PROVIDENCE -- It would have been hard to miss the CBS television crew for the series Waterfront if you were downtown yesterday.

The big film trucks and trailers lined Exchange Street in front of the Rhode Island Foundation.

The crew was filming in City Hall and planned to be back today, said Jenny Peek, the city's film manager in the Department of Art, Culture & Tourism.

Starring Joe Pantoliano as the charismatic but "ethically challenged" mayor of Providence, the show has been picked up by CBS as a mid-season replacement. That means it will probably be broadcast in either January or March.

And since nine episodes are planned, the TV crew will be seen a lot in Providence from now through February or so, Peek said.

But they won't have to do all their filming right downtown. That's because they've recreated a full replica of the Providence mayor's office with their own stylistic enhancements, according to Peek, in a warehouse in Cumberland.

Nevertheless, prepare to see those movie trucks and trailers quite a bit in downtown and in some city neighborhoods, including the East Side and near the courthouses.

The trucks do take up parking spots, but they're working to be as unobtrusive as possible, Peek said.

The crew wants to keep coming back here, so they have "an incredible desire" to figure out how to make this work for the residents of Providence, she said.