ABC scales back its ‘Empire’

ABC’s “Empire” has shrunk a bit, but at least it still exists.

The network was considering bailing from the $30-million series, an epic about ancient Rome being shot in Italy. Executives were especially concerned about cost overruns on the ambitious project, several sources said, and “Empire” also lost a key champion in Susan Lyne, who departed last month as ABC entertainment president.

But late Tuesday, the producers and Touchstone Television -- the studio producing the project -- reached an agreement with the network to cut the number of episodes from eight to six, which is expected to save millions of dollars.