelings for Marcos, a visitor from her past comes and surprises her. | ||||||
| 5 | 5 | "Dearly Beloved" | Steve Blackman | Steve Blackman | September 6, 2003 | |
| A country club wedding that was ruined by errant lawn sprinklers. | ||||||
| 6 | 6 | "Dead Again" | Steve Blackman | Steve Blackman | September 13, 2003 | |
| A man falls overboard from a yacht. His beneficiaries collect the insurance. Zoe investigates when the drowned man dies a second time, 2 years later. Dan tries to prove the innocence of the man's partner who is in prison for embezzlement. | ||||||
| 7 | 7 | "The Cheese Stands Alone" | Jeremy Podeswa | Steve Blackman | September 27, 2003 | |
| The database of an upscale matchmaking service is destroyed. | ||||||
| 8 | 8 | "No Bull" | Sturla Gunnarsson | Steve Blackman | October 4, 2003 | |
| Sophia stays behind to investigate a jewel theft, while Zoe and Dan are sent out of the city to investigate the health of a bull. | ||||||
| 9 | 9 | "Mimi's Assetts" | Steve Blackman | Steve Blackman & Marla Kanelos | October 18, 2003 | |
| When a fog machine explodes and kills a stripper, Dan and Zoe go undercover in that strip-joint to gather clues and find out who was responsible. Dan gets fired quickly, but Zoe soldiers on. | ||||||
| 10 | 10 | "Spooked" | Steve Blackman | Steve Blackman | October 25, 2003 | |
| Zoe and Dan investigate a case of vandalism; Zoe deals with her niece's and nephew's Halloween antics. | ||||||
| 11 | 11 | "Sand Trap" | Andrew Potter | Steve Blackman | November 8, 2003 | |
| Zoe and Dan investigate the death of a celebrity who may have changed her will to indicate she wanted to be cryogenically frozen. | ||||||
| 12 | 12 | "Black Sheep" | Steve Blackman | Steve Blackman | November 15, 2003 | |
| Zoe and Dan investigate the circumstances of a large auto insurance claim. | ||||||
| 13 | 13 | "Bullet Proof" | Steve Blackman | Steve Blackman | December 6, 2003 | |
| Zoe is shot when she interrupts a burglary in progress. | ||||||
| 14 | 14 | "Backstabbed" | John Bell | Steve Blackman | December 13, 2003 | |
| Zoe goes undercover as a reality-TV contestant in order to investigate a murder. | ||||||
| 15 | 15 | "Auntie Venom" | Steve Blackman | Steve Blackman | January 3, 2004 | |
| After a woman is fatally bitten by a poisonous Australian snake on a cruise, the insurance investigation team's suspects include her ex, the biologist who presents the TV show "Nigel au Naturel", and a rivalling cruise company which earlier just managed to keep a lizard incident from public knowledge. So Daniel goes on their next singles cruise, where Nigel Hampton also has booked carrying a ferret and a pet snake, as passenger and Zoe fills in for the sick singer. Meanwhile, the kids shoot a jealous murder play at home. | ||||||
| 16 | 16 | "Block Party" | Andrew Potter | Steve Blackman & Marla Kanelos | January 10, 2004 | |
| When Victoria Motetti gets killed in her nice neighbourhood, the police suspects the Robin Hoods burglary gang, but their usual pickings were not robbed, just art. When Dan and Zoe investigate, it turns out that Victoria's lover, handyman Trey, a surfer who travels around the Pacific and has access to several robbed houses, paid all his hefty debts shortly after the burglary, and a robbed bracelet falls out of his car; but the plot thickens... Meanwhile, Zoe tries to separate Taylor from Ryder at least some time by 'creating' a filing job for her at the office. | ||||||
| 17 | 17 | "Candy Land" | Steve Blackman | Steve Blackman & Marla Kanelos | January 17, 2004 | |
| In this winter wonder episode, Dan enjoys investigating the Karmakazi-snowboard scene, where sabotage of fuel tanks upset everything, at the side of model Candace 'Candy' LaRue; the hotel owner, who might have planned this to get modern fire equipment, and his ex accuse each-other; barman Sam hates the very sport. Meanwhile Zoe -who turns out Candy's former best friend- takes her nieces -whose minds and phones remain home-focused- on a 'working parent guilt' ski trip to the same Dells. Candy gets Zoe's blessing to go for Dan, while Zoe's lover Marcos turns up after his volleyball tournament was cancelled. They suspect Josh Dickens who has his own physiotherapist and would have lost the sponsorship without the delay but has an alibi. Julian finds out that Ryder has returned to Columbus without even telling Taylor. | ||||||
| 18 | 18 | "Queen Bea" | Steve Blackman | Steve Blackman | January 24, 2004 | |
| Wild gal pal Candy tags along with Zoe and her family back to Chicago. | ||||||
| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 19 | 1 | "A Felony for Melanie" | July 11, 2004 |
| 20 | 2 | "Dr. Sidney Loses a Kidney" | July 18, 2004 |
| 21 | 3 | "Sniper Shot, Intern Hot" | July 25, 2004 |
| 22 | 4 | "Roses Are Red, Violets Are Busiek" | August 1, 2004 |
| 23 | 5 | "Bound and Gagged, Your Husband Was Snagged" | August 8, 2004 |
| 24 | 6 | "Wham Bam, Thank You Dan" | August 15, 2004 |
| 25 | 7 | "Slam Dunk Funk" | August 22, 2004 |
| 26 | 8 | "Die, Die, Who Am I?" | September 26, 2004 |
| 27 | 9 | "Premonition Mission" | October 3, 2004 |
| 28 | 10 | "Bada Bing, Bada Busiek" | October 10, 2004 |
| 29 | 11 | "Tick Tock, Writer's Block" | October 17, 2004 |
| 30 | 12 | "Blind in a Bind" | October 24, 2004 |
| 31 | 13 | "Russian Missus Gets No Kisses" | June 11, 2005 |
| 32 | 14 | "See Ya Later, Investigator!" | June 18, 2005 |
| 33 | 15 | "A Whisper from Zoe's Sister" | June 25, 2005 |
| 34 | 16 | "Multiple Personality Fatality" | July 2, 2005 |
| 35 | 17 | "My Boyfriend Is an Axe Murderer" | July 9, 2005 |
| 36 | 18 | "Zoe's Phony Matrimony" | July 16, 2005 |
The series was aired in syndication on the Lifetime Real Women network.
