Television pilot: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 05:59, 20 May 2007

Revision as of 22:29, 20 May 2007

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== Airing the pilot ==

Pilots usually run as the first episode of the series, unless the series ended up being so different from the pilot that it wouldn't make sense (in this case the pilot, or portions of it, is often reshot or rewritten to fit the rest of the series). The pilot for ''[[Gilligan's Island]]'', for instance, showed the castaways becoming stranded on the island. However, three roles were recast before going to series, with the characters either modified or completely altered to the point where the pilot could no longer be used as a regular episode. The series began with the second produced episode, with the characters already on the island. The story from the pilot was largely reworked into a flashback episode which aired later, although with several key scenes reshot.

The pilot episode of the ''[[A Team]]'' actually contains what is probably the most famous moment in the series: B.A.'s immortal line "I ain't getting on no airplane". The actual episode differed from the final series in that it was twice as long, and also a different actor portrayed the character of Face.

There have been exceptions to this rule when a network or a producer has chosen to run the pilot at a later date. Series for which this has happened include the first ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series|Star Trek]]'' series, where the second, modified pilot ("[[Where No Man Has Gone Before]]") was aired as the third episode, and footage from the original pilot ("[[The Cage (TOS episode)|The Cage]]") was edited into newer footage to produce the two-part episode "[[The Menagerie]]". (However, at the time it was common for a series' episodes to be shown out of the order in which they were produced.) The more recent television show ''[[Firefly (television series)|Firefly]]'' set a particularly curious example, where the series was officially cancelled before the pilot aired as the final televised episode. Critics of the ''Firefly'' move complained that airing the pilot out of sequence made it difficult for audiences to understand what was going on; when the series was subsequently released on DVD, the pilot became the first listed episode.

Occasionally, pilots that fail to launch a series are nonetheless broadcast as TV-movies or as specials, usually as filler or as attempts by networks to recoup some of their investment in the production. Examples include the one-hour 1982 pilot for a never-produced ''[[Modesty Blaise]]'' series, and a 1986 pilot for ''[[The Saint in Manhattan]]'', which had failed to launch a new series of [[Simon Templar]] adventures for television. Presumably, strong ratings for such broadcasts are capable of changing the network's mind, but this rarely occurs. On some occasions, a pilot film for a televised series will air separately long after the series itself has been cancelled. Such was the case with the pilot film for ''[[A Man Called Sloane]]'', which featured a different actor in the title role. After it was not picked up for the 2006 fall season, the ''[[Aquaman (TV program)|Aquaman]]'' pilot became available on the [[iTunes Store]].

On other occasions, episodes of established existing television shows will be given over as serving as test pilots for potential new shows. For example, in 1976, the character of [[Huggy Bear]] (Antonio Fargas]] had become so popular in ''[[Starsky & Hutch]]'' that producers considered giving him a spin-off. The second season episode 'Huggy Bear and the Turkey' (which would have been the name of the proposed series) saw Huggy paired with former Sheriff "Turkey" Turquet ([[Dale Robinette]]) as Private Investigators. The idea flopped and the series was never made.

On other occasions, episodes may be used as test pilots without any previously established connection to the existing series. An example is two second season (1979) episodes of ''[[The Dukes of Hazzard]]'', "Jude Emery" and "Mason Dixon's Girls". The former concerns a Texas Ranger, and the latter is about a travelling Private Investigator and his beautiful assistants; both were written by ''Dukes'' creator [[Gy Waldron]] in hope of launching new shows, but neither episode led to a series being commissioned.

The third season (1983) episode of ''[[Magnum, p.i.]]'' titled 'Two Birds of a Feather' again served as a potential pilot for a new show. After playing the very similar character of pilot Grady Dancer in two episodes of ''Magnum'' co-creator [[Donald P. Bellisario]]'s 1982-3 series ''[[Tales of the Gold Monkey]]'', [[William Lucking]] was introduced as ace pilot Sam Hunter, a treasure hunter like Grady. Again a series wasn't picked up.

And the feature-length (two part in syndiaction) second season ''[[Knight Rider]]'' episode 'All That Glitters' introduced [[Charles Taylor]] as bionically enhanced David Dalton (the story is notable for barely any inclusion of series leads [[Michael Knight]] and [[KITT|K.I.T.T.]], or few other series regulars or locations). On this occasion, the concept actually was picked up, leading to several TV movies featuring Dalton in 1986; However they were not successful and a full series did not appear.

The pilot episode of ''[[The A-Team]]'' features a different character ([[Tim Dunigan]]) in the role of [[Templeton "Faceman" Peck|Face]], the part that [[Dirk Benedict]] would become well known for in the following series. (In fact, creators [[Stephen J. Cannell]] and [[Frank Lupo]] had wanted Benedict from the off, after seeing him as [[Lieutenant Starbuck|Starbuck]] in ''[[Battlestar Galactica (1978 TV series)|Battlestar Galactica]]'', but network executives insisted on a different actor in the role. Upon completion of the pilot (given the title 'Mexican Slayride' in [[syndication]]), they changes their minds, and the part was given to Benedict after all.)

== Backdoor pilots ==